Friday, December 11, 2009
Blind ambitions: Pop-up blinds catch on among deer and turkey hunters
Sales are booming and product lines are expanding as hunters purchase the blinds for their deer and turkey hunting.
MARK TAYLOR The Roanoke Times
Freddy McGuire of Goodview sits in his brushed-in pop-up blind during a recent deer hunt in Franklin County. No deer showed up that evening.
Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.
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When Ritchie Griffin started making plans to take his daughter, Emerald, deer hunting, he knew it wasn't simply a matter of letting her tag along while he did his normal thing.
For one thing, he didn't want to take his young daughter into an elevated stand.
Yet it wasn't as easy as simply setting up on the ground, where deer would have little trouble spotting a squirming 10-year-old.
The solution?
Griffin pitched a tent.
Sort of.
The tent, as his wife called it, was actually a pop-up hunting blind made of camouflage fabric stretched over an expandable frame.
"What I liked about it was it was concealed movement, and we could even talk real low," said Griffin, who lives in Roanoke County. "One day she even brought her homework out with her."
A growing number of hunters are, like Griffin, discovering some of the advantages of hunting from portable ground blinds. Sales are booming and product lines are expanding as hunters purchase the blinds for their deer and turkey hunting.
"Ground blinds are definitely increasing in popularity," said Lane Hoskins of Roanoke's Gander Mountain store, which usually has six to eight different pop-up blinds on display at any one time. "As they've gotten better and more affordable, more people are getting them and sticking with them."
Blinds, which start at about $50 for entry-level models and can top $400 for premium models, allow for concealment and provide some weather protection, without the added concerns that come with elevated stands. Some even offer special scent-controlling features such as carbon-impregnated liners.
But there are trade-offs.
Many blinds can be fairly heavy and cumbersome to carry around, even when packed up. Visibility can be a problem, especially for hunters who leave some windows zipped closed for weather protection or for scent control.
Also, while blinds can hide hunters, deer are especially adept at spotting the blind itself and knowing that something just isn't right.
For many hunters, the positives are more than enough to counter the negatives.
Blinds can be particularly useful during late muzzleloader deer seasons, when weather can be iffy and when deer tend to do a lot of feeding in open fields.
Freddy McGuire, an avid deer and turkey hunter who lives in Goodview, has made ground blinds a regular part of his arsenal.
"I have three of them," he said.
He'll often set up one or two on the edges of fields and food plots prior to deer season.
Setting the blinds up early helps deer become accustomed to the structures.
But McGuire also keeps a blind on hand for impromptu hunts. Monday afternoon he hauled it out to set up next to a Franklin County rye field.
He brushed it in, as hunters say, by placing clipped cedar branches around the blind.
Brush can help break up the blind's outline and lessen the two-dimensional appearance that can startle deer.
Many blinds even have special fabric loops for holding branches.
While deer can be wary of blinds that aren't brushed in, turkeys are a different story.
"You can put one up in the middle of a field and they don't care," McGuire said.
And those blinds then largely can conceal the thing turkeys don't like -- hunter movement. Turkey hunters who keep some windows closed and wear black clothing can essentially disappear.
In fact, blinds can be such an advantage for turkey hunters that some purists have called for a ban on them.
So why doesn't every turkey hunter use them?
Largely because mobility is a key for most turkey hunters.
Already weighted down with vests packed with calls, few like the idea of hauling around another 20 pounds, which is what many well-constructed blinds weigh, not counting a chair or stool.
Weight and bulk are less an issue for deer hunters.
"They're used to carrying around 20-pound climbing stands," Hoskins said.
Deer hunters are also used to setting up and staying for a while.
As he's walking to his spot carrying a blind and a couple of chairs, Griffin admits he's not cheery. But it's a price he's willing to pay.
"They work so well," he said of blinds, "that it makes it worth lugging all that junk into the woods."
Blind basics
There are two main types of blinds.
Hub-style blinds use a framework connected by, well, hubs.
Spring steel blinds use flexible frameworks of steel bands. Some newer models use fiberglass frames.
Useful accessories include hooks from which to hang bows, hanging lights and fans, and even fold-out shelving.
Many blinds feature shoot-through screening on windows.
Spring steel blinds are most affordable, with models available starting around $40.
Hub-style blinds start at about $100. Top-end hub-style blinds can top $400.
Most blinds come with flimsey ground stakes. Heavier duty tent stakes are a good investment, particularly for hunters who plan to leave their blinds in the woods between hunts.
--Mark Taylor
