Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Hay Bale Blind for Bow and Rifle Hunting

Here is the Hay Bale blind I recently built for bow season that I haven't been able to use yet due to work.

Starting the frame and my helper.


Checking out the shooting rail with a 5 iron.


Detail of the removeable shooting rail. Put it in for rifle season and take it out for bow season.


I used 2x6 treated lumber for the skids, wall stud 2x4 and 1/2 inch plywood for the frame and end walls. 2 4x16 cattle panels for the top and sides.


I can load and unload by myself on a trailer with a ramp. It's light enough to probably load without the ramp. It's wrapped with 6 mil black plastic and Hay blanket used for erosion control.


On the edge of the field. It's not easy to pull by hand (with one person, maybe 2 people could move it better) on dirt/grass. I put a rope bridle on each end and can loop it over the hitch of my 4 wheeler to move if I can't get the trailer to the spot I like.


Not too hard to build, and other than the cattle panel, treated lumber (which probably wouldn't be needed in a dryer climate than Alabama), and the hay blanket, the rest of the materials were just what I had on hand. I'm thinking I could have made the windows a little wider but will hunt out of it this year a little and decide on that for next year.

Anyway, I thought it was a cool idea and decided to make one for hunting around some of the fields we hunt here in AL.

Bob.

Looks good!

Very neat idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks,

My soon to be 8 year old son is pretty pumped up about it. The youth season in Alabama starts tomorrow and runs through monday. Hopefully I'll have some dead critter pics to post next to the blind.

Bob.

That's just really cool...Fantastic job

That's great! Best of luck to you and your son!

Way cool!!! Good luck on your hunt.

Good Job,..Pretty cool.

Did you come up with the idea or had you seen [b][color:#3333FF]other blinds for sale.?[/color][/b]

That is a great blind. Nice craftsmanship too.
Have you shot a bow out of it?

I definitely didn't come up with that on my own. I've looked at them on the net because we had a few places we thought it would work out well. But the prices of those things are not pocket book friendly. I went on a hunt in Kansas in September and the outfitter had several of the Midwest? Hay Bale blind kits. I helped him put one together and just remembered the main dimensions and went from there. I had some materials on hand so out of pocket for the items I had to purchase I'm only into it for about $125.00. If I had to buy all the materials it would probably be around 200-250 depending on what you chose for lumber.

Its a little bigger than the popup blinds I have and have used(the interior dimensions are 6ft by 6ft at the gun rest height) and I can stand up in it.

I still hunt out of lock on treestands, and climbing tree stands, but anymore and especially for gun hunting,(and taking children) the ground blinds are just easier, quieter, and way more comfortable. And I don't have as far to fall if I nod off to sleep .

Bob.

Great job! I like it!

NO I haven't shot my bow out of it, I did draw it back while sitting in my ground blind chair and it will work fine. The windows are approx 6 inches wide by 16 inches high.

After I put the blind in the field, the narrowness, if that's a word, of the windows restricts your vision for gun hunting and seeing around the field a little, and if I think it needs it after I sit in it a couple of times, I'll just take the bolt cutters and make the 2 middle windows wider and just leave the two closer to the ends the same size.

Bob.

A bow with parallel limbs should work fine but one with tips that come forward will hit if you get too close to the side.
Good looking blind, for sure.

The blind is approximately 6 ft high, wide and from end to end. I don't know of any bow other than maybe a traditional long bow or recurve with longer limbs that would be a problem to shoot out this type blind or a pop up blind for that matter. And those could be a problem just because of length. But most any compound bow even one without parallel limbs should be fine.

You have to sit back away from the windows to even draw a bow, unless you stick the arrow out the window first before you draw. If your arrow is completely inside the blind when you are drawing, then the tips of your limbs, on any compound, and maybe even most traditional recurves, will be in the area of the blind with the 6 foot height, or if you are a little closer to the window in the 5 foot height as the curve of the wall starts to come in. A long compound bow which these days would be around 40 inches axle to axle would not be a problem to shoot from inside this blind. I'm using a Mathews Drenalin, don't know for sure how long it is off the top of my head, but probably in the 32 to 34 inch range, is no problem at all.

Bob.

That turned out well! Do you have other real ones nearby?

Yes, there are hay bales out in all the fields around there. That is a small field so only one other one there. The real ones are not as big as the blind. And to be honest I don't know if it makes a difference. I could have built it out of pink plastic and after a week or two the deer probably wouldn't pay it any attention. I just thought it looked cool, and more important, my son thinks its way cool.

Bob.

Animals don't seem to have a grasp of size. Have you seen the layout goose blinds that are shaped like giant geese? They work fine.

Well, we hunt deer out of box blinds all the time and they don't mind. I would have just built this one on a 4x6 frame with straight walls if it had been just for rifle hunting ( it would have been a lot easier), but you need the 6 ft width ( in the middle at least) to comfortably draw a bow and shoot it.

I think its like camo clothing anyway. It looks good to us, the deer don't mind so much.

Bob.

I think it looks bada$$!

Pretty cool does it have a heater?