Not long ago, hunting out of a tree stand was the only way serious bowhunters hunted. Over the years, more hunters have discovered the advantages of hunting out of an elevated hard-sided blind like a Redneck Blind. “The majority of our customers are bowhunters,” said Bill Barling from Esh’s Hunting Blinds (eshhuntingblinds.com), the largest Redneck Blind dealer in Pennsylvania. “As bowhunters age, more of them want to be comfortable when they hunt. A hard-sided blind offers many advantages over a tree stand.”
THE ADVANTAGES OF A HARD-SIDED BLIND
Many bowhunters are switching to hard-sided blinds because they contain human odor. A few years ago, my son was hunting out of a Redneck Blind. We kept all the windows closed except the window we were shooting out of. A buck stepped out before us, and the wind was directly in his face. Because the windows were closed and the windows were almost completely airtight, the buck never smelled us, and my son was able to kill the buck.
ADD IN AN OZONICS
Most high-quality hard-sided blinds have windows with gaskets that do a great job of containing human odor. Many hunters take odor control one step further and use an Ozonics machine in the blind to reduce odor further.
WHAT ABOUT THE WIND
The wind stops many hunters from putting a tree stand in the perfect tree. A deer will always blow a bowhunter’s cover if the wind is consistently wrong in a certain location. When hunting from a hard-sided blind, wind direction doesn’t matter as much, meaning you can put a blind almost anywhere. Famous bowhunter Bill Winke has killed numerous bucks out of Redneck Blinds that he wouldn’t have been able to kill any other way. “I don’t worry as much about wind direction when I am setting up a Redneck Blind,” Winke said. “I like that box blinds can be put almost anywhere. Sometimes I have a great transition zone on my property but no good trees to hang a stand. In those situations, I like putting a box blind up on a 10-foot tower.”
STAY WARM AND COMFORTABLE
One of the main advantages of hunting out of a hard-sided blind is it keeps the bowhunter out of the weather. “The older I get, the less time I want to spend in a treestand,” Winke noted. “Sitting in a Redneck Blind keeps me out of the weather, and I am very comfortable, which makes the hunt a lot more enjoyable.”
Stay Out Longer
It is no secret that the more time a bowhunter spends in the woods, the better their odds of success. On rainy and super cold days, many hunters stay home. When a bowhunter owns a hard-sided blind, he can spend more time in the field, so their odds of killing a buck go up. “On those marginal rainy days when it is spitting rain on and off, and I want to stay home, I go hunting because I have a few Redneck Blinds. The bottom line is hard-sided blinds offer many advantages over treestands, and I have killed many bucks because of those extra advantages,” Winke said
If a hard-sided blind like a Redneck Blind is not in your budget, consider purchasing a quality soft-sided blind. Many soft-sided blinds are on the market, and some are designed to be put on an elevated tower like a hard-sided blind, which gets the hunter above the vegetation and trees. Seeing deer and outwitting their nose is much easier than sitting on the ground in a blind.
Twenty years ago, box blinds were designed for gun hunters. Very few hunters ever bow-hunted out of them. Today’s hard-sided blinds have vertical windows for bowhunting, rubber gaskets to contain odor, and even insulation to reduce noise and hold in scent. Most name-brand box blinds are designed and manufactured with the bowhunter in mind.
