Pop-Up Blinds???

I read a lot of negativity about hunting out of pop-up blinds. I know many prefer to hunt high because of being out of sight and smell of deer and you can see more country. I understand many people hate them. They are sweat boxes, deer can smell you easier, can catch your movement easier.

But, my situation is I had knee surgery last year and my knee is not right. I did put up 2 15' ladder stands this year. It was not easy.

I just believe it it is time for me to go to pop-ups. And I am looking for advice from hunters that have success out of pop-ups, what tips and secrets you might be willing to share and pass along for bowhunting and rifle hunting. Do you have to wear black inside of a blind? Can a pop up be set up in the open such as a power line? How do you control your scent?

Thanks.

Pop blinds are great for hunting out of. Just like other blinds try to place them upwind of the prevailing wind direction. If you are going to put it out in the open for deer you better be willing to leave it out there for a bit to let them get use to it ( if turkey hunting you can skip this part). Try to brush your blind in good and you will be good to go. I've set them up and hunted out of them the same day if brushed in good. They are great for keeping you out of the weather (rain, sleet, snow, etc.). I've never worn black inside one but that seems to be a trend on tv . They are awesome because of the ease of repositioning them if the wind is wrong.
They are making several ones now that you can basically see out of all sides without the animals on the outside seeing it. Those seem pretty cool but I haven't actually used one yet. The only downfall I see is if you leave them up for long periods of time they tend to weather and fade or tear. Nothing wrong with hunting out of pop up blind

Make your own haybale blind. Simple and lots of room for drawing your bow or moving freely. Put it under a shade tree or back it into a hole in the brush to make the evening sits cooler. I have 3 of these with some setting next to brush. The top one is in the evening shade, I am facing north in the pic angle. The bottom one is setting in hole in the blackbrush...it gets some morning shade and was a better morning blind.

Thank you for the advice. They seem cool but if you can see out of all sides, seems like it would be easier for the deer to smell you. What do you do for scent control?

How do you build one of these? How much did it cost?

I bought my first kit. https://www.midwesthaybaleblinds.com/pricing.html even with the kit you will need to buy some lumber to frame the bottom and then I used plywood on end walls to help keep it dark and scent inside a little better.
Later, I bought cattle panels or concrete remesh wire, lumber, heavy plastic sheeting and coconut erosion matte material to build my own. I think they cost me less than $100 each after I built my own. Make sure you make them wide enough to draw your bow. Do not make many windows to keep them dark inside...the black plastic sheeting covers the cattle panel then put the straw or erosion matte over the top of it. Dark tarp helps keep it dark inside. I store more from post season till late July to make the matte last longer.

I use them all the time, for deer, elk, and antelope. Love them, nice to be dry and out of the wind and rain. They can be hot, but with a breeze are tolerable. My favorite is the Shack Attack by Primos. 30 second set up, and stable even without staking it down. Here it is set up down at Choke Canyon last year, next to brush and a pear patch. I had deer walk by at 15 yards just 2 hours later!!

I love my popup blind. Just don't put to comfortable a chair in it. lol...

Check these out- www.luckyshuntingblinds.com. First one I bought about 20 years ago lasted quite a while but that one was covered in cloth fabric and after about 10 years the cloth started to tear and rot. I bought another about six or seven years ago and fabric is much better. Not a hub blind which I like because I always had a problem figuring out out to fold that damn thing back up. Sets up quickly and roomy inside and have yet to have the zipper bind up or come loose. I plan on getting another this year.

I have 4 of them. A hub blind from Barronett. A large Doghouse Blind from Ameristep (with floor). A regular Ameristep doghouse without a floor. And a one man blind that essentially is just a lawnchair with folding arms that a blind pulls over. I'll get back to them in a minute. I have hunted antelope, turkeys and deer from them for about 10 years. Recently I have acquired a river lease which requires using treestands due to visibility issues due to the high river grass. I have one more year left on that lease so I will suffer through hunting out of a ladderstand. Freezing my fanny and not being able to relieve myself comfortably without risking life and limb or climbing down. I am lookiing forward to going back to groundblinds. Here is what I have learned about ground blinds. Wearing black is useful if you do not want the critters to see movement. Last year I had an antelope walk within 10 feet of my blind and he never knew I was there. That was in a hayfield with round bales. I set it up right next to one of the bales though (why not?). Chair - Unless you enjoy sitting on your private parts, do not buy the the three legged stool that sticks up in front. I usually use my crossbow out of it and I shoot off a tripod. The springsteel type blinds you have to twist up (Ameristep mostly) are actually easier than a hub blind to set up and put away if you figure out how to do it. I usually have to take it out in back yard and train for a day to remember how to do it. The hub blinds are easy to do same, you just don't have to train for a day. The hub blinds are usually heavier. Not something you would want to put across your shoulder and haul in and out of canyons. The regular Ameristep without the floor. Possibly portable with a stool. Would be more comfortable than one man but there would be a cost in terms of effort. The large Ameristep Doghouse with the floor. I don't live in poisonous snake country but I hunt there. A floor gives you tremendous peace of mind. Portability - If you are running and gunning for turkeys or hunting remote canyons for archery deer, this set up provides portability and you can throw it over your shoulder. Heat - The day I shot that antelope with my crossbow, it was 89 degrees. Inside that blind I'm sure it was well over 100. I was about to leave when I saw him coming from about 1/3 mile away. Dress appropriately when it's hot. A person could suffer heat stroke in one at those temps. Short sleeves and shorts wouldn't be far off. All that would be exposed to the window would be your arms. I open an opposing window just a few inches when it's hot to create a cross breeze and a little visibility but you want to be careful not to silhouette yourself. Wind damage - we had 50 mph winds come through last fall. The Barronett and the floorless Ameristep were up and I couldn't get out there. They were well staked down and maybe the Doghouse was a little more exposed than the Barronett. No damage to Barronett. One of the fiberglass bungy type tent poles snapped in half on the Ameristep. I called Ameristep Customer Service in early November for a replacement. I have contacted them approx. 4 times since. They say it's Covid and can't get the parts but I am still waiting. We'll see. The Barronett hub blind - I have sat in it all day from 1/2 hour before sunup to 1/2 hour after sundown.at -20 degree windchill. Got cold but it broke the wind and I survived. No way could I have hunted that day from a ladderstand. From a comfort standpoint, if two people are hunting together, I would only use the Barronett hub blind or the large Doghouse with a floor in it. The Surround view from Primos that you can see through would be a cool concept but I have no experience there.

Do you carry bottles to piss in?

Actually no. Years ago I had a neighbor that laughed at me for being so careful with human pee. He shot several big ones and peed wherever. Then I've read a few magazine articles that said the same. So I've stopped being so careful and I just step out of the blind and do it there. As regards the tree stand, I climb down out of fear of falling out while relieving myself. Don't really know whether it has an effect. Haven't killed any real big boys since I changed. Didn't kill any big boys before. Maybe 140's and that's about it. Both before and after. If you wanted to carry a pee bottle, the act would be much easier in a ground blind. I will say that the guy I hunt with on the river lease is an avid bowhunter. He is meticulous about scent. Uses scentless shampoo, soap and toothpaste. I laughed and told him rifle is different than bow. His answer was "how do you know what you didn't see?" I didn't have an answer for that one. Out of that discussion, I now use Huntstand software or some other weather application and never hunt without checking the wind before I go and throughout the day. I will never buy in to all those products however. Too much work for me.

Interesting. It would actually make my life easier not carrying bottles out full of piss.

Choice is yours. But be wary. Someone might ask you “how you know what you might have seen?” Personally, I have been known to reach a point where I don’t care.

I have an Ameristep pop-up blind (forgot which model) and love it. If you're going to bow hunt out of it, make sure it is tall enough so your top limb doesn't hit the inside roof top. Break up the outlines of your mini-tent by 'brushing it in' with some local vegetation to help make it blend in with your surroundings. My bow holder is called My Ground Buddy and it works a lot better than cheaper models that I've tried. For gun use, I like the Primos bipod shooting sticks. The Primos tripod stool is quiet and comfortable. There is specialty blind camo clothing out there or you could just wear solid black to keep your movements (inside the blind) to go undetected. I'll include some pics and links for blind accessories. I'm also a fan of all Dead Down Wind products (body wash, shampoo, deodorant, field spray, etc..), it works! Best of luck to you.






https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/primos-qs3-magnum-tripod-stool
https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/primos-trigger-stick-gen-3-bipod-shooting-stick
https://www.mossyoak.com/camouflage/break-up-eclipse
https://www.amazon.com/Bow-Compound-Shooting-Lifetime-Guarentee/dp/B06XJXQ444

I've seen deer go over to where I just relieved myself and check it out.

Thanks.

I have four and love them.

One of mine is the type that has a heavier metal frame that requires more specific steps to set it up. If you get one made like it, be sure to practice setting it up in the yard. You can also expect YouTube videos to more helpful than the instructions that came with it.

Of course, every ground blind should come with a good shooting stick (if hunting with a rifle) and swivel chair. I have a couple of the chairs sold by Academy and they've performed very well. I noticed this past season that Walmart was selling a similar model for less.

If you are bow hunting and have to draw the bow, etc. then a pop up may be needed but if gun hunting, try the old timey way. Just sit still. In turkey hunting you sit in front of the tree and for some reason that got taken over to deer hunting. You'll see more deer if you sit behind the tree. Like everyone else I used to wear full camo. I switched the a gray/brown flannel shirt (Wal-M $8) and green pants, your face and hands are what shows up, wear black gloves and use a face mask. Last fall I had a doe come in, couldn't figure me out. Kept on coming, stop, stamp feet, come a little more until it was about 20 feet, 7 yards away. That's happened before- wearing grey on top, green on bottom. Secret, don't move.

I love pop-ups and have killed many, may deer from them including some monsters down south for clients

The key is to set them up to your advantage and the deer's disadvantage by keeping the wind direction in mind with where with not only where your shooting lane(s) will be but also your approach as well as where the deer will most likely come in from! And the other advice is to keep your shooting lane(s) down to one, maybe two and keeping all other windows shut tight to help with scent and also keep it dark.
Last, set them up in advance a week or preferably longer before you are going to hunt it, brush them in heavily, and feed it. We would find persimmon trees and use those branches because they seemed to stay leafy and green much longer than anything else. I wish I had some old pics to post of the brush in jobs we did because when we finished you literally could not see the blind when it was right in front of you. It took some time and effort but it worked very well on big old deer that would not come in to a feeder where we had permanent bow stands set up.

Thanks for all of the advice. How do you keep snakes out?

Keep the ground clear. Don't leave them any hiding places. The grass dies if you leave the stand over an extended period of time. One of my popups has been in the same place for 2 years. I jus go out about every six months and spray it with campguard water repellent and uv protection.

Wow 2 years.

Here's my final take on all the posts about ground blinds. All good advice. I forgot about using scent sprays. I actually do use them. I think they work but who knows? The big key I have learned in the last decade (it took me that long) is play the wind. When I have multiple blinds I try to make sure I have good set ups for almost any wind direction. You can use all your scentless products but there is no substitute for playing the wind properly. As regards snakes, it really surprises me that most ground blinds do not have floors in them any more. Just remember to give the interior the once over with a flashlight before you get in. Shouldn't have to tell Texans that though. I imagine most of your hunting ground is in snake country. Between this and the other post, you should have no doubt that they work. As I've said, I'd take a groundblind over a treestand any day but some of the elevated stands you folks hunt out of look pretty darn comfortable. Human pee - some say yes / some say no. Who knows? I did look one time to see if holding it for up to 4 hours can hurt you. Saw there are like 5 side effects although uncommon. One is kidney stones. I've passed two and had one surgically removed. If someone has ever had a stone and they see that they can be caused by doing something, most will cease doing that immediately. I don't hunt with a compound so I never thought about height but that is absolutely essential if you do. I don't endorse any specific groundblind. I tend to go with whatever gets good consumer reviews and I can get the best deal on. Stakes - all of my blinds came with these cheap little stakes that are more like large nails. If the wind blows in Texas like it does here, you can pretty much toss them and get real tent stakes. If I used them here my blinds would be in Kansas the next day. Only picture I disagreed with was the one with the living room chair in it. All kidding aside, if there was an easy way to get one to my blinds I would probably do it but at 72, my snoring would scare every deer in the county away in about 5 minutes. That's why I keep that three legged stool. Sitting on my cojones tends to keep me wide awake. Shooting sticks - bipod, tripod - most use them. Easy to use in a groundblind so why not?

Thank you for all of the advice.

Yes Sir. The one with "the living room chair" in it has been there 2 years. I just put campdry with uv protection on it. I have it staked down with auger type stakes and keep the windows closed if I don't forget. lol.

this photo is not mine, but was posted here on THF before.

Since this is the beginning of the off season Why don't you set yourself up a popup blind and just randomly sit in it over the next month and see what you can see? Get a little practice in staying still and see what scent control works if you want to use it. If you want to leave your blind out in a specific spot the animals will be well used to it by the time the season starts again.

POP ups cannot be just dropped and hunted same day, like you some times see. Put them out and let the critters get used to them. Scent controls is done like anything else, play the wind. Have more than one setup so you can hunt depending where the wind blows.

If they didn't work, you wouldn't see them every year being sold.

They also hold a surprising amount of heat from a Little Buddy or similar catalytic, propane heater with no exposure to CO. Just leave an inch or two crack in the windows to allow for oxygen to enter the blind. The Little Buddy Heater comes with a low-oxygen shut off.

Wouldn't the deer smell the heater?

I actually think the burn off masks human scent. I've seen the walk right down wind, throw their heads up, look around and just go back to feeding. Kind of works like ozonics. shhhh. don't tell anyone.

so i am in a 6x4 box blind with 3 steps on a 3ft riser. i have had hip replaced, knee surgery and back surgery. This still works fine for me.

I have 3 old (about 10 years) Ameristep hub style pop up blinds that are heavier material. I spray each year with a rain repellant. Put them up late summer, brush them in really good and about 1x month had some more fresh cut brush. A couple stay up until January and always keep one for on the move. I also have a large Cabela's XL brand that 3 people can fit and 2 very comfortably. I keep this one for taking friends.

But for a couple permanent locations near feeder sets, I have built hay blind style using similar plans as described by STX. I can sit in these all day, lil buddy for heat and poor man a/c cooler for hot hog hunts.

my advice, get a good portable and also build you a good large size and make it comfortable with good height and width for drawing bows, using tripods for crossbows and/or rifle and just get outdoors often and enjoy. The wind is your friend an enemy if you do not respect it.

Thanks.

Besides snakes, my only concern while using my ground blinds is the vapor from my ThermaCell, As expected, it works great at keeping the inside of my blinds mosquito free, but I've often wondered if there are any health issues using it in a somewhat enclosed space like a ground blind.

For what it's worth, I was able to find these comments after searching the web...

Although the Thermacell is EPA approved and uses allethrin (a synthetic version of a substance found in Chrysanthemums) instead of DEET, warnings include keeping the lantern away from uncovered food during operation and avoiding directly inhaling the vapor. Allethrin is also highly toxic to fish, bees and cats.

I have heard it causes issues with some people. I have also wondered if deer smell it. I know they claim it has a natural smell but it is definitely not natural to me.

killed more deer out of pop than any other, just takes a little planning

I use the earth-scented pads in my ThermaCell but have no idea if they make a difference to a deer's nose.

Just wanted to let people know that Ameristep contacted me today and told me that finally, the folding tent poles have arrived and I should be receiving mine within the next few days. Ameristep is at the low end of the price spectrum but their blinds do get the job done. My faith is restored in their product and their customer support. I do believe the delays were covid supply related and most likely the poles come from China.

Poles arrived via UPS tonite. Excellent company to do business with. Excellent customer support staff also.

Thanks. Will keep that in mind.