Wednesday 18 August 2010

Blinds/Hides-1 step beyond



I use a blind/hide for a lot of my work from bird to deer photography, They are a great way of getting close to your target species without putting any stress on them, They keep your scent in and keep you warm and dry, For years i have been using the dome type hides, I had a canvas one for years from Wildlife Watching Supplies, Infact it was so old and used that it looked mono chrome as all the colour had been bleached out by the sun, But it did a great job and was great in the winter due to its heavy canvas coat, Since moving to the States i have just used the pop up cheapy jobs, Available around $60-70 they have done ok but i have gone through 3 in 2 years so they are not built to last, When i was in the UK recently i shot with Phil Shaw and we used a square hide that i had not see before, It was well made with thick poles and very rigid, It was an American made hide and Phil told me they are around $500 or so-quite expensive but a great design, Big enough for 2 in comfort and without the sides sloping in at the top very airy-I was impressed, I didnt want to spend that kind of money so i had a look around, Cabelas are doing some square type hides from about $150 and then i popped into my local Dicks Sporting Goods and they had some that are currently in the sales from $200 down to $119 so i bought one, They weight quite a bit more than the standard dome hide, I bought a mid size hide that will take 2 people easily enough, Its very easy to erect, Just take hold of the metal 'eye' in the centre of each panel and pull it until the side/top locks open, Do that 5 times and its up, No threading rods or anything-Done, Just put it in place and peg it out-Very rigid and looks just the job, One thing i dont like on this model is that the scrim over the windows is outside but that's easily fixed, I doubt i will ever go back to a dome type hide again



Dave

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