To Blind or Not to Blind?

Does Using a Ground Blind Fit Your Style or Plans to Kill a Wild Turkey This Spring? 

By Pat Kolbe, Buck Fever Outdoors

Using ground blinds is arguably one of the most popular methods of hunting spring wild turkeys across the country, and for good reason — they helped hunters harvest thousands of longbeards inside the concealment of the pop-up structures. But with strategies focusing on run-and-gun or reaping styles ever increasing in popularity, are ground blinds still a great option for you? They certainly can be! I’ll explore the pros and cons of using them, some of my favorite set-ups and why ground blinds should always be considered part of your turkey hunting arsenal each spring!

Pros of Using Blinds

You Can Preset a Location

One of the best things about using ground blinds is you can stake them out ahead of time and get them set up in prime travel route ambush locations or in well-known strutting zones. With your tent and chairs already pre-set, it's just a matter of grabbing your weapon of choice, and throwing your allotment of calls and snacks in a backpack and sneaking out to that location. Get in, hunker down and you are set for a day of turkey hunting action! 

Conceals Your Movement

Maybe the best tactical advantage a blind gives you over a wild turkey is your ability to make movements without detection. Many toms have been saved over the years by picking out a hunter shifting his weight or maneuvering his gun into position while sitting with his back against a tree. A turkey's best defense is their phenomenal eyesight. While you can’t get away with everything inside a blind, oftentimes if you have a solid decoy spread holding their attention, you are able to get away with subtle movements or adjustments you need in order to set up for the shot. 

Weather Beaters

Let’s face it, spring turkey hunting can throw you a roller coaster of weather patterns! From rain, to wind, to snow, to sunny blue-bird skies — sometimes you get them all in the same day! Blinds offer protection from those cool spring rains and a chance to spark a heater if it's really cold out! When it's really warm out, they usually also allow for a chance to shed a layer or two without really giving up concealment because you are inside the four-walled tent.

Partner and Family Friendly

Turkey hunting experiences are always best shared with the company of friends or family! Blinds offer the ability to sit together with multiple people, whether it's your good hunting buddy, or even bringing your kids out for the hunt. The security of the blind helps reduce noise and allows you to get away with some movement inside — certainly an important factor if you have young kids along! In fact, in the spring of 2022 I was able to take my five year-old son along for his first ever turkey hunt and we shared a great memory harvesting a jake turkey during an early May morning. Being able to sit next to someone and talk, indulge in old stories, and share new memories together is one of the best things about turkey hunting out of blinds. 

Cons of Using Blinds

Feeling Tied to the Blind

Too many times I see or hear stories of the blind being a limiting factor for turkey hunters. After setting up on a field edge in a potential strut zone, the turkeys popped out 200 yards further down the field and never came up towards the blind — instead feeding, prancing and strutting for hours in that same location. The hunters never move - choosing to stay inside the blind in hopes that the birds see their decoy spread and come up their way - and the birds move away in the opposite direction leaving an unfilled tag. Sometimes hunters feel so tied to the blind and the location that it is in, that they are too afraid to get out and make an aggressive move that could seal the deal!

The Waiting Game

Even the best scouted spots with killer blind set-ups can yield to the alternative plans of a tom turkey on the day you dive inside the blind for a sit. Sure — he may be around — you can hear him gobbling his neck off, or you catch a glimpse of him in the far distance. But he isn’t showing up to that marquee spot you set up in yet. He probably will at some point, but the waiting game is on and your patience can wear thinner by the hour! Blind sitting can involve painstakingly long sits waiting out the warry gobblers presence! Can you hang in there long enough for things to happen?

It’s Not Nearly as Much Fun as a Run & Gun Hunt

Don’t get me wrong, dropping a thunder chicken from a ground blind is a great time, and I have taken countless birds doing so! But nothing compares to the adrenaline rush of a run-and-gun hunt, or a bird you were able to crawl through some tall grass and stalk up within shooting range of. Those experiences offer much more of a heart-thumping rush - but also carry a big risk-reward tag! Sitting in a blind is certainly more of a conservative approach compared to the run-and-gun style!

My Favorite Set-Ups

Field Edge Corners

No other place have longbeards fallen more victim to my 12 gauge than when they step out into the corner of a field to strut their stuff. Typically I stake out my blind set-up on the field edge in either direction about 30 yards from the corner. I want to be able to shoot into the corner and just past it into the woods behind if possible. Over the years I have had countless gobblers enter directly in those field corners and stick their necks out to take a good look at the decoy spread I have laid out. Sometimes that spread has looked pretty enough to entice them to run in, and other times they just hang up and stay stubborn in that corner — but that’s why I like setting up a mere 30 yards away — giving me the option to line up a shot on the willful longbeard. 

Travel Routes Between Feeding Plots

Sounds a bit like deer hunting doesn’t it? One of my other go-to spots for a ground blind is setting up on clear travel routes between two food sources — especially interior food plots inside a woods. Ideally, these travel routes are wide trails the size of which a full-size pickup truck could drive down. Turkeys seem to like walking these open trails or logging roads going from point a to point b and I like to be set up in the middle to intercept them.

The Choice is Yours

Ground blinds are always a staple in my spring turkey hunting arsenal. I love turkey hunting for many reasons, but one of the biggest enjoyments for me is to be able to share in the hunts with family and friends — and oftentimes that includes sitting together in a ground blind. I still employ other run-and-gun strategies and setups at times, but I can guarantee a blind is always packed in my truck on any trip. The choice is truly yours. Hunt to your style and preference – but I’d suggest being open to any and all tactics. Ground blinds certainly have their time and place!