Homemade Duck Blinds

You make your own duck blind in one afternoon.

Duck hunting often requires hunter to sit still and out of sight for long periods of time. It is oftentimes not enough to simply wear camouflage clothing, hunters need a duck blind. Duck blinds provide hunters with additional camouflage and covering materials. Blinds also help shield the hunters from some of the bad weather that often occurs during duck season. Instead of buying a commercially made duck blind, you can make your own. If you are willing to invest a little bit of time, you can construct your own inexpensive and portable duck blind to use near water.

Things You'll Need

• Wood boards, 2 inches by 4 inches by 48 inches in length
• Pencil
• Tape measure
• Straight edge
• Work bench
• Safety goggles
• Saw
• Hand axe
• Mesh wire roll (chicken wire) 48 inches tall, 6 feet long (make sure the holes are no more than 2 inches in diameter)
• U-shaped nails
• Hammer
• Wire cutters
• Rope, 30 to 50 feet long
• Pocket knife
• Gardeners shears
• Vegetation (cat tails, branches with leaves, etc.)
• Spray paint, brown and green

Instructions

1. Place the 2-inch by 4-inch by 48-inch piece of wood on a work bench. Measure and draw a line with a straight edge down the middle of the length of the board on the 4-inch wide side. Cut along this line to produce two pieces that are 2 inches by 2 inches by 48 inches in length. Whittle one end of each piece into a sharp point with a hand axe. This end will stick into the ground.

2. Place one of the wooden posts on top of the end of the mesh wire. Hold the wire to the post and roll the post until wire covers all sides of the wood. Hammer U-shaped nails in the top, middle and bottom of the post. Unroll the mesh wire out to about 6 feet and cut with wire cutters. Place the other piece of wood on the end of the wire mesh you just cut. Roll the post and nail the wire to it as you did with the first post. Stand the frame upright, both pointed tips down.

3. Cut down some vegetation (such as cat tails, bamboo and leafy branches) with the garden shears. Weave the plant material through the holes in the mesh wire. Cover the entire front side of the mesh wire with the vegetation. Make sure there are no gaps.

4. Assemble a bundle of cat tails or branches and place it (parallel to the ground) along the top edge of the mesh wire. (It should rest on top of the other vegetation.) Loop the rope around the bundle and through the wire several times. Cinch the rope down securely and tie it to the wire mesh beneath. Trim any stray branches with a pocket knife.

5. Spray the two wooden posts with brown and green spray paint. This will help the blind blend in with the woods in which you hunt. Allow the paint to dry. Place the blind in the area you will hunt. Drive the stakes into the ground several inches with a hammer. (Find an area where your backside is obscured by woods, such as at the edge of a lake or stream.)

References

• Duck Hunting Chat: Homemade Duck Hunting Blinds
• Acrylic Duck Calls: Homemade Duck Blinds : A Guide to Cheap Duck Blind Construction