As public lands hunter you know that arriving early and regular scouting often makes the difference in whether or not your hunt is successful. If you have ever visited a hunting spot with a big sign that reads "Sportman's Access" even the efforts you put in scouting and time you give up being early may not be enough. These places tend to look more like the parking lot of Sportsman's Warehouse by 5 a.m. just about any open season weekend.
So for most of us who hunt public land, and hunt it with some degree of success, we have found our own secret spot; usually protected by limited access or confusion to the average hunter whether or not the land is available to hunt. This means you too, must pack in your equipment farther than the next guy was willing or able to. I often hunt alone, when I do I can usually tuck into some cattails or stack up some brush well enough to conceal me so that a blind isn't necessary. However, hunting like this is always a risk the minute you add additional hunters to the mix, it's always best to use a blind if you can, but if it isn't every time you hunt and you have to pack it in, is it really worth the money?
The Challenge: Construct a lightweight duck blind for less than $70
The design I used is modeled after a rather clever project I found online, mixed with a couple other adaptions I picked up from watching videos of other guys creating makeshift blinds and grass blankets. The final product is a rigid but lightweight, portable duck blind that will accommodate up to 3 people.
The Shopping List:
- 8x Tee Sockets
- 8x 90 Degree Elbows
- 2x 45 Degree Elbows
- 6x 10' PVC Pipes
- PVC wet/dry Cemeent
- 1x Plastic Construction Netting
- 50pk Zip Ties
- 1x Black Matte Spray Paint
I saw suggestions on PVC size but found most people suggested 1 1/4" pipe or larger in order to avoid having too much flex. My design uses 1" pipe with Schedule 40 thickness giving it more rigidity but was still quite light. I also introduced the plastic netting which helps with the overall flex.
Make Your Cuts:
- 2 - 72"
- 1 - 42"
- 11 - 36"
- 1 - 6"
- 2 - 18"
- 5 - 4"
Once you complete all of your cuts you should have these pieces:
Build Your Duck Blind Frame: Start by dry fitting together the duck blind. You can put together the entire base of the blind and build your way up just like an erector set. Once you finish, the blind should look like what you see below.
Now you can begin the gluing process. The PVC cement is very fast setting, (like don't walk away from it unless it's where you want it, fast setting) I like to do this process exactly the opposite of how I built the blind. By starting from the top and working on one or two fittings at a time you can more easily see how it all needs to fit together instead of gluing from the bottom and ending up with an out of square blind.
Adding The Netting and Paint: Sure, you could paint first, it's probably easier but it was 10 p.m. and I had a hunt the next morning so I decided to save the painting (and drying) for last.
1. Wrap the 3' tall section all the way around in one piece of plastic. I started by zip tying the bottom and top of the netting in place and then rolling it out slowly while applying zips in order to keep the plastic tight. The netting is about 1" taller than the piping but it wraps over and zip ties down just fine without making any cuts.
2. After you have wrapped the bottom there should still be enough plastic to run another row directly above the lower section on the back wall of your blind. Make sure when you do this, you also zip tie the two sections of netting together.
Camouflage: You can pick what works best for you here. I saw some guys using actual long grass to insert between the netting on a blanket version of this blind. Others bought fast grass or burlap camo. In order to stay under budget I found this Burlap at Walmart for $12 per pack, I used 2 packs in my design. As a final touch I added a little natural grass and dead stalks tucked into the netting to help break up the hard edges. (not shown here)
I already had zip ties, but the final cost of this blind including paint and camouflage was $73, which was over my budget but cheap enough for the beating it will take. One of the benefits of this duck blind is that with the netting its easy for one guy to stand in the middle and carry it if needed and very simple for two guys to move. You can flip it around or move around a slough pretty easy when the wind changes directions as well.
Sources: huntingnet.com, youtube
