Folks, deer season is fast approaching here in Alabama. I am behind in my preparation. Muzzleloading only season opens November 1 for 5 days then gun season opens and runs through the end of January in my area. We can use muzzleloaders in regular gun season.

My buddies and I strategically placed a couple of box blinds it the woods this weekend. We build them ourselves. Some are left on the ground while others may be placed on 4’ or 8’-10’ elevated platforms for better viewing.

A ground blind.

These blinds are 5.5’ wide x 6’ long. They are 6’6” on the high side with a 2” drop for rain runoff. The door is on the back and 4’tall x 30” wide.

There is a 16” wide shelf to prop your gun on. The windows have sliding closures and are 6” tall.

Nice.
My cousin has a farm in Pennsylvania. A friend of their's built a raised box blind in their woods. He is a carpenter by trade. The blind is up about 20 feet above ground, has an actual stairway with a railing up to the door. The blind itself is about 6'x8' and has a padded bench seat that can double as a bunk, and also has sliding Plexiglas windows all around. He takes a small propane stove in there with him for heat and cooking. Quite nice. He has taken several deer from it over the past few years.

Me - I just pile up some brush and sit behind it.

Thanks Rancocas!

So…lets hear about everyone’s hunting blinds!

DanL

I'am with Rancocas pile of brush and paw a hole in the middle and wait.Usualy huddled around a Sterno,, did I mention cold and miserable ??

I've got a popup commercial blind behind the house for certain winds, open treestands for others. Shot a lot deer and turkeys from blinds over the years, but killed just as many from natural blinds or just sitting against a tree.

Funniest story was the year I was in a big hunting club that had properties spread across Delaware and Maryland. First day of muzzleloader season in DE I headed for a raised box blind, but couldn't do a thing in it. As the only longrifle shooter in the club they didn't build blinds for us. Trying to shoot a 5 foot rifle out of a 4 foot box was just ridiculous!

I feel your pain Osprey with the long gun and short blind.

The above pictured blind is an evolution of 50 years of hunting (dis)comfort.

Like most of you, I have and do use a brush/ log pile or dirt mound as a blind when convenient.

My initial ‘stand’ was a limb in a tree. No comfort for very long of a sit. Next came a board across 2 limbs. Again, not very comfortable for long. Then came platforms and seats built in a tree or maybe a homemade ladder stand.

The next evolution became the ‘climber’ or ‘lock-on’ commercially sold tree stand. They were great for a while but age creeps in and they are no longer desirable nor is the CLIMBING aspect fun any longer.

Then…….the first iteration of the box ground blind was born about 20 years ago. Aahhhhh! Comfort for as long as one wants to sit in the woods.

From there minor comfort improvements evolved over the years. (A foot rest board, the shelf for propping the gun, nails or screws exposed for hanging coats or other items, 10” tall open windows became 6” slide closable windows for Better concealment and blocking wind, an awning to shield the low rising or setting sun from your eyes)

Looking for comfort, DanL

yep, started out with all those blind variations. Heck, as a 9 - 10 year old I was always building "tree forts" with whatever scrap lumber I could scrounge up. It sure was fun!
Now days we're not supposed to pound nails into trees.
Wife gave me one of those tent blinds last Christmas. An acquaintance has a wild hog problem with them tearing up her horse pasture. I have her permission to hunt there, so I might set that blind up there next month and give it a try.

I do like Rancocas described. I try and have a bit of brush around me but I have a canvas folding chair I always carry with me. It's just too difficult for me to actually sit down on the ground and then get back up in anything resembling a "hurry".

I started off nailing a few planks in a tree crotch along with a few steps. I also was sitting on the ground or on a stool off and on. Had a little platform seat that hooked to tree trunks so I could just walk up to it and sit. I scratch built a couple of climbing stands and used them extensively for years. I also got a ladder stand and used it on a friends farm. But he had several scattered around there in various travel routes and I used them a lot. But for the past several years I've stayed on mother Earth during the season.

I did have an interesting experience in WV when I spent a weekend with a good friend at his dad's farm. His dad had built a stand about 8 or 10 feet high on big pole supports. It was basically a large room sitting on stilts. There was a bench at the front where a wide window could be opened, and another chair or two in there as well. But it also contained a fair size propane heater! Just me, but I never felt I've been hunting unless I froze at least a part of my hiney off. That was a first for me. I have on occasion been up in built plank stands nailed there by someone else. Two problems sometimes showed up. First, being short I simply couldn't conveniently climb the nailed on steps meant for a 6 ft. long legged guy. Secondly, some were creaky or all out UNSAFE! I was in one a long time ago that felt pretty solid. Imagine my surprise when I suddenly found myself suspended in the air with gun still in hand. The tree was on a high bank with an old, rock filled cemetery on the high side (a 7 ft. or so fall) and about a 15 ft. drop on the downhill side. Fortunately I spread my body out like a flying squirrel and tossed the rifle away from me. I'll always remember the slow motion feeling of falling. It seemed as if I could take my time and think about my landing before actually hitting the ground (in actuality probably under a second). I needn't have worried. The leaf litter on the long-fall side must have been a foot deep. I landed flat on my face & body and it felt soft like a feather mattress. I was perfectly fine and the rifle was perfectly fine and neither of us made it through the litter to get to any soil. On the short fall side injury was a surety, what with broken tomb stones & assorted rocks. Guardian angel?

You've got a good one there, buddy.

As kids, my brother and I would head to the woods with a hatchet and a pocket full of 20 penny nails. We would cut up 2”-4” saplings into different lengths. Then Skin the ends flat with the hatchet and nail them on a double tree for steps. When we got to the height that we desired, we made a platform to sit on. This was our tree fort and later some of our first tree stands for deer hunting. These would last a couple of years before rot made them unsafe. Then we would make a replacement.

Later this miracle wood was introduced to us that did not rot but one had to pay for it. Once we had jobs away from the farm earning real cash, we transitioned into building stands with CCA treated wood.

Ah the memories, DanL

My next evolution of hunting blind will be a box similar to the ones pictured above but a bit larger dimensionally with a couple more comfort improvements.

Over the years, I acquired a (what was told to me) railroad caboose pot belly stove. This pot belly is only 3' high and about a foot wide at its widest. I plan to install it in the corner of a box blind. The beauty of it is that I can have a fire and completely close it down when the hunt has ended. It is that air tight.

Of course I will take all precautions for smoke control in the box (windows to open as needed). Plus my box blinds are never air tight anyway. I will have fireproof material under and around the stove for dropped coals, etc. etc. I have much experience setting up wood stoves. I have had one in every living environment where I have ever lived.
I will be able to keep warm and make coffee at the same time .

Loves wood heat, DanL

Well, I spent about 3 hours this morning chopping out the new growth in my shooting lanes and building up my brush blind. So, my local blind is all ready now.

Next, I have whittled my choices down to three different areas in the mountains, and one area of TVA land beside the Tennessee River to scout for big game hunting this season.
Next week I'll get to at least one of those areas for a scout.
I think bow and arrow season is open now for deer, but I gave up the bow after only a few years back in the 1970's.
The first firearm big game opening in my area is for bear on Oct. 2nd. Wild hogs can be taken during any bear or deer hunt.