Ground hunting question

[Kutter]

First, a few basics to show where I am coming from.

Been deer hunting since 1976.
Over half the time, out of various tree stands.
47 deer, 40 being antlerless.
Currently hunting far N/C MO near Lavonia/Lancaster area along Iowa border.
At my age, I no longer feel safe in tree stands.
Have tried 6 different ground blinds, none of which I liked.

I now hunt from a good solid comfortable fold up chair. I hunt a large field (corn or soybean) along the edge of a heavily traveled wooded corridor, the deer use to get to bedding areas. I need cover! Due to the terrain, natural cover is almost impossible to utilize. I recently purchased 3 types of die cut material to hide behind, Farmland Gold, Cornfield & Forest Floor. I am hoping where ever I set up along this field, one of those should be at least close to whats around me. The material is 12' X 60".
I have no clue how to drape this stuff over/ around me. Do any of you have any suggestions? I would consider cutting it up and sewing it to fit, if you think I should. I don't think the circumstances would allow me to just hang it on anything in front of me. I need to be immersed in it. What would you do?
Yes, I am aware of the dangers and I can assure you I will have plenty of Blaze Orange hanging within a couple of yards of me. Also, this is on private land, closely watched by the owners.

[spoonfish]

I use the same type of material to make portable ground blinds with Kutter. Some times on public hunting places where no permanent blinds can be used and also on other places where theres not enough cover to make a blind.
What I use is pvc pipe, cut at a angle at the bottom to drive in the ground. I attach my camo material with cable quick strips to the pvc. It can all be rolled up into a small bunch for easy packing from place to place.

[Redd]

Well, Tom...like the above post, it sounds like it's intended to be used for a blind. But, I'd imagine making it into your outter-wear would be alright. Just put on some thermal underwear, and you'll be alright. I'd have personally bought that 3-D camo they've had out for awhile, in your situation. But the way you're doin' it is probably cheaper, anyway. Eitherway, happy huntin'.

-Red

[postbeetle]

Tom: Are you in harvested ground or in a fence line? Open ground is tough unless you can set up your cover a long time in advance and let it set there. Unless they are being pushed e.g. a regular season they will clue in to you and skirt the area. If you are in a cornfield and know the owner I have seen excellent blinds by just leaving a block of corn stocks around your chair. Or pre-cuting stalks and laying them against your material. Bean ground is not good, not good, unless you can set up a permanent stand 2-3 weeks before season. How close can you get to that tree line? Out here they use the open ground skirting the trees until they get to where they want to duck in. You have to have a pretty well established trail for this to happen unless they are being pushed. If it is slow for you, come up here. We will put your chair on my back porch with a pan of chicken wings and a cooler of beer. I'll talk you bored and you an shoot one between my sentences. I'll even pay ya. I'll even buy your license. I'll even buy your shells. I'll even stick and gut the sucker. I'll even help you cut the puppy up. I'll debone and take off the silverskin for you. I'll buy the butcher wrap and provide the coolers to get it back to where you are going. I won't shoot the SOB for ya, a man has to do that on his own. John

[jpn]

One of the youngins on our farm took some 2x4 and made him a blind by nailin some for feet about 3 ft long and took pine branches and oak branches and tying them to the top board or shooting rail. He's took some fairly impressive deer from it plus for two people its fairly portable. Hope this helps.

[CatfishHateMe]

i use an old M-80 Field Jacket in olive drab with some camo material cut out in shapes like leaves and some longer, 4-10 inch peices, glued all over it. ive yet to be spoted in it ever when i was just standing against a tree still as possible.

[Mark J]

The best natural ground blind I've used is the big round bails of hay.
Lay one flat and roll one up on each side to converge leaving about a gap in the front for a firing port. it gets you up off the ground a little and its something the breeze wont blow around spooking wary deer.
Its also halfway comfortable.

[bootshowl]

Tom have ya ever tried a Ghillie suit? Sounds like ya got the "makings". You'd have ta camo yer gun too, but that's not a bad idea. You sure sound like you have the experience.

[Wallbass]

Try makleing a Frame from 1/2" PVC pipe. Make it at home the way you want it and don't glue the parts. Take it down and put in a duffle bag. I made one its light weight and easy to set up. Also i painted mine with Flat camo Paint and color code the connectors......Jeff :smile2:

[Kutter]

Thanks for all the replies.
Spoon & Wallbass, the last couple of years, that is what I made. 1/2" PVC made into a cube and tie-wrapped some of those duckhunter type grass mats around it. I set it up about early October. Combine caught the edge of it the first year and tore it up pretty good. The next year, I moved it a bit further from the field, couldn't see enough into the field. Last year, I set it back into the woods overlooking a trail, only got one small doe from it.

Redd, JPN, CatfishHateMe & Bootshowl, sorry if I didn't explain it well enough. I am not trying to make a camo/ghillie suit out of the material, nor make up a blind. I just need to break up the pattern of a man sitting in a chair next to a cornfield. I am wearing my regular camo and the chair is black. I hope to figure a way to use this material to just throw over me or around me to break up the silhouette. I move from field to field every day, so a fixed blind is too much. Last year, I tried out a ground blind called "The Chair Blind". It basically was a fold up chair that has the framework pulled up around ya to form a blind. It's small, quiet and deer did not seem to worry about it. Problem was, it was a bit too small. When I tried to move my rifle into a shooting position, it was next to impossible. Spent the rest of the season sitting in my regular chair out in the open just on the edge of the corn rows. The corn is already harvested before I can use the stalks to help me hide.

Mark, I couldn't agree more on the round hay bales, I have shot several that way. Unfortunately, my best success comes from the harvested corn/soybean fields.

Postbettle, where to begin? I set up as mentioned above, in harvested fields. I tried to set it back into the woodline, but I lose far too much shooting area of the field, that way. If I am to set up a set blind, I would have to do it in Sept or Oct, before harvest time. Anyway, I am looking for a way to remain portable. I don't like to hunt the same field less than 4 days apart. I have plenty to choose from, luckily. However, by moving so much, I thought it would make sense to just carry around my chair and use the material to break up my pattern. Corn is harvested by a contracted out combine, no way they would leave me a hunting spot. Thanks for the offer, but it aint exactly slow where I hunt. I got 11 does last year in 5 days. The year before, I got 9 between both buck and doe seasons. That is the year that in the December doe season I only hunted 2 hours Sat, 2 hours Sun, and 2 hours Mon. 6 total hours = five does. Doubt I can beat that ever again. Dang things are like rabbits up there. Hard to picture what it used to be like when I started hunting. Back then, seeing a deer, any deer, was a great year! I mostly only hunt does on that farm. The owners are like you, they want rid of them. Estimated crop damage is more every year than I make over two years.

[duckriverdave]

Kutter,
I have had success with pop-up blinds decorated with whatever natural cover I could find placed all around it. I have used small cedar trees and branches, corn stalks, and even leafy cane stalks stuck into the ground that I had left from freshing up a duck blind. The cedar is good cover scent also.

I found it works best if you can leave it up for several days and let the deer get used to it being there unoccupied. Since the private land you hunt is well patrolled this may work. I sit on either my dove bucket or chamo colapsable chair. I have an old aluminum walking stick with a four-pronged base on it that I use for a gun rest.

The last good buck I got was out of the pop-up stand in the middle of a bush-hogged field. He was sniffing does and never looked my way. It was a 145 yard shot but the 270 loaded with 140 Accubonds dropped him in his tracks.

drd

[Kutter]

I found it works best if you can leave it up for several days and let the deer get used to it being there unoccupied.
Thats the main problem I have with ground blinds, I am not in a position to do that. I can set up something permanent, in October. However, I can't get back to camp before deer season, after that time period. There's also the chance to hunt as many as a dozen good fields, I would not be allowed to set up that many blinds. They already gripe about the dozen or so ladder stands scattered about the farm (none mine). They are nice enough to allow me to hunt there, I don't want to do anything to upset them.

[Scott Daw]

I use/make a bush rag (its a ghilli suit for stalking, ghillies are for laying prone) for turkey hunting and when cover is scarce.

[hunter]

Tom don't know if this will help or not. But it's worth looking at.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=308875

Good luck.

[Redd]

Redd, JPN, CatfishHateMe & Bootshowl, sorry if I didn't explain it well enough. I am not trying to make a camo/ghillie suit out of the material, nor make up a blind. I just need to break up the pattern of a man sitting in a chair next to a cornfield. I am wearing my regular camo and the chair is black. I hope to figure a way to use this material to just throw over me or around me to break up the silhouette. I move from field to field every day, so a fixed blind is too much. Last year, I tried out a ground blind called "The Chair Blind". It basically was a fold up chair that has the framework pulled up around ya to form a blind. It's small, quiet and deer did not seem to worry about it. Problem was, it was a bit too small. When I tried to move my rifle into a shooting position, it was next to impossible. Spent the rest of the season sitting in my regular chair out in the open just on the edge of the corn rows. The corn is already harvested before I can use the stalks to help me hide.


I don't really have any creative answers to solve your problem, bud. Can you not just make it like your described chair at a larger scale? If I think of somethin', I'll be sure to let you know.

-Red

[JEFFRO67]

I use the ameristep chair blind #872 in realtree Hardwoods HD it works great for turkey deer and coyotes gonna try it for tree rats this year too. it has a comfy fold up camping type chair inside and good visibility all around.I guess it depends on what you like but it works good for me.

http://ameristep.com/


http://ameristep.com/accessories/chairblind.html

[hunter]

And another

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=364361

[Kutter]

Jeff & Todd, that is the chair I used last year, that I was talking about. As noted, there is a new two man version out this year. It looks like it might solve the problem I had with the one man version. I won't be buying it though. After 8 years of buying each year and not liking what I buy, I give up. My nephew will be heartbroken. He's been the beneficiary of all my rejected blinds, ladder stands and climbers.

I think the first ground blind I ever bought was the better of the bunch. It looked like a great big tree stump. I actually almost lost it one time, it blended well into the woods. Only fault it had was the weight, at about 25 lb's.

[hunter]

Just a thought on the chair. My secound choice would be 1/2 conduit and build it to my needs.

[Kutter]

Yeah, I got to admit, the blind I made out of PVC pipe wasn't bad and it did provide a GREAT shooting rest for long shots. Also, the grass mats are good looking cover.

For some reason, I nave seem impressed with deer or turkey blinds commercially made. However, the waterfowlers got it made. They really know how to make a blind, both in commercial products or in homebuilt ones. I have seriously considered trying out a layout blind to get me out in the harvested corn field better. Gotta think a bit more on that one, not sure if laying on the ground is the best idea for this old mans back. One of the problems I have found with waterfowlers blinds is most are designed to (open) up for blasting away. Not the realistic choice when deer hunting. Several I had would not allow for easy slipping the rifle out to set up a shot.

[derbycitycatman]

Ive used the Ameristep Outhouse for a few years now. I like it but its a pain to carry with a seat and gun or bow. Feels like carrying too much stuff but it can be done and its not too bad if your not walking through head high weeds.

[Cherokee]

Just saw this hunting blind at cableas seems to be a nice blind easy to take down and setup. Lightning Set Hunting Blind even has a video where you can watch how it is set up and took down.


http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_requestid=74434

[hunter]

Yeah, I got to admit, the blind I made out of PVC pipe wasn't bad and it did provide a GREAT shooting rest for long shots. Also, the grass mats are good looking cover.

For some reason, I nave seem impressed with deer or turkey blinds commercially made. However, the waterfowlers got it made. They really know how to make a blind, both in commercial products or in homebuilt ones. I have seriously considered trying out a layout blind to get me out in the harvested corn field better. Gotta think a bit more on that one, not sure if laying on the ground is the best idea for this old mans back. One of the problems I have found with waterfowlers blinds is most are designed to (open) up for blasting away. Not the realistic choice when deer hunting. Several I had would not allow for easy slipping the rifle out to set up a shot.


Tom, I had thought about that also, I do alot of goose hunting and you wouldn't believe how many deer I have seen and actually come by within 10 -15 yards. Be a great way to get in the middle of a cut corn field. But I would have to be sure I'am the only one in the area.

[Believer]

Tom: Are you in harvested ground or in a fence line? Open ground is tough unless you can set up your cover a long time in advance and let it set there. Unless they are being pushed e.g. a regular season they will clue in to you and skirt the area. If you are in a cornfield and know the owner I have seen excellent blinds by just leaving a block of corn stocks around your chair. Or pre-cuting stalks and laying them against your material. Bean ground is not good, not good, unless you can set up a permanent stand 2-3 weeks before season. How close can you get to that tree line? Out here they use the open ground skirting the trees until they get to where they want to duck in. You have to have a pretty well established trail for this to happen unless they are being pushed. If it is slow for you, come up here. We will put your chair on my back porch with a pan of chicken wings and a cooler of beer. I'll talk you bored and you an shoot one between my sentences. I'll even pay ya. I'll even buy your license. I'll even buy your shells. I'll even stick and gut the sucker. I'll even help you cut the puppy up. I'll debone and take off the silverskin for you. I'll buy the butcher wrap and provide the coolers to get it back to where you are going. I won't shoot the SOB for ya, a man has to do that on his own. John

That sounds like a great deal! Can I come too? :smile2:

[kkyyoottee]

My wife is with you Tom she hates here feet off ground especially if wind is blowing (I think she gets sea-sickness) We purchased a ground blind that is easy to set up and very roomy. I believe this is a key when hunting. Now she goes to extremes dragging everything with her but kitchen sink but there is plenty of room to stand up and stretch after hours of setting. It is green with black camo stripes. The thing I like about it is this it has loops to stick vegatation in. We cut branches or shove cornstalks and weeds in the loops and ya ready!!! We also use flame orange ribbon around the blind. And keep eye out for unsuspecting hunters. Hope this helps. :tounge_out: