What YOU need to Know About Bowhunting From Ground blinds!

Hi, I'm Chris with Afflicted Broadheads, and today let's talk about some tips and tricks for ground blind hunting with compound and trad equipment. Stay tuned. So today we're going to talk about what I call the four C's of blind hunting when it comes to compounds and trad equipment. The first thing I want to talk about is clearing the ground for your ground blind. It seems pretty self-explanatory, but I think that it's really good to mention that having the ground clear where your blind is sitting is of vital importance. As a lot of shots are going to be very close to your blind, sometimes they're going to be far, but very often they're going to be up close, sometimes right in front of the window. You want to make sure that you are able to position your feet, do a little bit of a shift. Maybe if you don't think any animal's around you, you want to be able to pick up your thermos or move some gear around. You want to be able to do that really quiet, and I know it sounds self-explanatory, but oftentimes when we throw a ground blind up, we're in a hurry, we're trying to get things done, we move some things out of the way, but we inherently forget to get all the dead leaves out of there, the dead sticks. Maybe we need to prune some other small greenery that's coming up through the forest floor. It's really handy to have a pair of hand pruners with you, not only to clear the spot for the ground or a shooting lane in front of the blind, but just to make sure that you're able to get all those little things out of the way that stuff might get snagged on in the blind. Now, if you're like me and you're dragging a bunch of food and gear and camera equipment and tripods and all that other stuff, it becomes even more vital to make sure as you move stuff around that you're not making any noise. This close distance association between you and the animal, all of a sudden that noise factor really becomes, besides scent, one of your most important things to consider when you're getting this ground blind ready to go for hunting with a compound or trad equipment. One thing that's really important to talk about real quick is comfort when it comes to hunting with a compound or traditional equipment. In the blind, you have to have plenty of room to be able to draw your bow. That usually does not mean that you can have a chair in there with arms that you're kind of lounging in, like maybe you could get away with a crossbow. With the compound and trad equipment, it becomes a lot more important to be sure that you have total clearance. Having a back to your chair in case you have to shift could cause a problem. Having arms, of course, like a high-arm chair, could actually cause a problem in your draw and maybe even a problem for your cams to hit if you're really turning at a hard angle to try to get a shot. There's lots of different stool choices, whether it's a fold-out like this, a tripod style. There's a lot of really good blind chairs that offer you some comfort without all the other hindrances. I would say if you're going to look at a purchase, look at comfort because you want to be able to sit a long time. You don't want to be standing up stretching all the time. You want to have the perfect height. As I mentioned before about comfort, now that we're inside the blind, I just want to give you a good idea of why it's important to be wary of the height of whatever you're sitting in. This chair I have here is considerably lower than what I normally hunt in. I like to be about eight inches higher. Let's say if I'm in a low chair here and I am drawing back and my target is close and I draw here and I'm looking through my sight, you can see where my arrow is going to go. It's going to hit the bottom of this window, but my sight is totally clear. I'm focused. I'm on my target animal. I'm ready to release, but that arrow is going to hit the bottom of this window. Also, you have to take into consideration that if you're shooting through any of these areas, that these support pieces aren't in the way of your blind as well, if they have those support pieces. Same with corner posts on your blind as well. You want to make sure that you are clear from that. So you want to really be conscious as you sit down, as you prepare and you're getting an idea where you think your animals are going to come from, that you will definitely be able to clear your arrow from this bottom panel. I know you guys should be dropping stories of that. It's happened to every one of us. It's happened to me and it's just something that happens, especially in the heat of the moment when you're excited or you're new to ground blind hunting. So you want to make sure your chair is comfortable, but it is also the right height to help you get clearance. And then once you feel comfortable with whatever that height is, that you have practiced a little bit out of your blind and at home to make sure that you're proficient from that seated position. Now the compound, there's shorter axle to axles. They're really easy to maneuver in the blind. You don't have to worry about the ceiling so much. Briefly, I just want to mention Trad because this has been a nightmare of mine on turkey hunts where I'm in a smaller blind. I've gone a long way in. I finally get my shot opportunity and as I go to draw, I am hitting the top of this blind. So you may not even realize that you're hitting because you're in the highest part of the blind. But as you draw back and that top limb comes forward, it usually hits where the blind starts to taper down for the roof. So Trad guys are going to have a little bit tougher time finding a blind that really is going to work for them. So take your time and make sure you have enough clearance and you're going to have to really be specific about your seat as well and how high you are as far as all this is concerned to make sure that you're able to get a shot without this top limb touching your roof in any way. Another important thing to consider if you are new to ground blind hunting is your clothes. You want to make sure that you are wearing black. Now for every other type of hunting, we always talk about wearing camo and that's all well and good. But in the blind, from your waist up at least, you need to have black on. That will really help you play into the shadows of the blind and keep you concealed. Even having short sleeves and your bare arms where the sun is hitting that and you can really easily see your arms, the animals can too. So you want to make sure that you have all of your back windows closed, that there's nothing open behind you, as much closed on the side as possible. You want to create that dark atmosphere. You also want your chair to be as far back in the blind as you can, being mindful that you are going to have to draw. So you want to make sure that even though you're back here, that when you bring your arm back to come to full draw, you are not hitting your arm in the back of that blind and you've given yourself enough room. So it's always a good idea to practice drawing once or twice out of your blind when you get there, just to make sure that you are clear to do whatever you think you need to do and that way you can make sure you're not going to run into any issues. But black face mask, black gloves, everything black will really help you play to the darkness that the blind creates to help you keep concealed, especially if you do have to move a little bit. The last thing I want to talk about is shooting through mesh on blinds. If you are going to shoot through your mesh and you have a fixed blade, practice, make sure that your fixed blade goes through the mesh easily. If you have a mechanical or a hybrid broadhead, I do not recommend shooting through mesh. We've tried a bunch of different mechanicals and our hybrids and sometimes they fly absolutely perfect when shot through mesh and sometimes they don't. It's really not worth the risk. The different mesh materials, how tight the mesh is between the walls, all play a factor in how your broadhead interacts with that mesh and most of the time it's really not that great. So I would advise against shooting through mesh if you have a mechanical or hybrid broadhead. So make sure you've practiced in your blind, out of your blind, in the chair, have enough clearance. Good luck in the woods.