10-1-12

It's that time of year again, duck season is almost here and so the work begins! The rice is yet to be harvested but the cutting will begin soon and shortly there after the prep work for all of the guide blinds will begin.

I wanted to take this time to document the work on the new blind in the wetland so you guys can see what goes into getting the blinds brushed up. I feel that this is the most important part of the pre season prep, as you will be much more successful in your hunting if the birds cannot see you.

As the prep work goes on I will document how we set up our rice blinds as well, since I always get a ton of questions or how we do it.

The new blind in the wetland took a few days to build as it is 16' long X 4' wide with a half roof that is 7' high. The blind turned out great but after looking at the finished product I was a little worried about how I would be able to brush it up so that it would blend in to the natural cover.

The first step was to run tree rope around the front of the blind and each side. This was done by hammering U nails into the wood and then running the tree rope through that. Once this was all complete I began cutting tules and stuffing them into the tree rope making sure to keep them running up right and tight by starting in one corner and working across the blind. After stuffing in each handful I push them to the side so they stay tight and straight. This takes forever but the end result will be a good solid wall of tules that should last the entire season. Once the front of the blind and both sides were finished I moved on to the roof.

The roof was first covered with avery fast grass that I stapled directly to the roof. I then ran the tree rope over the top with U nails and again started stuffing tules in. On the roof I ran the tules long ways so that they would hang over the front of the blind and would then stuff in the next bunch the opposite direction so they would hang over the back side of the blind. I was trying to break up the squared look of the blind and make it look more natural and blend it in with the trees and other natural cover around the blind.

When I was done with the tules I cut a bunch of willow tree branches and stuffed them into the tules on all sides and the roof of the blind, to give the blind some shape, and to breakup the square look.

In the end the blind looked awesome and I can wait for the opener to come so I can see if it works, or if I need to put more brush on it.

Casey