If you have or buy one of the pop-up blinds that are becoming so popular, here is a word of wisdom with some humor!! BEFORE you take it out to the woods or fields for the first time, do a dry run of setting it up and then taking it down and folding it to fit the little carry bag! Took one out yesterday for the first time and had my daughter with me. Setting it up was definitely no problem! Folding it up in the dark with no lights to read the instuctions was another story! Didn't happen in the field! I carried it to the truck, managed to get it stuffed in the extended cab in a partially folded state. When we got homewe laid it out on the reloading room floor and managed to get it to fold and inserted into the carry bag. It was a humourous little sidenote to a hunt where no game was encountered. GHD

I learned that lesson some years ago in Alaska. Every I get a new tent or blind it is practice time. Nothing worse that trying to pack up in the dark while pouring rain. Been on that goat rodeo before!

GHD,
Good advice, indeed.

Another good thing that came out of your experience is the memory your daughter will have of the day and will keep for the rest of her life.

annoying damn things ain't they?

My uncles hangs in the roof of his barn for the last 2 years. He gave up folding it the first day he set it up LOL.

What I found to be the biggest pain in the kiester with the Ameristepo blinds is the exposed zippers. Exposed to freezing rain that freezes them shut. Exposed to melting snow which frezzes then shut. for a few stinking dollars they could add a little flap over the zippers. Cost me $25.00 to have a seamtress do both of mine. I hardly use them any longer as I found that 4 1/2 sheets of osb 4 2x4's make a dandy blind and can be pulled around with an ATV if you add a hitch to the roof area and some big lawn mower wheels.

Customer service said I should bring in the blinds when the weather is freezing. Wind chill today is 10F and it is the 4th day of muzzle loader season. One blind hangs from the pole barn rafters the other is folded on a shelf where it has been for 3 years.

Al

This does not pertain to varmints, but what about the guys that use the camo blinds with hunter orange hat and vest on inside the blind. I hope the blinds are kevlar!

Moorepower--Hats off to those smart enough to wear orange---they do have to walk to the blind.

GHD,
EXCELLENT advice.
I bought one a couple of years ago, took it to our UP for a Deer hunt, and could never figure out how to fold it back up when the season ended.
I left it at the camp in the UP for a future hunt.

Some states require a blaze orange cap on portable blinds. I think Michigan is one of those states. I'll have to do a search on the dena site to see.

I see no reason they can't be used for varmit hunting?

great blinds easy to setup, but a B**** to take down. zippers suck as well. the best thing is you can usually find them on sale after hunting seasons are over, I buy a couple each year to replace worn out ones. I use them for most of my whitetail hunting back east, set up a folding table and it's like shooting off of a bench(good place to set your coffee cup as well) would work on water holes here in AZ for desert mulies and antelope as well.
here ar a couple opf pics with my setup.


nmhunter

Cool beans!! What's the XP chambered in?? Or is it an XP?? One of the places I hunt has a plastic blind with sliding windows. A 2x6 laid diagonally across from a side window to a front window makes a steady rest but that little fold up table sure looks good!! I like the SS pistols as well. Never a finer cartridge design for eastern whitetails at modest ranges than the 7mmBR!! GHD

They are actually HS Precisions. the first picture is a 270 WSM and the second picture is (blue one ) 300 WSM and the camo one is a 7mm-08
thanks
nmhunter

Caught the safety and thought "they aren't XP's!!" Fun looking rigs!! It takes special bunch to appreciate the effectiveness of the "hand rifles"!! From 17HMR to the 458 derivitives, they can be fun!! GHD