Blend in naturally with the surrounding landscape.

No matter how authentic-looking the camo on your ground blind is, the fact is that it’s not going to blend in perfectly in every location that you hunt. The sight of your blind can spook game away, but with the right placement and natural camouflage, you can blend in with almost any landscape and increase your chances of a successful hunt.

First let’s cover where you should set up your blind. For the best natural cover, set up in thick vegetation close to a stand of trees, especially downed trees or trunks with overhanging branches. The combined shadows of the trees and taller vegetation will swallow or break up the shadow of your blind. The profile of the trees will dominate the landscape and keep your blind’s profile from sticking out like a sore thumb. The taller your blind, the longer your shadow and the more careful you need to be in order to conceal your blind.

Setting up in an open area requires more careful concealment using branches and stubble. Direct sunlight can cast shadows of your blind that raise the suspicions of game, so be aware of your shadow as well as the blind itself. Depending on the type of game you hunt, you can also set up decoys to deflect attention away from your blind. This is a clever trick to use in open areas where it’s more difficult to conceal the blind.

The best way to blend in with the landscape is to add natural foliage from your surroundings. Most blinds come with stubble straps that are strategically placed around the blind. Adding bushy vegetation to the stubble straps will break up the outline of your blind and customize the permanent camo pattern to blend in seamlessly with the landscape.

To add natural camouflage, gather several armloads of tree branches, weeds, brush, and whatever grows naturally in the area and stuff it into the stubble straps. The result should be a wild, natural look that matches the thickness of the surrounding foliage.

If you hunt on private land, set up your blind early so that the game animals grow used to it and no longer shy away from the area where your blind is set up. Once the game are comfortable with the presence of your blind, it will no longer set off the spook alarm that warns game of possible danger. Even if you set up your blind ahead of time, it’s still a good idea to camouflage it as much as possible.