The Best Hunting Blinds to Hide You from Wary Game

Hide better and stay out longer in a blind. After scouting, hiding from game is the most important key to hunting success. Whether it’s a duck blind, a deer blind or a hunting ground blind for turkeys, your choice of hide plays a big part in keeping you concealed and comfortable. And, a hunting blind lets you take people along to share the hunt. There are lots of hunting blinds for sale. Determining which is the best hunting blind for you is one of the most important decisions you can make when buying hunting equipment.

• Best Elevated Hunting Blind: Banks Outdoors The Stump 4 Hunting Blind
• Best Portable Blind: Primos Double Bull Surround View Blind 360
• Best Bale Blind: Muddy Blinds The Bale Ground Blind
• Best Duck Blind: Zink Avian X A-Frame Blind
• Best Budget Hunting Blind: Ameristep Doghouse Blind

How to Choose the Best Hunting Blinds

The best hunting blind varies with the species you’re hunting. An elevated hunting blind makes the best deer blind because it gives you a better view, puts you above the sightline of deer, and it helps disperse your scent. But elevated blinds can be impossible or difficult to move. A ground blind lets you be mobile, and set up where the deer are. No matter what type of blind you choose, think about how many people it needs to hold, and whether you will be hunting with a bow or rifle. Bowhunters need a blind that’s roomy enough to allow them to shoot. Durability matters, too, especially with a permanent blind that will stay up all year. Keep all these factors in mind as you choose the best hunting blind for you.

Will you need a hunting blind for hunting on private land or a deer lease?

Elevated hunting blinds such as tripod blinds or box blinds make a great choice for hunters who have a place to set a permanent blind. They provide an excellent, stable shooting platform, and their height lets you see over brush. Since they are in place all year, animals grow accustomed to them. Nothing does a better job of blocking the wind or keeping rain or snow off your head, either. Many feature sliding windows that keep the cold out and your scent in. All that comfort and convenience makes elevated blinds very effective, and a great place to introduce young hunters and first timers to hunting because they’re roomy and hide fidgety movements from game. Be sure to set your blind in a good spot overlooking trails, food plots or field edges. Once an elevated blind is set up, it’s not easy to move, so do your scouting before settling on your spot.

Best Elevated Hunting Blind: Banks Outdoors The Stump 4 Hunting Blind

Banks Outdoors

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Just right for two people, this elevated hunting blind features quiet, sliding windows that give a full 360 degree view, and the hexahedral shape makes it roomy enough for bowhunters to come to full draw. The padded floor muffles any sound, and a solid steel plate on the bottom bolts securely to the optional tower legs, allowing you to set this blind on the ground or up in the air.

Will you need a hunting blind for public land?

Leaving a hunting blind set up on public land invites thievery, and is often not allowed anyway. A portable blind gives you the concealment advantages of a blind, and also the peace of mind you get from knowing your blind isn’t sitting unattended in the woods.

Popup blinds make the ideal hide for public land hunters. Easy to carry over your shoulder when they’re broken down, they pop up in about a minute, providing four walls for concealment and a roof over your head to keep you dry.

Deer do notice popup blinds unless the blind is tucked into cover. One way to do that is to scout blind locations before the season and pile up some deadfall branches to hide your blind behind. Deer will get used to the heap of brush and be less likely to steer clear of your blind. Turkeys, on the other hand, accept blinds without question, even if they are set up in an open field. Just wear black instead of camo to help you remain hidden in the shadows, and close any back windows so you’re not silhouetted.

Best Portable Blind: Primos Double Bull Surround View Blind 360

Primos Hunting

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The first name in popup blinds is still one of the best. The Primos Double Bull blind offers quality and durability that makes it last for years. Weighing just 23 pounds and equipped with a carrying bag and shoulder strap, the blind is highly portable, yet provides room for two or even three hunters.  The windows adjust to allow several different configurations for bow or gun hunters.

Will you need a hunting blind waterfowl hunting?

Successful waterfowlers know that hunting success hinges on two factors: being in the right place at the right time, and being well hidden in that right place. Ducks and geese move to where the food is, and the most consistently successful waterfowlers are the ones who scout more than they hunt so they can keep tabs on where the birds are. Once they find them, they need a place to hide. Natural cover makes the best hide, but you can’t always find a place to conceal yourself right where the birds want to be. A portable duck blind lets you go where the birds are, and it allows you to blend in to your surroundings. Although a camo pattern that matches the surroundings helps, straps on the blind that allow you to hide it with natural vegetation help it blend in the best and hide its shape.

Because waterfowling is a social sport, the best hunting blind should hide you and at least a couple of friends and a retriever.

Best Duck Hunting Blind: Zink Avian X A-Frame Blind

Zink

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The A-Frame blind is replacing the layout blind as the standard portable duck blind, and that’s good news for hunters tired of lying on their backs to shoot. Weighing only about twenty-five pounds, the A-Frame is easy to pack in. It assembles quickly and holds three hunters comfortably and four in a pinch. Lots of straps and pockets hold grass, branches and stubble to help this blind blend in anywhere.

Are you going duck or deer hunting?

It’s rare to find a blind that works equally well for ducks and deer hunting for one simple difference: Deer hunters shoot at game that’s on the ground, while duck hunters have to shoot up. Most blinds will accommodate one type of hunter, but not the other.

Bale blinds are the rare blinds that can pull double duty during deer and waterfowl seasons. Designed to imitate a round hay bale, they blend into fencelines and open fields, but you can also pile brush around them and set them up by a pond. Bale blinds feature multiple windows, including full length windows that drop out of the way for shots at incoming ducks and geese.

Best Bale Blind: Muddy Blinds The Bale Ground Blind

cabelas

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At 90 pounds, this isn’t a blind you can pack a long way, but it sets up in a hurry. The burlap cover stretches over a steel frame to provide a realistic, no-glare exterior with a water resistant nylon backing to keep rain out. Big enough for three hunters, the bale blind has 11 windows, including a full-length drop down window so you can use it as a duck blind as well as a gun or bow blind for deer and turkeys. Stubble straps on the outside let you add foliage to help it blend in anywhere, but even without extra camo, it resembles a harmless hay bale.

Budget Hunting Blinds: What You Get for Less Than $85

If the high cost of hunting equipment means you don’t have much left in your budget for a ground blind, you can still find a budget option that will hide you from deer and turkeys. There are always tradeoffs when you spend less money. A budget blind may not include all the features of a higher-end blind, such as see-through mesh, or stubble straps to help blend it into the woods. It may not be made of material that’s quite as thick and durable, either so you shouldn’t leave it out for days on end.

All that said, if you want an inexpensive blind that you can pack in, set up quickly, have a successful hunt, and pack it back out, you can find one at a very attractive price.

Best Budget Hunting Blind: Ameristep Doghouse Blind

Ameristep

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The Ameristep Doghouse has a frame of four spring-steel hoops that allow this 5 x 5x 5.5-foot high blind to pack into a small carrying bag and set up and break down quickly. It weighs just 12 pounds, too, making it much lighter than the competition and easy to carry that extra mile back in. The windows are zipper-closed, making them slightly less versatile than the adjustable hook-closed windows of other blinds, but they do a better job of keeping the wind out when they are zipped shut. This hunting blind takes a little practice to break down, but it’s well worth it given the low price.

FAQs

One Last Tip About Hunting Blinds

Whichever style of hunting blind you choose, be sure it’s big enough to hold you, your hunting gear, and anyone you bring along. Bowhunters need room to move, and a duck blind is no fun to share if it’s extra crowded.