Natural "camo" that isn't salt hay?

P

Paul W

Well-known member
Do any of you northerners (Minnesota) use natural shtuff on the boat blind? Cattails work well on stationary blinds, but I cant imagine they'd do well with being rolled up or trailered etc. I need to touch up the blinds on both boats. I'll use whatever I can get my hands on, but curious if something actually holds up for a season or so.I have decent raffia coverage on now, but Can't swing the more raffia price this year, even the reasonably priced stuff from jstern etc, going to spend the money on glorious licensure for the wife and I. She is ready to tackle some geese, and wants to try her hand at filling a deer tag too. Life is good.




Paul
 
Last edited:
You can either go with Big Bluestem, a deep rooted prairie natural grass that should be abundant in your area in fields and along roadsides, or opt cut a variety of native sedges that are abundant, growing along wet ditches on roadsides. The stems on sedges are triangular in cross-section. Several are very capable of cutting your hands to shreds if you attampt to cut or handle them without wearing gloves. Also, wear eye protection of some sort when bobbing up and down cutting bundles. Two guys I hunt with have ended-up with scratched corneas over the years from blind building. Sedges are light and wear well once dry, changing to a mix of greens and deeper browns. I bundle them in two inch plus diameter hanks with a pair of zip ties synched to just snug. Don't cut the zip ties down until the bundle has dried, since it will drop about half its diameter and weight. Big bluestem is quite resilient; dry its a very light tan color. Again, I bundle them together with a pair of zip ties in varying diameters, cutting them from stands now that they are in seed. I cut the stalks down to leave the seed heads in the field, rather than throwing them away when I bundle them at home.
 
prairie cord grass is a pretty good choice if you can find it in your area. We've used it for years on layout boats and other guys use it on their bigger boats as well.
 
What I would do is when you get to the spot you are going to hunt, get the brush knife out and cut you some brush and grasses for camoing the boat that way your camo is of the same color and type that you are hunting from.

Then attach it to the boat, do this every time you hunt and you will always blend in to the specific spot. The grass and brush you cut before will change colors and look diffrent then what your putting on that morning but thats a good thing it will give your camo a more blended natural look.

This is how I do it and it has always worked fine. Base layer of camo netting then brush and grass each morning through out the season.

I dont use any of the grass mats that you can buy but I do use some rafara grass strands in diffrent colors I got it from a online place called jsterns.com, I make bundels and tie it to the netting on the camo, then when I get to the spot I cut and add grasses and brush from the spot every morning.

The stuff from jstern comes in a 25 pound box and you can mix and match colors to make up the 25 pounds.

Hope this longwinded post helps you sir.
 
Not in your area, but we use rice in Merrymeeting Bay. It's what's available and typically lasts all season.

For shorline hunting, a few trimmed saplings driven into the mud around the boat or blind provide a lot of cover. I've seen boats "grassed" up with cedar or fir to blend in with the shoreline.

On the coast, sea weed works wonders. I like my boat to look like a floating mat of rockweed.
 
Paul,

We used grass and cattails for a blind on a flatbottom on the river years ago. It worked well for hiding and held up trailering 15 mi each way. We tied bundles to plastic garden fence from a big box lumber yard then stapled that to the wooden frame of the blind. if we needed more, we just tied more on. The down side, it starts to get heavy over time adding more. the up side, when we replaced the blind with a lighter one, the fencing made great roll up blinds for field goose hunting.

George
 
Thanks everybody!!


Will take into account. Cattails are plentiful and will like get a trial run tied in the middle like I do my raffia. I'll start We shall see..
 
I saw a tip many years ago and i can't remember where i saw it but have used this method with good success. Start with a roll of snow fence like you see in construction zones as orange but they make a green color that is readily available. I spray painted it a tan color before weaving the grass in. Not sure the name of the grass i used but it grows in clumps and is about three feet tall. Get a piece of one inch electrical conduit with a larger female end on one end. Weave the conduit through the mesh and insert as much of the grass into the female end of the conduit leaving the ends of the bunch of grass protruding from the conduit. While holding onto the grass so it remains woven in the mesh pull the conduit free from the mesh. This leaves the grass woven in the mesh. I used this on a boat blind and also staked it up for a field or marsh blind and had good success. It rolls up easy for storage and transport and should last you a few seasons with minor touch ups each season. In my opinion this is a very economical substitute for commercially available products.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top