My oldest son bought a little "pop up" tent-type ground blind called "HUNTER'S VIEW" for me from (I think) Wal-Mart for a little over $100 this year... and then, when he saw how nice it was, he went BACK to "Wally World" and bought another one for himself.
It's a neat little package that has 2 different sizes of zippered "windows" on each of it's four sides. Both of the "windows" on each side are solid cloth & you must unzip the "window" in order to see out of it, but you can unzip them as little or as much as yiou wish and in any combination you wish for viewing and/or shooting purposes.
The smaller zippered "window" is inside the circumference of the larger zippered "window"... and so you can completely or only partially unzip either "window" or you can totally unzipper the big one and have as large a field of fire (and observation) as you could possibly want... or you can partially or completely unzip the smaller one and have limited, but adequate view... although not as great a total observation & shooting capability as if you unzip the much larger "window".
The pop-up tent/blind, itself, has an extremely pliable spring steel frame that twists around & folds back down fairly easily if you brace the folded up part between your legs while you twist the pliable spring steel frame down into a small oval when you're taking it down.
The pliable spring steel frame pops up and forms the tent/blind body with two "dome" brackets made up of four spring-loaded pieces that "telescope" into one another to form & support the rounded "dome" of the blind. The "dome" is about 5-foot high at it's center. The two brackets (made up of four spring-loaded pieces) "cross" each other in an "X" at the top of the dome of the "tent". They hold up and round out the dome of the small tent/blind which is adequate for two rifle or shotgun hunters.
There are also four small ropes, one attached to each corner of the tent. The manufacturer furnishes small, steel "stakes" with the tent. They attach to the small ropes and are then pushed into the ground. They are adequate if the wind isn't blowing real hard. You can also use larger stakes if the furnished ones aren't adequate... or you could tie each of the ropes to trees if you wished.
The tent is easy to put up... just remove it from it's oval back-pack (with double carrying straps) and let it "go"... and step back! It will "pop" itself into shape in a split second. Then all you have to do is insert the 8 telescoping, springloaded pieces (four in each of the two roof supports) and put them into the appropriate places in the tent's roof-body... and push the small stakes into the ground and tie off the light ropes at each corner of the pop up "tent" to the stakes and you're ready to sit down inside the ground-blind on a foldable camp chair you brought with you. It's a pretty slick deal, but the foldable camp chair doesn't go with the "package", so make sure you buy one.
To take it down, you simply reverse the above procedure. It's not hard to take down once you remember what you must do.
I used it several days during this year's deer camp and left it up overnight... and I really liked it. It is supposed to be "water resistant"... which tells me it might keep you relatively dry in a light rain, but maybe NOT in a heavy rain. However, since it didn't rain while I was in it, I'm not sure about it's "water resistant" qualities... but it's a neat little ground blind that weighs about 12 lbs... and it folds up rather easily into a sturdy camo'd "back-pak" that is complete with a pair of carrying (shoulder) straps.
I do believe it would keep the wind off you if you shut all but one of the 4 main openings ("windows") and left only one open on one side of the blind so that there wasn't a "through draft". That could really be helpful if it was pretty cold. It would surely be better than sitting out in the open.
But it has no "floor", so some wind could get in under the edge the windward side of the blind... but if they made it adequate for all of these things, then it would cease to be very "portable". As it is, it works fine... and is a lot better than leaning against a tree trunk out in the open.
What I like about it is that while it's light, it doesn't seem "fragile"... and the zippers on the "windows" work smoothly & easily with one hand while you're holding your rifle or shotgun in the other hand... another nice "plus". And, as long as you keep the "window" behind you shut... you're sitting in relative darkness and it would be hard to see even if you fidged around a bit... something most of us do... and something that often alerts a deer and causes him to run in the other direction.
Strength & Honor...
Ron T.
