Tips on Using Ground Blinds for Turkey Hunting

There’s definitely something thrilling about sitting propped against a tree waiting for a gobbler to show up. But with rapidly changing weather conditions in spring and when pursuing especially wary gobblers, using ground blinds for turkey hunting can give you several advantages. Here’s why you might want to consider turkey hunting from a ground blind this spring and some great options to try.

Benefits of a Ground Blind

As mentioned, hunting from a ground blind has a lot of perks as compared to sitting out in the open. For example: 

• Hunting from a ground blind is much more comfortable. After a couple hours of sitting on the ground leaning against a tree, you really start to lose feeling in your legs and rear end, and your back isn’t in the best of positions. It gets tiring pretty fast, especially since you’re trying to be as still as possible. With ground blinds, you can actually sit in a decent chair. Bring along a padded bucket seat, fold-up chair, or even a comfortable swivel chair, and you will stay in the field much longer. 
• Another advantage of ground blinds for turkey hunting is that you are protected from the elements. Spring weather conditions can change quickly, but it doesn’t always stop the turkey action. In fact, many turkeys move out into fields when it rains so they can see any predators approaching. Sticking it out inside a ground blind will always be better than packing it in and heading back to the truck. 
• Also, hunting in a ground blind allows you much more freedom of movement. Whether you need to make small adjustments while self-filming, you have kids along, or you just need to stretch your legs stealthily, a turkey ground blind conceals your movement from a gobbler’s keen eyesight. 

Turkey Hunting Ground Blinds

Now you know why it might help to use ground blinds for turkey hunting. Here are some great ground blind options you should consider. The Bone Collector R-150 or R-600 hub style ground blinds by Rhino Blinds come in two different camo patterns to suit different situations. Both of these hunting blind options fit 2 to 3 people comfortably, although the R-600 is a little bit larger. The biggest difference between them though is that the R-600 is more durable, as it is constructed of 600 denier fabric (versus 150 denier fabric) and has reinforced stress points and tripled stitched corners. They are also treated with a water repellent finish to help keep you dry inside, and an antimicrobial finish to prevent mold and mildew. 

These hunting blinds are quick to set up due to their hub style design, and their tie-down stakes and ropes help secure it in windy conditions. You can easily set it up a few days ahead of your hunt to minimize your disturbance on opening morning and give turkeys plenty of time to get used to it. There are several brush loops so you can add more branches and conceal it even better. The mesh windows are shoot-through for both bow and gun hunting so they’ll never see what hit them until it’s too late. But the windows also have silent-slide tracks to stealthily open the solid fabric coverings – this is a major reason they are some of the best ground blinds for turkey hunting, as many blinds use noisy Velcro or zippers to open and close windows. 

The Realtree Timber™ option is darker in its colors, and the pattern is reminiscent of flaking bark, which makes it look much like an old stump. The pattern works really well in darker timber areas, such as heavy conifer cover or mature hardwood forests. One of Michael Waddell’s turkey hunting tips is to hit the timber in the early season, and this blind would be perfect for that situation. Meanwhile, the Realtree EDGE™ is much lighter and broken up by different structural elements (e.g., branches, leaves, bark, shadows) so it blends in from near or far. This blind and camo pattern would be a great choice for brushy field edges or old fields along clover food plots. 

Either way, these options would be great ground blinds for turkey hunting this season.