RedNeck soft side blinds
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: JM
03-Dec-19
I own some land in Oklahoma that has a couple of funnels that I have not been able to hunt because there are not any trees to place a tree stand or a ladder stand. I have been eyeing the Redneck ghillie and hay bale blinds because of how good they would blend in compared to a box blind. For those people that have used these blinds how durable are they? How water proof are they? How well do they hold scent in? I have found that hard sided blinds with only one shooting window open are very effective at holding scent in because it is hard to get a draft going, if you open a second window then it will create air flow. Anyway what do you think of these blinds, I have never seen one in person.
John
From: Habitat for Wildlife
03-Dec-19
John,
I have a couple of the hay bales. Their newest coverings are fairly water proof. Work great for turkey in my known strut area. Deer have scented us in them, but are not as skittish for some reason. They probably would work for you but an elevated soft side might be better?
From: drycreek
03-Dec-19
Here’s another
Here’s another
This one is on a 10’ commercial tower
This one is on a 10’ commercial tower
I build my own from cattle panels. If you do a little welding or have a friend who does it’s pretty easy. After just a few days deer pay no attention to them except sometimes a suspicious old doe.
From: JM
03-Dec-19
Looking at the hay bale blinds I wasn't sure that they were sealed enough and since they don't have glass windows you may have to open too many windows to see anything. The spot I am talking about is a fence corner and deer go around it several times a day but some deer are also going to move down wind of the location. It's one of those high risk locations, that is why I was thinking of getting some old round bales and putting the blind in them.
The other location is easier there is a cedar tree I can back the ghillie blind into and I think they would ignore it. The downwind deer movement there is minimal.
John
From: JM
03-Dec-19
Drycreek,
Looks good!
From: Habitat for Wildlife
03-Dec-19
They worked great for turkey this past Spring, but I like to be elevated for deer.
I agree the solid blinds work better for scent control.
From: JM
03-Dec-19
Dry Creek, What are you using for the roof on your cattle panel blinds?
Habitat for Wildlife, I agree much better to be elevated above their normal eye level you can get by with a lot more movement.
John
From: rooster
03-Dec-19
For what it's worth, If I owned the ground, I would go with elevated hard sided blinds. The deer and other wild life would become accustomed to them in a short time.
From: drycreek
03-Dec-19
JM, I used a commercial top 6’ in diameter that came from the same guy that builds and sells the towers. Mine were seconds, but I couldn’t see a thing wrong with them. I probably have a couple hundred in each except for the tower blind.
From: JohnMC
03-Dec-19
drycreek do you have a picture before you added the tarp?
From: BullBuster
03-Dec-19
I have a soft side. Pain to set up each year. Don’t hold scent well. Can’t open anything quietly. Are pretty rain proof.
From: RIT
04-Dec-19
Do those hard sided blinds like Banks, Redneck etc... really hold scent in all that well? It wouldn’t do any thing about scent for access and exit. I have an inside corner that borders a destination field and I always want to hunt it. It has great trees but it’s sandwiched in between 3 bedding areas and impossible to effectively hunt for that same reason.
From: Shuteye
04-Dec-19
Those look like pretty nice blinds. I am lucky because I live in the 40 acre woods that I own. I set up ground blinds on the trails that are downwind from the prevailing wind. I leave the blinds up all year and spray a couple times a year with Camp Dry and it works great to keep the rain out. I shoot broadheads right through the net and have done so for years with no problem. I don't brush the blinds in and since they are out all the time the deer pay no attention to them.
From: Habitat for Wildlife
04-Dec-19
RIT,
My Banks Stump 4 really seals quite tight even though it has two small vent holes. The door and each window have rubber gaskets and you have to actually pull the door with some force when you first open it. I am convinced that the scent control is better. I also have a Maverick 6', and if I only open 1-2 windows, based on deer coming within 3-4 yards frequently, that scent control is much better than in the hay bale blinds.
From: JM
04-Dec-19
BullBuster, You probably convinced me that a soft side may not be what i want.
John
From: W8N4RUT
04-Dec-19
purchased the Ghillie blind last year. impressed on how durable it is--shows no sign of wear even in the latest wind storms.
Will it keep scent out? No, its a fabric blind. I can hunt in it during an rain event and it works fine.
very impressed. I mounted mine to a hay wagon so its pretty portable.
Scott
From: BullBuster
04-Dec-19
I also have the hard shell Redneck and Muddy. Both definitely do a great job with scent control. Durable and worth the extra money over soft sides.
From: RIT
05-Dec-19
HfW interesting and something to chew on. Hard to justify the cost for something I may hunt 2-3 times all year when the time is right. But those bucks wear that inside corner out. Do you plug your vents while in the blind? That would seem to help.
I like to hunt trails heading to food in the evening and near bedding in the morning. I rarely sit all day but this location could be one of those that qualifies as good both morning and evening.
From: DEMO-Bowhunter
05-Dec-19
I have several of the soft side and hard side Redneck's. The soft sides are nice for a semi permanent economical blind. They won't hold scent well, but can block the wind decent. They are noisy to open and close the windows, can't do it when deer are in range.
Now the hard sided blinds are worth every penny. If you are only buying one or two, it's a no brainer, get the hard sided. They have several different sets of towers you can get, not to mention one that can mount to a trailer to allow you to move it and then another that is a skid that lets you drag it around at ground level.
From: drycreek
05-Dec-19
Door open
Door open
Outside. Cut out windows, cover the entire blind with camo netting.
Outside. Cut out windows, cover the entire blind with camo netting.
At JohnMC’s request I’m gonna post some more pics of my blind build. I turned a 16’ utility panel, with part of another added on for height into a 6’ diameter circle. Naturally, a 16’ panel won’t complete the circle, but that good, because that’s where the door is gonna be. I made the door from another piece of panel and hand bent it to complete the circle. I welded two vertical angle iron ends, one to each panel, to attach the door to and to close against. Two pieces of strap, one top, one bottom, ties the panel together horizontally. It sounds complicated but it’s really pretty simple. I’m not a welder, but I have a wire machine and it ain’t pretty but it holds. The door hinges are simply two rods on the blind, matched to corresponding tubing on the door. Just raise the door and slip the tubing on the rods and you have a swinging door. The door is framed in metal strap, and all this strap I’m talking about is thin so that it can easily be bent into a curve to match the curve of the panels. I ran some small rebar over the top, hand bending to match the domed roof so that it would strengthen the plastic roof. I have a swing away bow holder in it as well as a hook to hang my pack on. I use to hunt out of these directly on the ground but now they’re all on platforms. I usually hang a Shell NoPest strip in them in the off season to keep critters out. Treated cattle ear tags work for this also.
From: No Mercy
05-Dec-19
hay bale blinds are fairly easy to build also. If you want it waterproof, use plastic sheeting instead of the canvas listed here.
From: drycreek
05-Dec-19
That ^^^^^^^^ would be a killer in a field where hay bales are common. I hunted antelope out of a blind built from real hay bales once in WY. There was just a cave that you sat in. Only problem was every goat that came to the water trough surprised the hell out of me ‘cause you could only see about a 10’ wide opening where the trough was.
From: dg72a
06-Dec-19
Where did you put the door for the haybale blind? In one of the ends, I assume. That looks awesome. I am going to build one this winter as I have hay fields on the property that I hunt. Thanks for the pics.
From: Habitat for Wildlife
06-Dec-19
That looks much better than our purchased ones. Great job!
From: No Mercy
06-Dec-19
Door is just cut in on the side. I also painted the interior black after realizing that the 2 x 4's were very bright in contrast to the black plastic sheeting.
From: Skinman
06-Dec-19
Glad to see this topic as I was just looking at these blinds a few days ago. To the guys suggesting the elevated hard blinds, do you prefer the 5 or 10 foot platforms? What factors make you pick one over the other.
From: JM
06-Dec-19
I always like to see how people build home made blinds, always some ingenious methods.
John
From: Drop Tine
06-Dec-19
I put one up for the wife and grandkids when they want to hunt with me. They are nice and can take a snow load where the pop ups would be crushed.
They don’t flop in the wind and keep you dry in the rain. My dislike is the zippers in the door and windows. They are very noisy and generally leave them open except for later in the season when the snow flys.
From: DEMO-Bowhunter
06-Dec-19
I think the 10' stands are about perfect. They get you well above the deer's natural eye line and gives you a little bit more of a sight picture than the 5' stands. If you put the window coverings on the back windows, you can get away with a lot of movement, but like any blind, i they see you move inside, they get nervous.
From: Habitat for Wildlife
06-Dec-19
Nice set-up Drop Tine!
From: Tradmike
06-Dec-19
I have had 2 hay bale blinds for 5 years. They do not hold up well if u leave them out year around. I put mine on old snowmobile trailers so they are easy to move with a quad. I dont think they will last very long in the oklahoma wind. Box blind will last much longer. I
From: drycreek
07-Dec-19
I like tripods too, got three of them, but the older I get, the more I appreciate the comfort and convenience of an enclosed blind. I still use the tripods, especially early. It’s pretty damn hot in Texas on October afternoons and tripods are much cooler.
From: BullBuster
08-Dec-19
I put a 15 foot stand on my hardshell redneck and it was a pain to construct. Completely overkill. Don’t do it. The 10 foot on my soft side And hard side Muddy are perfect.
From: JM
08-Dec-19
Lot of good information
