ready for a ground blind

[Magwa45]

Got up in my Ol' Man climber today and discovered that my 62" longbow just is not shootable from this type of stand. I don't like getting up in this stand anyway and am seriously thinking of working on a good ground blind, or maybe just getting a gillie suit with some camo material to make a good hiding place. Any recommendations? Oh yeah, I want to make one of those Dean Torges seats that wrap around the base of a tree. That should work.

[horatio1226]

This is the blind I use. It is spacious, easy to set up and take down,has shoot htru mesh all the way around. and is priced at around $150. Very good quality blind.


 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=059775;p=1

[Jerry Jeffer]

Torges seat is all you need. Easy to move around. I make a bunch from plywood and leave them all over the place. This way I only carry the rope with me and I can go to any one of my spots. I had a shot 15 yards after 10 min in this spot.
 

[blueline]

well Don enjoy the venture. I love the ground pounding. I have a ghili and a ground blind, I dont use the ground blind much, but My daughter is 8 and wants to go with me so I picked one up just so we can hunt together. I like the ground blind I just dont like being confined...

blueline

[E. Texas HillBilly]

Hey Jerry,
              Would you mind telling me how you make your seat? I would like to try that. My 68" bow does not fit into ground blinds to well...at least not with my 240lbs of bulk in there with it. And tree stands are expensive. I used to ground hunt and squat alot, but I am older now and considerably more beat up...so that doesn't work so well for me now. My bones cracking alerts the deer when I try to get into position.
                              Hillbilly

[Jerry Jeffer]

Hillbilly, Here is a link to a thread that has some picks of the seat from others, plus the knots used . I recently took apart a lone wolf seat and will be using that with the rope since it weighs actually less then the plywood seat.
 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=062730

Here's a pic of my "lone wolf" torges seat.

 

[E. Texas HillBilly]

Thanks Man!! That helps alot. I have to go and get to building. Thanks again. Later.
                              -Hillbilly

[Deadbolt]

good idea jerry!

[Deadbolt]

i just made the torges seat and I gotta say with that and vaughns not I dont know how I have ever hunted off the ground without it...this seat is awsome LOL.

Can't wait till next week to try it!

[Swamp Pygmy]

my .02.

ground blinds are a gimmick for 90% of the people.

Unless you hunt rainy days, You gave up the fight with mosquitos, you hunt with kids, or you're turkey hunting something much cheaper will probably work.

A groundblind is somewhat heavy, they require alot of space to set up, and will be noisy clearing brush from the area you intend to put it, and anything that big and is new in the woods may be noticed.

With a $15 dollar burlap mesh camo cloth like they sell at wally world you can cut it up however you want.

I have a square I use to hide my body and a strip I use to hide my head and break up the solid outline of a ground blind. With it I can set up in a few minutes, in tight brushy areas, I blend in with the existing area, and have room to move.

Just pin the cloth between two trees, or drape it over whatever is in front of you. Then with the brush you clear from your feet for noise put it on the cloth for perfect camo. Use the other strip to hide your head at eye level. The whole thing is dirt cheap, can be rolled up to the size of an umbrella and weighs less than a lb.

The idea is to extend the size of the bush you're hiding behind, rather than to try to convince them they forgot about that entirely new giant bush next to the trail.

[Recurve50 LBS]

I'd sure like one of those ply wood seats. Any one got any extra plywood?

[Oliverstacy]

I was lucky and received gift certificates to Cabela’s for Christmas last year...almost enough to pay for my Double Bull "Recurve" addition...I put some money in and I've loved it ever since.  My main reason for getting this was for turkeys but deer hunting has been a plus.  I haven't gotten one yet but I will this fall if I keep at it.  I do notice I limit my field of view but since I'm hunting cornfield the shots behind me aren't there anyway so I'm not worried.

I carry it along with all my other gear to and from my locations on a Badlands 2200 backpack and it is nice.  I decided after loosing weight I would give up my lazy ways and hunt differently this year...not the same old treestands that he deer seem to know.

This is one of my sets from this past weekend in a cornfield.  It took me 15 minutes to get everything up and inside ready to go.

 

I just now have seen this picture for the first time blown up so I can see I missed a corner but it is brushed in well.  I showed it to my mother on the camera and she asked me what it was...I said the blind from Christmas.  She said "oh I couldn't tell", I said “exactly”.

Yes it's big but the freedom to move around is nice and I get to hunt areas that I wouldn't normally have hunted in the past.   I set it up Sunday in the dark in another cornfield and it took around 20 minutes but I got to the area an hour early just to give me time.  I had a long walk and dressed light for the walk in but after I had it up I closed the entire blind and layered up and got warm.  I can carry everything on and in the pack…very nice.

Hope this helps.

Josh

[Deadbolt]

Larry I have some old scrap wood laying around when i get home sunday I'll make one up for ya buddy!  Next time we run into one another ill throw it in my truck for ya.

what size seat would ya like? dimensions that is.

[Ssamac]

Why not just sit on the ground on a mat or something with your back against a tree? I do that all the time.

sam

[GUYZER]

HELLO Jerry.
I Have made a torges seat and I love the idea but
I seen to have problem with the rope slipping off
the bark.Do you just rap the rope around the tree
or twice?

MAY THE SPIRIT OF FRED BEAR GUIDE OUR ARROWS.

[Deadbolt]

Originally posted by Ssamac:
Why not just sit on the ground on a mat or something with your back against a tree? I do that all the time.

sam

i cant shoot my bows from the ground b/c i dont cant it so i need to be elevated

[Jerry Jeffer]

I do one of two thing to keep the seat from slipping, though I usually have no trouble with that any way. One, is to use a bow hook on the back of the tree to keep the rope from slipping. The other thing I do, which I prefer is to use my trimming saw and make a notch in the bark that the rope fits into on the back of the tree. To answer one other question I saw posted. I use the seat because sitting directly on the ground make it too difficult to get to my knees with out too much movement. I sit very low with the seat so I can just slide forward right onto my knees with little moving. hopefully though, I don't even have to do that and can shoot from the seat.

[Deadbolt]

Originally posted by GUYZER:
HELLO Jerry.
I Have made a torges seat and I love the idea but
I seen to have problem with the rope slipping off
the bark.Do you just rap the rope around the tree
or twice?

MAY THE SPIRIT OF FRED BEAR GUIDE OUR ARROWS.

i was experimenting with it after i made it nd found the easiest way for me is...

simply put the rope behind the tree and use the tension knot vaughn described but i dont snug it up to the tree leave alot of slack.  from there hold the seat tp the tree at the desired height with your knee (front of the seat as a high point like a toilet seat) with both hands bring the slacked rope as high as you can get it mine was like a foot over the seat.

from there hold the rope with one hand and with the other pull the front of the seat down and it wedges itself right against the tree...once you sit the rope bite its own grooveand the tension hold it in place.

it held enough that both my hunting labs cam barreling through and hit the seat and it never fell off.

[Deadsmple]

Hmmm? I wonder where you got the idea to do that Jerry?

 

Guyzer, not too sure what kind of rope you're using but I have yet to find a tree that my setup won't work on. I'm using some cheap nylon I found at Home Depot. Maybe you can try setting up with more of an initial angle to the seat then put a bit of weight on it to get it to seat itself. A little trial and error I'm sure you'll find what works.

For those of you wondering what knot Deadbolt is talking about.
 

 

 

 
Hope that helps.

[Jerry Jeffer]

I got the idea from a tinkering master mind. I'm glad I have one too.