Do you guys have much luck shooting deer out of portable blinds? Last yr
I used a cheap one that I set up 2 weeks prior to the opening of bow season, while hunting out of It for the first time 2 fawns came out of the pines and walked into the shooting lane, when the adult doe hit the edge of the pines she stopped dead in her tracks back peddled intto the pines
and started blowing. She circled around the blind about 10 yrds in, stopped head bobbed sniffed the air and stomped her hove. I did get her
but I believe the blind scared her. The blind was about 15 yrds away from where she was coming out so I moved the blind back another 10 yrds. I
hunted out of the blind 3 more times didnt see a darn thing, so I took the blind down and sold it to a turkey hunter for 50 bucks. This blind was well
hidden and I even took dead pine needles and put them along the bottom
inside and out.

It's been my experience that if you don't have the windows netted, the "black hole" effect will spook the deer. Also, if the blind flaps in the wind, it will spook the deer. We've taken plenty of deer out of the ole Double Bull and it's not spooked them in the least. Well, the arrow going through them did, but not the blind.

If you're in an open field, just set it up and hunt it. The deer can see it before they enter the field and get used to it. If you're in the woods, brush it in, especially the roof. Set it up somewhere it won't surprise them. Like not on a bend in a logging road for instance. They walk around the bend and BLAMMO!!!! there's the blind. They don't like that too much.

Could it have been your Scent that gave you away rather than the Blind?

That would be my guess as well since he said that he set the blind up two weeks in advance. I doubt that was the first time that doe has passed by the blind. Either that or the windows being open this time made the blind look different enough to startle her.

Sometimes they just get spooked because a strange thing that wasn't there the day before has now appeared , IME they usually do what the doe in that scenario did , then they ignore the blind once they decide that it doesn't pose a threat . I had 2 young does do the same thing when I got caught in the open while wearing a leafy ghillie suit , they stamped and snorted but went right back to eating when the strange object didn't move . I've also had it happen while in a pop-up blind more than once .

I wouldn't give up so early on blinds. I'll agree with what's been said about leaving them out if you can, brushing them in when in the woods, and scent control. Also, I almost always leave my shoot through windows open so the blind looks the same all the time. I had plenty of does fawns come to a standstill when they saw the blind the first few times I was out in it. Usually, they snorted, stood still for a few minutes, and continued on pass the blind within shooting distance. I noticed the same does/fawns or what I though were the same ones striding past it without concern a few months into the season.