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Blind Cover Material

Have a couple " hay-bale" blinds I've built, and will be making more. Getting figured out what I want, will be using a fairly heavy black tarp for weather proofing, need ideas on what " hay" to use. Using erosion mat now, it doesn't last and is very thin.

Wanting something more sturdy, I could use natural vegetation, if I have something to attach it to. Maybe duck blind material? Camo leaf? Will need a quite a bit, my one blind is 8x4x6' high, interior.

These will be in permanent spots, so don't need to look exactly like a hay bale, I guess I could cut the outer layer off some bales and rope it on...I've heard burlap doesn't last long either...give me some ideas please.

This one is mainly cattails

This one is tag alder

You can buy the military type camo netting online but it needs something behind it IMO. My blinds are built with cattle panels but they are round and stand on end. I cover them with I/O carpet, either brown or green, and then put the camo netting on over that. I usually cut some fresh cedar limbs to finish them out around the middle of September. I use a commercial plastic top to repel rain.

Well, here is the best thing to use in my opinion for naturally brushed blinds. Frame your blind in 2x2 wood, and wrap it in 2x4 galvanized wire fencing that is cut to length, and stapled to the wood frame. Instead of making your hat bale round or square, make it multi-sided giving it a rounded look with an open bottom. The 2x4 wire allows you to weave any vegetation you want in the fencing, and really looks ultra natural. The tarp can be stapled inside the wood framing once you weave your blind. I've made boat blinds and duck blinds using this method, and I'm about to create some excellent blinds for some CRP hunting. I can assemble the walls with wing nuts and screws in seconds, and the walls are very lightweight and can be carted in with a game cart pretty easily. If you are putting a bale blind out, you'll be able to drive right out there to make things even easier. Don't stop there though. These blinds are fantastic for ambushing deer. Once brushed in with zip ties as well as other foliage, they become invisible. I apply this same method to my portable blinds, some framing, and zip ties as well.

Scoot, what I've found was all pretty much priced the same, but some of mine have been in the elements for five years and still looking good, so......like most of us do when we spend more money than we want to, I'm "amortizing". One has the true surplus material on it and it's kinda curled up, but it actually does the job as well. Don't think you can get the real military surplus stuff anymore, at least I haven't seen any in years.

The last I bought came from armysurplusworld but it's new manufacturing. It runs $50/$60 for an 8'x20' piece, which is all I need for one blind.

Mine are built with plywood ends with 2x4 ross pieces. I covered this with concrete mesh because I had some. Over this I put a double layer of black poly. Then, since I had a destroyed boat cover made of grey canvas I put that over the top of that, not necessary but worked out well. I needed something to attach the "hay" so I cut some sheep netting from one of the many abandoned fences on my property and tacked that to the outside. The county was mowing ditches so I gathered a truck load of cattails in short order. I sewed some curtains from landscape fabric so I can adjust my shooting windows. These have held up well and work great. Its nice having something that I don't have to worry about snow load.

Some good looking blinds. Thanks for the replies. I will put some netting over my tarp and then use natural camo. I have some old netting in the hog shed, can get more if needed, I'm also going to build bases for them with treated lumber, to get them off the ground a foot or two. My girls don't care for the mice and snakes that come " home" when we're in the blind, lol.

Krieger, I took this pic of one of mine today. This is the only one I have left that sits on the ground. One is on a metal quadpod ten feet in the air and two more on short platforms. Otherwise, they all are built the same. I'll cut some fresh cedar limbs for them in about a month to "freshen" them up.

The ones on the platforms are on a 6'x8' deck with 2.5' legs. The blinds are 6' so that leaves me a 2' landing. I just get a 10' 4x4 and make four legs out of it. That's tall enough for me and works out with no waste.

Thanks drycreek, looks good! I just found a roll of plastic green snow-fence in the shed, and saw a bunch of cattails in the ditch a mile east of me. I'm going to whack them off with my bladed weedeater and then weave/zip tie them into the snow-fence. Hopefully they will last a couple years.

That cattail covered one that Grubby posted looks awesome.

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