Natural blind or tent?
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: Junior
25-May-16
Our group drew a couple AZ tags this year. Sitting water will come into play. What do you guys like?
From: AZBUGLER
25-May-16
Assuming you mean pop up blinds..... These would be my preference. I've yet to have an elk see or look twice at a pop up blind. The other nice thing is they allow the movement to draw back your bow without being detected. The third is that I believe they cover your scent as well. Probably not completely but most definitely to an extent. Nothing wrong with a natural blind and they certainly can be successful, but these are the benefits of a pop up as I see it. Good luck out there! I'll be out there too this year and can't wait!
From: Junior
25-May-16
We have never hunted elk out of a popup. Do you brush your blinds? or try to conceal in any way?
We have used popups, but have noticed it spook's some animals if not set up ahead of time.
From: Brotsky
25-May-16
We've used them before with good success. I did brush them in and stake them down. We had elk in front of the blind the first day they were out with no issues. The hunter it was set-up for ended up taking a very nice 6 point bull out of the blind a couple days later.
From: Lost Arra
25-May-16
Pop-ups are effective but extremely boring for me. Solitary confinement with a picture of the outdoors on the wall. Arizona water hole may be the place for one but it's an absolute last resort for me (used three times and saw elk every time, busted once and wrong tag the other times). From experience, a mature cow CAN pick up the slightest movement in a blind while a bull totally ignored it.
When cow hunting I've seriously considered sitting a natural blind across from the pop-up because I've seen so many cows keeping an evil eye on the pop-up.
From: Ziek
25-May-16
I've had different experiences. The few times I've hunted out of a pop up, and when when elk come by my turkey set-ups (quite frequently), they are very suspicious, and keep their distance. I would brush them in well if you use them.
From: Jaquomo
25-May-16
When I've hunted out of a pop-up the elk paid no attention to it. My hunting partner had a bull moose stick his face in the window once when he was sitting an elk waterhole.
That said, I prefer natural blinds whenever the situation is right.
From: ohiohunter
25-May-16
If feasible pop up. Took my last elk at 30yds directly down wind. No doubt the blind contained my scent well enough, just don't open every window allowing a cross wind. Def brush it in and stake down, but be careful w/ brush and wind. The wind will cause the debris to brush the blind making unnatural sounds.
From: Lv2hnt
25-May-16
Pop-up all the way (see proponents above). You can work them into just about any situation (usually brush them in, some more than others). Here's one that delivered ...
From: Junior
25-May-16
Awesome job on concealment! I like it!
From: wildwilderness
25-May-16
They are convenient, but would recommend brushing them in. I killed an AZ bull from a natural blind the last time I hunted there. Its a little harder to build up a natural one that offers as good as concealment as a popup does. However you don't need to worry about it getting stolen!
From: ElkNut1
26-May-16
I believe either would work when taking the entire area into consideration to get the wind right during your stay, that's the most important factor & toughest to achieve. I've not used a factory blind but have used plenty of natural ones that were assembled with surrounding natural materials.
I like Wildwilderness thought about not worrying about getting it stolen! (grin)
ElkNut1
From: TD
26-May-16
If you have cattle in the area I'd go natural. Cattle will stomp a pop up into the ground unless you build a fence around it.
