Ep. 676: Foundations - The Art of Natural Ground Blinds

she buys up those stupid stores she likes. I can easily look at white tail racks and meal deer racks and elk racks and turkey beards and antelope horns and think about how I ended up in pretty close proximity to all those critters. I'd say probably like thirty percent of them happened to be shot from the ground out of some type of natural ground blind. I've talked pretty extensively about how to set up stands and hubstyle ground blinds.

But I think learning to blend into the vegetation that's available to you is a skill that just fills tags. So that's what I'm going to talk about today. If you were to take a look at one of those Kardashian ladies out there, the ones who say things like ew Chloe, you'd see some serious surface level beauty, you know, flawless looking skin, perfect hair, bodies that look like they were sculpted to dang near perfection. A passing glance at any one of those ladies would reveal what looks like

some real beauty. Of course, we all know that there's a lot of bullshit tied up into their appearances. For example, they probably lean pretty heavy on the filters for their social media posts clean up their image. Hell, they probably employ full time photoshop experts to make them look super good when they are just casually posing at some random beach in the perfect evening light. If you were to dig a little deeper, and I can't prove this, so it's just my opinions, so don't sue me, Kim, you

might find out that they've had some cosmetic surgery. I know, shocking, right, I'd bet a dozen of my favorite arrows that there have been a few, I don't know, nose jobs, Brazilian butt lifts, and a bunch of other surgeries that the one percenters pay for to look like one percenters. You might look at them in passing, as I said, and think, gosh, they sure are a genetically gifted bunch, But the truth is there's a hell of a lot of curation to

their appearance. What you see is it what you'd actually get if they'd agree to be around a poor loser like you, which they absolutely would not do. You know what? This is kind of like golf. I'm so sorry. Hunting content the twenty one minute show on the Sportsman's channel that shows some face painted dork passing up one hundred and thirty inch bucks all day long to eventually shoot a one sixty you know, probably a touch too far back.

That's the hunting version of the Kardashians. Not all shows, of course, but a lot of them, because those deer in those spots are carefully curated to come together in a way that allows for easy filming. You know how it goes. There's always the perfect tree and the perfect access, and the bucks rarely get downwind and the doughs never look up, and it's all hunky freaking dory. But that's not any more real than the aesthetics of a reality TV family that it's famous for. Well some stuff. The

truth is out there where you hunt. The perfect spot is pretty hard to come by. Sure, you probably have some locations on your hunting grounds that the deer like to use, and maybe a few spots that mature bucks are prone to travel through, at least when the weather gets right and the stars a ligne and the old boys start to feel a little tingle in theirnothers, you probably have a few spots with a perfect clumped bass trees that allows you to work on your Michael Jackson

dance moves and not get busted by passing deer. The perfect setup does exist, it's just mostly created when you find it naturally. It's like a whole new level is unlocked, and you should enjoy it while you can. Because mother Nature is always in flux, and for some reason, the greatest setups for killing wild white tails seem to exist on a time scale that doesn't extend indefinitely into the future. The thing is a lot of the best spots I

don't know, they don't have perfect trees in them. This, aside from being replaced by better options, is one of the reasons the popularity of climbing tree stands has gone right down the old shitter for a while quite a while ago. Now, you weren't allowed to buy a hunting license unless you knew how to use a climber. Well,

that's not true. But what is true is that while climbing stands were great for straight trees with no limbs, nature doesn't really offer up tons of high traffic deer areas that also happen to feature straight trees with no limbs growing and then situate them about twenty yards down into the best deer trails. Now, I killed a fair amount of deer out of climbers over the years, but I also settled for not so great spots and awful

lot just to be able to use them. It was dumb, and it led me right into the world of lightweight stands and sticks, which eventually led me into the world of lightweight stands and sticks and sometimes using a saddle. But even those, you know, even the best saddle set up money can buy won't do you much good if you hunt in an area that is low on trees, or you hunt an area that has plenty of trees but also a few good spots that don't offer up

the best tree stand options. You can put out a hubstyle blind, of course, but you can also go on naturrel. This is a better option than most people think, especially if you're on private land. You know where you can cut some trees and trim some stuff and stack some lugs and create a nice little Heidi hole. You can just make something happen in a non traditional deer setup.

And honestly, this isn't limited to white tails either. A natural blind on the edge of a wallow where a bull elk might come in is a good strategy too. It works for western critters, it works for turkeys. But there is an art to it. To understand that, let me first say what most people do wrong with natural blinds. They want to be comfortable and they want great visibility. Those are like one in one a right there. But

that's wrong. We do this with tree stands and hubstyle blinds too, And what happens then is we make a choice to be more visible and often a little too close to the action because we just can't help ourselves. Instead, think about natural blinds as being like a really good place to truly hide, where approaching critters won't know you're there until it's too late, if they ever figure it out at all. To frame this up, consider this, how often do you find a random five gallon bucket on

the edge of a field on public land somewhere? This was obviously brought in there to sit on so somebody could see better. The same goes for blind chairs. We want to be comfortable and we want to see, so we bring something with us that allows us to achieve both. Now, when you're dealing with an eye level encounter with pretty much anything but elk, because they just aren't as dialed into seeing danger that isn't moving, you're at a huge disadvantage.

The bigger you allow yourself to be. Sitting on a bucket puts so much of your body in the visible plane of a critter, and then when you try to draw your bow you can just kind of forget about it. They're going to see you. The difference between that and just sitting directly on the ground on a cushion is the difference between so much of you being easily visible and directly in line with where your quarry will probably look.

You can mitigate some of this by brushing things in really well and using the available vegetation and terrain, but I think it's better to sacrifice a little comfort and visibility to stay more hidden. This is very, very hard for most hunters to do. This is just like hanging a stand on private land and then starting the trimming process. It's so easy to overdo it when you want to be able to shoot three hundred and sixty degrees around the stand and have absolutely no chance of clipping a

twig no matter where a buck approach is from. This is all well and good until a pressured buck does approach. The dance between being able to get a critter within range while making sure you have a clear good shot is an eternal one. It never ends. But think of it this way. You won't get a good shot if you get busted before your quarry gets into the red zone. You need them in range first, and the best way to do that is to hunt a good spot and

not get busted. Simple, right, But it's not. You have to learn to trust your ability to find a spot where critters will walk through you have to believe it'll happen, so you don't constantly put yourself into a position to get spotted while sitting there. You want to keep a low profile and a lot of faith in your abilities. This isn't that easy, but some success from these setups is a great reinforcer. You also have to do this

a lot to how to get it right. When I was growing up in bow hunting as a teenager, my dad bought this tree seat thing that was just a small cushioned seat that strapped to a tree trunk. It was kind of cool and I used it a lot. It was convenient, but I also quickly learned that I need to use it on good sized trees and sit facing away from where I thought the deer would walk.

That made it a better tool for the job, but still not great because deer walk a lot of places I don't want them to when I'm hunting them, and with that seat you were just so exposed, too exposed for my taste. That led me to just sitting on the ground behind trees, which is a point that is so dumb, but I just I need to make it just like hanging a stand or using a saddle to hide behind the tree trunk is a better strategy than setting up where you expect the deer to come from

where they're going to see you. Setting up on the ground requires the same consideration. If you can hide behind a tree and shoot around it as an animal passes, shouldn't you. After all, I haven't met a critter yet that can see through trees, and I sure as hell hope I never do. This is a good step if it's possible, but it's not always possible. Sometimes you have to be in front of the trees for a variety of reasons. Sometimes you have no trees to work with

it all. Instead have to use cornstalks or cattails or some random shrubs or brush or deadfalls. Here's the key to this stuff. No matter whether you're hunting antelope or turkeys, or bears or deer or whatever, if you're going to go to the natural ground blind route, think about what's in front of you and what's behind you. This is so important because it allows you the opportunity to break up the human form. This is also the secret sauce

to so many different camel patterns. It isn't necessarily always to hide you perfectly in a wide variety of environments, but instead to just make your human form look less well humany humanish human like here we go. It's also a good idea to think about sunlight and shadows when you're setting up a natural blind Shadows are your friend here and direct sunlight is not, although you do need sunlight to get shadows. I get that this is easy stuff, but the brushing in part often isn't. You have to

think about depth. Obstructions in front of you and behind you create depth. You have to look at this like you're becoming a part of something natural. I want to give you two examples from hunts I did in Texas for turkeys and access to here. On the turkey hunt, which was a bow hunting canyon country where I got the impression not many people bow hunting turkeys.

yards away fighting my decoy, totally oblivious to me. Hey didn't even me draw, which is saying something when you're bow hunting turkeys without a blind. Now on the axis hunt, the outfitter that I hunted with told me to sit in a metal folding chair on the edge of a

calichi quarry that had some water in it. I did it as I was told the first morning, but I realized pretty quickly that the thirsty critters weren't super dumb, and they'd eyeball me and just drink at the far side of the quarry if they came in at all. Either way, they stayed out of bow hunting range. Now, if you've never hunted access to here, let me say this, they are like turkey level, aware of their surroundings, and about as tolerant as some asshole in a poor setup.

I asked the outfitter if I could borrow a brush trimmer and a saw, and I moved to the edge of the water where there were a couple of seedars. Once there, I just carved out a little cubby to tuck into and then I layered cedar boughs in front of me. I killed a really good axis the first time I sat it at maybe fifteen yards. The right natural ground blind forces critters to look through or passed you. That's the secret, well it's part of the secret. The

other thing is you have to get low. The more of you that is below the brush line, the better. Then you have to make sure that you have cover in front of you and behind you, like sufficient cover. This puts you in the midst of a bunch of natural elements, and that means that you have your chance to become just another piece of the land. As dumb as it sounds, you just don't want to stand out in any way. Then at least if you're bow hunting,

you have to be able to draw. This is the hard part from a natural groundline and something that you should consider as you settle in and make your blind. You can do the best brushing in job in the world, but if you can't get drawn without scraping a bunch of leaves with your bottom cam or having to move a lot, you're just out of luck. So what I like to do is set up so that I can

stay low but still beyond my knees. When I draw, it's always when the critter is where I can kill them, because even if I get busted and they stop to stare, it's too late. Now this is a simplified version. Of course, you should work on drawing this way in one smooth motion as you elevate your body just slightly in getting the shooting position. I can't stress how important it is

to be able to do this correctly. If you learn this skill, and it is a skill you can practice on at home, you're going to kill more deer and turkeys and antelope and elk and meal deer and whatever else you hunt. This is because a natural ground blind can give you a couple of distinct advantages that you can't often get from other setup styles. For starters, you can use this strategy just about anywhere. It doesn't require

a bunch of extra gear, which is really nice. But it also allows you to hunt just about anywhere the sign tells you that you should hunt. That's so important because an awful lot of critters spend their time and places that aren't conducive to saddle and trees stand setups. They just aren't. And the more you can and adapt with natural blinds, the better you'll be. There are situations

out west where this is the best strategy. There are situations in the Midwest and East, even where deciduous forests dominate, where it's still the best strategy. In the big woods, which is I don't know, full of trees and cover, there are still situations where this is the best strategy. The edges of swamps come to mind, and that's something that can work if you're up near Canada or down near the Gulf of Mexico. There's another benefit to this

style of hunting too. The shot opportunities tend to be pretty sweet. If you manage to stay hidden and undetected, The ground level shots you earn are often close and pretty easy to make. I've had so many successful hunts where critters either didn't know I was right there, or when they did figure out something was up, it was like they couldn't quite believe it, and they let me get off a good shot as they try to figure

out what was going on. So if you're out scouting this summer or finding yourself struggling this fall, about this. It's kind of the least limiting style of hunting, which allows you to take the high odds route of ambushing your quarry. I promise you that just about anywhere you hunt, there are locations that are ripe for a natural groundblne. But you have to do your part. Have to think about how visible you are, think about how blended into

the depths of the cover you really are. Think about how you'll get into position to take a shot if something big comes under your way. But more importantly, just think about this as an option as you scout now and as we get into the season, because there are spots where this is perfect and a lot of people don't do this or they don't do it right. Don't be those people. That's it for this week, my friends.

I'm Tony Peterson. This has been the Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast, which is brought to you by First Light. As I always want to thank you so much for listening.

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