Do you want to learn how to make your own hunting blinds?
Do you want to save a tremendous amount of money? Who wouldn’t? The good thing about doing it yourself is that you can personalize it to fit your taste. You know what works.
Hunting Blinds
HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN FLOATING DUCK HUNTING BLIND
Nathaniel Miller at eHow.com
Duck hunting is an exciting sport. Part of the preparation involved with duck hunting is preparing a blind or some type of shelter to hide in while awaiting the arrival of your prey. Because many duck populations are concentrated on waterways, having a floating duck blind to hunt from is extremely advantageous. A well-designed duck blind can be made out of a 12-foot jon boat and old cornstalks. This floating blind can be built by nearly anyone, and the setup is minimal.
Things You’ll Need:
PVC piping
Metal Screws
PVC Connectors
12 foot Jon Boat
Cornstalks
Wiring
Pliers
Step 1
Assemble a rectangular or square frame approximately 12 feet long by 6 feet wide by 4 feet tall out of the PVC piping. Place the frame on top of the jon boat and bolt in place using the metal screws.
Step 2
Use the wire and pliers to secure bunches of cornstalks to the piping framing. Tightly bunch the stalks together to create a completely solid wall on all sides of the blind.
Step 3
Leave a door opening in the rear portion of the blind in which to enter and from which you can steer. Sit inside the blind and call as you await the ducks. When the ducks land, you can then stand up with full range of motion to swing your gun thanks to the short height of the blind and stable platform of the jon boat.
HOW TO BUILD A PERMANENT GOOSE HUNTING BLIND
Nathaniel Miller at eHow.com
Goose hunting is an exciting sport. Part of the preparation involved is preparing hunting blinds or some type of shelter to hide in while awaiting the arrival of your prey. An appropriate and well-designed goose blind can be made out of old cornstalks, which are especially effective in cornfields or wide-open fields of hay. It is often beneficial to build a permanent blind so that the geese will get used to its location and presence in their natural habitat. Permanent semi-pit blinds are just the answer for wary geese in over-hunted areas. Semi-pits can be built by nearly anyone, and the set up is minimal.
Things You’ll Need:
PVC Piping
PVC Connectors
Small Bench
Shovel
Cornstalks
Wiring
Pliers
Step 1
Use the PVC piping and connectors to assemble a rectangular or square frame approximately 12 feet long by 6 feet wide by 4 feet tall. Place the frame in a location that will attract geese, such as a cut cornfield.
Step 2
Use the shovel to dig a rectangular pit 12 feet long, 6 feet wide and 1 to 2 feet deep. Make sure the pit floor is level, then drop the PVC framing you built into the pit.
Step 3
Use the wire and pliers to secure bunches of cornstalks to the top and bottom of the piping framing. Make sure to tightly bunch the stalks together to create a completely solid wall on all sides of the blind.
Step 4
Leave a door opening in the rear portion of the blind, and slide the bench inside. Sit on the bench inside the blind and call as you await the geese. When the geese land, you can then stand up with full range of motion to swing your gun thanks to the short height of the blind.
Great hunting blind.
HOW TO BUILD YOUR GROUND HUNTING BLINDS
Tracy S. Morris at eHow.com
Hunting blinds are an essential part of hunting. Blinds allow a hunter to remain hidden from ducks, deer or other wildlife until the moment he decides to fire. However, changing patterns of nature mean that often a hunter will need to build a blind from his surroundings. Fortunately, building a blind from nature is simple.
Things You’ll Need:
Shovel
Tarp
Sleeping bag or Chair
Sticks
Twine
Brush
Step 1
Chose a relatively dry location for your hunting blinds. Hunting is often done in the coldest or wettest times of the year. A hunter who is hunting while lying, sitting or standing in a puddle of water may be cold and uncomfortable, and may even catch a cold or suffer frostbite.
Step 2
Dig a human-sized depression in the ground to make your blind more low-profile. The shape of your blind should be determined by the position that you want to take while waiting for your quarry. Some duck hunters prefer a coffin-style of blind that allows them to lay backward and stare at the sky until they see a duck crossing overhead. Deer or even other duck hunters prefer a pit-style of blind that allows them to sit up. Line the bottom of your blind with a tarp to keep it dry. Add a sleeping bag or chair for comfort.
Step 3
Construct your blind’s frame using sticks or poles of straw or cornstalk. The frame’s support structures should be determined by the surrounding land. If your surroundings are brushy, sticks or branches make an adequate frame. If your blind is in a cornfield, a frame made of cornstalks is a good structure. For a coffin-style blind, construct the frame over your depression by crossing the poles to form a shallow, A-shaped tent-like structure. For a box-shaped blind, lash crosspieces at 90-degree angles to the support structures. Forked sticks make good supports for this type of structure.
Step 4
Locate brush from the surrounding countryside to use as a cover for your blind. Leaves, dead twigs, grass, cornstalks and brush all make good covering.
Step 5
Layer the brush over the blind, leaving enough room for you to crawl inside or see out of. Use larger brush to form the base of your cover, and then fill in the gaps with smaller brush.
Are you looking for more hunting blinds?
HOW TO MAKE A DUCK HUNTING BLIND FOR A BOAT
Will Charpentier at eHow.com
A duck hunting blind on a boat is like a canvas cabin without a roof. With PVC pipe and marine canvas made from either vinyl or treated cotton, the frame for your boat’s duck blind can be assembled in a single afternoon and is removable, so that the boat can be used for other activities. The panels that form the blind attach to the frame with Velcro fasteners, so their arrangement can be changed to allow for a variety of blind configurations.
Things You’ll Need:
1.5″ PVC pipe
2.0″ PVC pipe (four)
1.5″ PVC elbow fittings (four)
1.5″ PVC T fittings
Marine canvas
Two-part epoxy glue PVC “purple primer”
PVC pipe adhesive
Four slotted screws
Hacksaw Flathead screwdriver
Heavy-duty sewing machine and needles
Scissors
Thread
1″ Velcro hook and loop tape
Step 1 – Frame Overview
Lay out the frame and measure the PVC pipe before cutting it with the hacksaw. Assemble the PVC frame and set the frame in place. Make adjustments to height, width and length before gluing the frame together.
Step 2 – Frame Corner Detail
Glue the framing for the duck blind together. Remove grease, dirt and moisture from the ends of the pipe sections and the interior of the fittings and apply PVC purple primer. When the primer is dry, then apply PVC pipe cement, insert the PVC pipe into the fittings and turn the pipe one-quarter turn to seat the pipe.
Step 3
Measure the frame and cut the side panels from the canvas, adding 6″ to the top measurement, so that the canvas can be wrapped over the top of the frame and secured. Hem the panels, using a heavy duty sewing machine and needle.
Step 4 – Sewing the Velcro Strips
Sew Velcro hood-and-eye strips to the top of the panels and, if desired, along the sides of the panels so that the panels may be secured to the frame.
Step 5 – Mounting Sockets For the Frame
Drill half-inch holes into the 2″ PVC segments that will form the mounting sockets for the frame. Place the completed frame into the boat at the desired position and mark the location of the frame legs on the deck with a marking pen and remove the frame from the boat.
Step 6
Glue the mounting sockets to the deck where the frame’s legs are marked and allow the epoxy to cure completely. Put the legs into the mounting sockets and secure with screws. Attach the canvas to the frame using the Velcro strips.
Tips & Warnings
Use wooden shims in the mounting sockets to keep the blind unit from wobbling.
This project involves work with power tools and harsh chemicals.
Take the normal precautions for each activity.