Last Fall Bill Langer, Tom Gauthier and I built a ground blind on one of the ranches we hunt in Florida.
I had seen a post written by Bisch who uses them in Texas. He did a great job of explaining how he built his, and claimed they worked very well.
He didn't exaggerate. They do work and they are very comfortable.
Maybe he will chime in.
I wish I knew how to post photos here. When I learn, I will add them.
We didn't have much time to get this thing up and running, but if you ever met Bill and Tom...they waste no time.
The three of us are independent, self-made businessmen, so we know how to build things right...solid...so they can take some abuse. If you don't do that, you spend a lot of time later, fixing things.
Bisch's design is a good one, but ours turned out slightly different. His are round shaped, ours turned out 8' square. Lots of room inside for 2-3 hunters/observers/cameraman etc.
At Tractor Supply we bought two 16' long by 54" high cattle panels and four 6'6" steel tee posts.
We cut the panels in half (8' long) with bolt cutters(they will cut for you) before leaving TSC so they would fit in the back of the truck.
At the site, we drove the four posts in and used heavy #9 wire to secure the panels to the posts on three corners.
On the fourth corner we left one end of that panel loose to act as a door, and used a double ended heavy brass key ring type snap to close the "door".
At Home Depot we bought the least expensive green indoor-outdoor carpet we could find to cover the blind. I think it comes 6 feet high and we bought about 50 feet of it in length...if I remember right.
We also bought 100 feet of 1/2" grey PVC electrical conduit, some PVC glue, and a big pack of black zip ties. UV won't affect the black ones as much as white.
We zip tied the carpet to the walls first, leaving the extra length at the bottom for sort of a scent control flap, and to contour to the uneven ground.
The conduit was used as a structure to hold the roof carpet. We put about four or five curved pieces from one corner to the next and/or from side to side (you'll figure it out) and used the heavy wire to fasten them all together at the center top of the domed roof.
We cut the fence panel horizontal pieces as necessary in order to leave a "finger" sticking up and slid the conduit over it.
Friction of the gentle bend in the conduit will hold it in place especially with the weight of the roof carpet. You will add about two feet of conduit to the ten foot lengths and glue them together, pushing the conduit up to form a dome type bend in it. Ours ended up being about 7 feet high at the peak.
The carpet ends up sort of loose fitting on the roof and is overlapped (two pieces) so it isn't exactly form fitting, but the hogs don't really care.
Zip tie the roof carpet in place.
You can add a bow hanger or a shelf to hold binoculars or a cold drink etc,
If you have bees or insects, hang a no-pest strip inside.
That's about it. Simple...strong...not expensive.
Thanks Bisch.
If you are in a cattle pasture, you will have to fence around the blind and the feeder in order to keep them out.
The grass will die inside, so it's quiet, and it seems to shed water quite well.
We added a 300# feeder about 15 yards away, cut a shooting window or two, made a flap out of the carpet at the windows by leaving the top attached and cutting only the bottom and sides, added a couple chairs and returned this January to hunt.
The hogs hadn't been messed with since the October construction. They had dug a hole(pond) under the feeder about the size of a car hood.
One of my friends from Wisconsin hunted it one morning early January but didn't see anything.
Bill and Tom hunted elsewhere the beginning of this week and each shot a nice hog.
Tom sat the new blind last night. They returned to Connecticut this morning.
I wish Tom was here to write this part, and maybe he will chime in, but I'll give it to you second hand as best I can.
Seven hogs came to visit and were noisily inserting there heads under water to gorge on the corn. They twisted and turned, snorted, and jockeyed, fought and grunted, as hogs will do....but Tom wanted the big one which just would not present the correct shot angle, so he passed on the shot, but added (with a BIG grin) that he really had fun watching them for close to 20 minutes.
Tom is a very pleasant young man who is head over heels into archery hog hunting. This, I like to see. He is a good friend of Bill's and has hunted here several times.
I have had so much fun watching him mature as a new archer/hunter...enjoying his enthusiasm and answering questions...discussing hunts, listening to stories...
I remember that he was shaking so much last year on one 200# boar that he simply could not make an ethical shot.
Now, as we hunt and as we build new hunt sites, he is much more relaxed and experienced, adds suggestions as to how a site should be set up, etc.
He is becoming a good hunter and this process has been very enjoyable for me to be a part of.
But I digress....this was a story about a ground blind and I got off subject.
I think they are great for scent control, or if it rains, or if you don't care to climb trees.
They can be warm mid day if there is no breeze.
I've seen folks bring a battery powered fan and lots of water, reading material and snacks.
Have any suggestions on how to improve these things?
How did you build yours?
Thanks for listening.
Topic: home made ground blind for hogs (Read 370 times)
