Finished the hay bale blind today
Pennsylvania
This is one of two hay bale blinds I recently finshed. Made from lots of pvc, some heavy wire for the curved tops, and about a zillion camo paint strokes. Thought you all might like a look.
Where do you plan on using it. In Pa?? I was thinking of making one. But where I'm from in Pa all the ones in the fields are white warped plastic. Your looks great!! Lot of work in it I see. I also was thinking of making a white cover for my double bull blind. I don't know if the deer can tell if it's round or square....
WHAT do you guys think????? Teeton
Holy heck, simulated bait and a blind, all in one. LOL
Actually, VERY nice. Goose hunting blind as well?
Very nice job. I can tell you are retired, that had to take alot of time.
Aw, you don't like it 'cuz there ain't a corner to whiz in...so you'd wear yerself out in there, trying to find one. ;O)
Most of the farmers in my area (Beaver County) don't use the white plastic wrap...yet. It would have saved some serious prep time if I coulda just sprayed them white. Don't do much duck hunting but it could work for that. Mostly it's a great time for me, pals, and the grand kids to spend some quality time and see some deer up (very) close. My oldest son will make some use of it when he gets back from his military deployment in Sept as well as my oldest grandson who finishes basic training at the end of Aug. When I started it I thought I could beat the high prices of the better known blinds....wrong by quite a bit but it was a blast to work on.
Nice... Possible business venture?
No, not a business venture. Been there, done that(for several years), and done with that! It's all for fun, family, and friends from here on out. Retired means retired. LOL
Up in Tioga Co. where my camp is, many of the farmers let a few round bales (often 3 bales arranged as a U) in strategic areas around the edges of their hay fields.
Good enough for concealment and to get out of the wind in rifle seasons, but no rain protection like that fancy rascal of yours.
Tom- did you PAINT that(mmaterial)?! I thought it was camo fabric that you bought somewhere.
You did a great job!
Yep, painted it all using a combination of spray with hand cut camo patterns from pcs of oaktag along with a wooden frame that I stapled hay onto for the background shades. Brushed on the final details which was the most time consuming step in the process. Used Hunters Specialties camo paint mostly and also some Krylon for some of the darker shades. Both work well, but I wish Krylon sold it in liquid form cause it's a major pain spraying it into an empty can and brushing it fast before it dries up. There are a few haylike camo patterns out there but nothing that I was happy with for this job.
That's AMAZING, Tom! I'm seeing it, but I can;t believe that is hand painted!
Any deer out there that have internet just said, "Oh crap!" (Only not that nicely.)
I thought I hung a post on here, but musta lost it in the daily confusion? Tis a real fine job. In my post which I did type out, I asked how you mobilize your artwork? What's it weigh? Is it water proof? Kudos on your efforts. Vey cool!
The weight can be easily handled by one person since it's mostly pvc. I made it to closely match the size of our local bales and also to fit into the back of my Silverado bed for transport. Unfortunately, it can't fold up. It's covered with a heavy tarp which I cut into pieces (2 sides, main covering, and flaps for three openings: two windows and one door in the back). Then I sewed them together with 17lb test Berkely Trilene and 50lb test Spider wire and a damn big (and painful) needle. Underneath the tarp it's entirely covered with that black landscaping fabric from Lowes. The biggest boneheaded move of the whole process was that after spending way too much time on the door, I realized that it wasn't necessary cause it can just be lifted up to get into...for some reason this never occurred to me putting it together in the garage...duh!
Hindsight, as the sayin' goes, is nearly always 20/20.
It's why many things come in A,B and C configurations.
Still a pretty neat invention.
I've been thinking of building my own for a couple of years. Can I ask what size of PVC and how many feet you used for the structure?
I was thinking 1/2" of the cheapest piping I can find, but not sure if it would bend enough, or be structurally sound after a snowfall.
My plan was to form the shape, no bottom. Wrap it in vinyl coated pigwire, and overlay it with black plastic for water proofing.
Camo cover would be determined later.
Thanks
Like actor George C. Scott said when he portrayed General George Patton, "I love it...God help me, I do love it so."
Fletching my own arrows, using a homemade wingbone turkey call, loading my own shotgun shells, reading and listening to guys sharing how to create a hayblind from wire, plastic, and tarp, raising a ladder stand, finding an oak or apple tree where I never saw it before...
all these things even before a cartridge is chambered, all before an arrow is nocked. That is the piece we can never seem to communicate to the anti-hunter, and rarely communicate to the non hunter.
My wife shoots, but does not hunt, but she gets it. When the deer used to come into our lawn regularly to feed, we'd sit and watch. One day out of the blue she whispers to me, "It's really neat watching them pick their way down the hill through the trees even before they get here." I let out a sort of a sigh and said "Yeah." That is when I knew she "Got it."
Another time she was telling friends, "They (the deer) are so close you can hear them crunch when they chew and see the crumbs fall out of their mouth."
God help me, I do love it so.
I put the bale blind in the field immediately after my original post and won't even go near it for a month or so, so cannot take any pics of the inside at this time. It's totally black in there so not sure if it will photograph at all. Will try to sketch the interior/frame and post that this weekend if I can get my youngest to show me how to scan the art. I planned to take pics during the process but got so wrapped up in it that I completely forgot. The frame is mostly 1 1/2 pvc. Screwed, not glued. The curved top frame is flexible black water pipe inserted into the pvc couplings and covered with heavy wire. The most difficult part, by far, was finding the specialized fittings I needed for the connections. After a long frustrating and fruitless search at the home improvement and hardware stores in my area I finally found them on the web at AFC Greenhouses in Virginia. They have everything. Thanks to all for the comments and interest. Feel free to contact me for any additional info.
Wow, that is nice. Have you tried shooting your bow from it.
Great looking blind looks like you bought it.
Hey Tom, how did it work?
Still trying to get one Roy. Lots of does, but not any serious bucks yet....stay tuned. Beating the one from last year is gonna be tough, but an old geezer has to have goals. lol
I was wondering how it worked as well.
Roy, you should go over some night and sit in that blind with him, i'd bet that would be a real hoot ! especially when i snuck up on the blind side of that contraption with my elk bugle......lol
We would never hear it. We would prolly be laughing so hard from all our BS stories:)
