Hunting Blind

What counts as a hunting blind

Here's the thing. A blind is anything that keeps a deer from seeing you move. That covers a lot of ground, so it helps to sort it first.

• Natural blind: brush, logs and grass piled into a screen. MeatEater calls it the answer for last-second setups.
• Portable fabric blind: a camo shell you carry in, set up and stake down. This is what most people mean by "deer blind."
• Hard-sided box blind: a rigid box, often up on legs. Those have their own box blind page.

The table on this page covers the portable fabric kind, sorted into three styles: hub pop-up, panel and soft-sided box. For each blind it shows style, capacity, center height, floor footprint, camo, and whether the walls are see-through, as the maker or listing states them. Weight shows only where the maker gives it. A dash means nobody stated the value, not that the blind lacks it.

Rule of thumb: pick the spot first, then the blind that fits the spot. Not the other way around.

Who a deer hunting blind is for

Blinds solve problems that tree stands can't. Shooting Sports Retailer, a trade magazine, notes that older hunters, hunters coming back from injuries and people afraid of heights feel more secure on the ground. It also points out that good stand trees don't always grow where the deer walk.

Big Game Treestands adds two more reasons: blinds help bring youth hunters along, and they give you shelter from weather. The NSSF's hunter site says the same about kids. A comfortable seat, a snack and four walls buy a lot of patience.

The trade-off is plain. You sit at deer eye level, and a deer notices a new shape in its woods. Full detail on that comparison, and on setup, is on the ground blind page.

What to look at in a hunting blind

These are the fields in the table, in the order I'd read them.

Blind style decides how you hunt, not just how it looks

Three styles show up in the table.

Hub pop-up. A frame of spring-loaded hubs that snap the walls and roof out into a cube. Big Game Treestands calls hub blinds the most durable of the portable kind. They have a roof, windows on every side and the most room. They also weigh the most.

Panel blind. A few fabric panels on stakes, usually no roof. Game & Fish describes these as built for mobile hunters who run and gun, and most of the panel blinds in its roundup stand 54 inches tall or less. Some are short enough to hide only a seated hunter. They're quick, light and open to the sky, which is fine for turkeys and less fine in a cold November rain.

Soft-sided box. A fabric shell on a stiffer frame, closer to a box blind in shape. It trades pack weight for a sturdier, more permanent setup you leave in place.

If you'll walk in, set up and leave within the same morning, look at panels and small hubs. If the blind stays put for weeks, a hub or soft-sided box earns its weight.

Capacity counts people sitting still

Capacity is how many people the maker says fit, and it assumes they sit still. My one opinion on this page: size a blind for the person who needs the most room, and that's usually the bowhunter at full draw, not the rifle hunter in the other chair.

The reason is easy to check. Big Game Treestands describes a standard two-person blind as roughly 60 x 60 inches of shooting width, with enough floor for a folding chair and gear. That's two chairs, two packs, a bow or two, and nobody moving much. Danny once asked whether his cooler counted as a person. It does if you're the one sitting next to it.

Go up a size when you hunt with a kid, a camera person or a bowhunter who needs elbow room. There's a page for the 2-person hunting blind if two is the plan.

Footprint tells you if a full draw fits

Footprint is the floor size, width by depth, in inches. For a rifle hunter it mostly decides how many chairs fit. For a bowhunter it decides whether you can shoot at all.

Bowhunter's ground-blind tips say the blind has to be deep enough front to back for an archer at full draw, with room for the arrow and the follow-through. Put your chair near a back corner and check that your elbow clears the back wall at full draw. Check it sitting down, in your hunting coat. A wall you touch at full draw is a wall that moves, and a moving wall is the one thing a deer can't ignore.

Center height matters too, for the top limb. That's covered on the ground blind page, and bow-specific layouts are on the bow hunting blind page.

See-through walls and view angle trade hiding for watching

Some blinds use one-way see-through mesh on part or all of the walls. One maker's product page puts it simply: hunters can see out, but game can't see in. The table marks these "see-through walls" and adds a view angle of 180, 270 or 360 degrees when the maker or the listing states one. Blinds without see-through walls get no view angle.

Here's the catch. See-through only works while it's darker inside than out. MeatEater's advice for any blind is to keep as many windows closed as possible, especially the back ones, so you don't sit silhouetted against a bright field. A see-through wall behind you with the sun on it is a back window you can't close.

These blinds earn their keep when deer come from every direction and you don't want to open windows to look. More on them at the see-through hunting blind page.

Silent windows matter more than the number of windows

The table flags "silent windows" when the maker or the listing says the window closures are quiet: sliding panels, silent hooks or no zippers. Big Game Treestands lists the closures you'll find, from elastic hooks and curtain bands to zippers, magnets and hook-and-loop. It names quiet adjustability as the window feature that matters most.

Here's why. You open a window when a deer is close, by definition. A zipper that close sounds like somebody opening a tent at 4 a.m., because that's what it is. Big Game Treestands also likes elongated corner windows for bowhunting and small side and back windows to avoid that see-through silhouette.

Shoot-through mesh is a bow feature only

Some blinds have window mesh you can shoot through. Union Sportsmen's Alliance says a cut-on-contact broadhead can pass through blind mesh at moderate ranges without affecting arrow flight, and that you should never shoot a rifle or shotgun through it. The table shows shoot-through mesh only when the maker or the listing says so. If it doesn't say, don't assume.

Realtree adds the habit that matters most: check the arrow's path before you touch the release, so the broadhead doesn't clip the blind.

Insulated means the maker said insulated

An insulated blind has fabric the maker describes as insulated, for long cold sits. The table marks it only when the maker or the listing states it and leaves it blank otherwise. Blank means "not stated," not "not insulated." The insulated hunting blind page covers them.

Cold blinds tempt people to bring heaters. Read this before you do.

Carbon monoxide from fuel-burning heaters builds up in a closed blind. The NSSF's ground-blind safety page says to leave windows cracked for fresh air when you run a propane heater, and the CPSC warns that people die every year from fuel-burning heaters and lanterns used in enclosed spaces. One blind maker's instructions warn against any device that gives off fumes inside the blind and note that the fabric is not fireproof.

Camo pattern should match the cover, not the catalog

The table lists the camo pattern or color the maker names. Pick it for where the blind will sit. Union Sportsmen's Alliance gives the plain example: a dark blind in a yellow field stands out until you cover it in yellow grass. Big Game Treestands notes that most blinds are black inside, which hides you better than any outside pattern.

Brush beats print. A blind in the right pattern that isn't brushed in still looks like a box, and a square corner is about as natural in the woods as a mailbox. The ground blind page walks through brushing in.

Weight comes from the maker, or it doesn't show

Shooting Sports Retailer says portability is always an issue with full-sized blinds. So weight matters if you carry the blind more than a few hundred steps. The table shows weight only when the maker states it, because store listings for blinds are often wrong. A blind that "weighs a pound" on a listing and fills a hockey bag in real life is not a pound.

Pick the spot before you pick the blind

A blind is a box. It doesn't know where the deer walk. Put the best blind on the market in the wrong hollow and you've built a very quiet place to drink coffee. (I've done that. The coffee was fine.)

So start with the spot. MeatEater's advice is to set up off to the side of the trail or food source, tucked 5 to 10 yards back into cover, and to look for places where deer can't easily get downwind of you. Then buy the blind that fits that spot: a tall hub where you have room and time, a panel blind where you have neither.

Which hunting blind fits which hunt

• Bowhunting deer: room to draw comes first. Depth, center height, corner windows, and maybe shoot-through mesh. See the bow hunting blind page.
• Rifle or shotgun: windows you can open just wide enough for the muzzle, and room for a shooting rest.
• Turkeys: Game & Fish's roundup leans toward panels and small hubs you can move. See the turkey blind page.
• Two or more people, or a kid: size up. See the 2-person hunting blind page.
• Late season: insulated fabric and a good chair. See the hunting blind chair page.
• Leave it up all season: a soft-sided box, or a hard box blind.

Put orange outside the blind

A blind hides you from other hunters too. During firearms seasons, put fluorescent orange on the outside of the blind, on every side, where people can see it.

Pennsylvania's rule is a good example of how specific this gets. During any firearms season for deer, elk or bear, a hunter in a blind must place at least 100 square inches of daylight fluorescent orange within 15 feet of the blind, visible in a 360-degree arc. The NSSF's hunter site recommends orange on all sides of any blind and says some states and public lands set a minimum. Rules vary by state; check your state wildlife agency.

Who should skip a hunting blind

If you already hunt from good stand trees and you're comfortable in a harness, you may not need a blind at all. Look at the tree stand page instead.

If you can't set the blind up early and can't brush it in, think twice. MeatEater says deer notice pop-up hub blinds, and a bare one in the open is a billboard. A natural blind may serve you better.

And if your plan is to carry a big hub blind a mile in and back every morning, be honest about the weight. A blind you leave in the truck hides nobody.

Buy the blind that fits the spot, the people and the weapon. Then write down the wind. The logbook will want to know.