Deer Blind FAQs

Q  Why should I buy a factory built blind? I think I can save money by building my own.

A  Of course you can build your own, I did it for years. But I’m not sure how much money you will save. I quit doing it when I discovered how much nicer a manufactured blind was, how much easier and more pleasant it was to hunt out of, and how little difference there was in cost. Materials alone can eat up a significant part of what you would spend on a Texas Hunter blind. This is especially true if it is a tower blind and you have to weld steel or fabricate it out of wood. Factor in labor and the factory blind may well be less expensive.

Q  How can a factory built blind end up being less expensive than a home built?

A  A professionally designed, engineered blind like Texas Hunter Trophy sells has several advantages over the blinds that you and I would build ourselves.

• They are designed by engineers to minimize material and labor costs while maximizing strength and long life.
• Unique specialty components become cost effective and can be designed and manufactured specifically for the intended use, resulting in lighter weight and stronger, less expensive materials than we normally have to use. When I built my own blinds I usually ended up using treated 2 x 4's, 4 x 4 stands, and thick plywood to get "plenty of strength" in the blinds I built. This made them very heavy and expensive. Specially extruded aluminum parts like our window rails, corner posts and other structural members reduce costs, minimize weight and improve quality.
• High volume purchasing of standard materials significantly lowers their cost.
• Using production line methods and templates reduces labor, rework and waste to the very minimum. Parts fit the first time and do not have to be remade.

Q  You ship your blinds disassembled and I have to assemble them, so how am I saving on labor?

A  A big part of building a blind yourself is designing, cutting, fitting and drilling the components. Plus shopping for and buying and hauling the materials, and then going back to get what you forgot. With our blinds that has all been done for you, saving perhaps one half to two thirds of the labor. You simply supply the assembly labor.
 

Q  Can I assemble your blinds by myself?

A  A single blind you can do by yourself, no problem. The first one I assembled (by myself) took 4 hours. Subsequent assembly times got progressively less. A helper would be nice, but not required. Assembling the double blind is ideally a two person job and having a third person is even better. Two or three people are needed when standing up the taller blinds. A battery operated drill with a 7/16" and a 3/8" hex socket and an awl for lining up holes make the job easier and faster. Remember not to tighten any bolts until after it is all assembled, having everything loose makes shifting panels to line up holes easy.

 
Q  I never hunted from a bind before. What are some of the important things I need to look for?

A  A good, basic, proven design is a the place to start. It mostly comes down to issues of size, sound and visibility. Texas Hunter has been building and selling blinds for over 50 years, they have it pretty well worked out. Some things you should consider:

1. Is the blind sturdy so that it doesn’t flex and vibrate and make noise every time you move in it? Or when the wind blows against it?
2. Is it big enough to move around in and stand in comfortably? If a blind is uncomfortable it is very hard to stay in it long enough for a successful hunt.
3. Can it be closed up to keep owls, coons and other varmints out? They love blinds and will quickly move in if allowed.
4. Window height is critical. It should be matched to a standard height, quality made, silent swivel chair so that at your eye level you can sit up straight and see out the windows. Having to stretch up or hunch down to be able to see is a real killer on your neck and back and makes it very hard to hunt. Also, if children will be hunting with you, consider their eye level.
5. Window size is important. I hate tight, small windows that are hard to get a gun barrel out of without hitting something and making noise. Also, sighting a gun will change the position of your eye. You should be in a comfortable position when the gun is supported with your hand against the window sill, and not in a hunched over position which makes it very hard to sight a gun. On the other hand, large windows let in light which makes you visible. The inside of your blind needs to be as dark as possible to reduce this problem.
6. Visibility is another concern. I want a 360 degree range of vision. Lots of blinds just have small windows in the side, resulting in large blind areas in each corner. You have to shift and stretch and strain around to check those blind areas and it is easy for animals to pass unseen.
7. Backlighting can be a major problem. If you have light behind you in a blind you will be highlighted in the window and highly visible to game. If you move it is worse because the shifting dark/light image in the window telegraphs your presence. You must have the ability to blank out the windows directly behind you. Sliding, 360 window systems usually have half clear and half solid windows. This allows you to set them up in whatever combination is needed up to maximize your viewing area and avoid backlighting.
8. The inside of the blind should be a dull, dark color. This reduces the inside light level and makes you harder to see from the outside.

Q  What do you recommend for a chair in my blind? I have an old office chair I would like to use.

A  I personally don't use old office chairs, or new ones for that matter, anymore although I once did. The problem is the castors they come with and the fact that the seat swivel may be worn out and noisy. I now use fixed leg chairs without castors, because rolling a chair around makes noise. I do not use single pedestal chairs because I want a very solid seat with zero wobble, and without a tilting back rest, both for noise control and for stability when I set up to shoot. The Texas Hunter Shooters' Chair we sell is lightweight, very sturdy and silent. For a hunting blind chair it is about as good as it gets.
 

Q  I have a blind I built and it is kind of noisy and I have been planning to carpet it. Is this a good idea, and if so what kind of carpet should I use, indoor-outdoor or what?

A  Well, carpet is sure better than nothing. You need something to cut down on the noise in almost any blind. The problem I always had with carpet is how filthy it gets and how spiders and bugs love to live in it and how hard it is to get them out. Also, if it gets wet from tracking in water, snow and mud, it can get truly nasty and will rot wooden floors. A much better alternative, and a very inexpensive one, is to use the rubber mats we sell. They are about 45" x 45" inches square by 3/8" thick and can be cut to size if needed. They don't rot, they clean up and sweep out easy, and they don't soak up water. They are great for sound deadening and only cost about $24. They are a pretty cheap way to make blind hunting easier and more pleasant.

Q  Tell me about the walls in your deer blinds.  I made the mistake of buying a molded plastic blind a few years ago and I hate it, its noisy and flimsy, the door doesn't close well any more, and if I move it rattles. I don't want to make that mistake again.

A  You apparently bought a heat formed, vacuum molded blind, there are a number of companies selling them. Their one advantage is low cost. Some companies use thicker plastic than others, and that usually costs more of course. Our blinds aren't like either of those. To start with, our material is 1/4" thick and pretty stiff, it does not flex like thin molded plastic can. It does, however, have the ability to flex a little bit so that it's not brittle, and it won't crack like fiberglass. Another major difference is that we use extruded aluminum vertical and horizontal structural members in combination with the panels. The panels bolt to those extrusions to provide a lot of structural strength. Our roof isn't plastic either, it is galvanized sheet metal, with a 1" lip bent down on all sides, and the panels bolt to that, making a very solid box structure. The roof has a curved, internally mounted, steel angle iron bar that spans the roof and causes it to dome up.  This causes water to run off and not stand on the roof, and also adds even more stiffness to the box structure. Texas Hunter has been perfecting this design for over 50 years, and if it wasn't really good, it would not still be around.