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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KDM" data-source="post: 264462" data-attributes="member: 314">We've kicked this very topic around for years in my hunting circle.  I think elevated blinds can improve the hunting experience and plan on building another one myself here in the near future.  However, there are several factors for and against elevated blinds as well as inumerable personal preference issues.  Here's some of what we've discussed.....The Good:  Out of the elements, Comfort levels are high (chairs/heaters/storage, etc.), movement concealed, noise reduction, scent control easier, deer ignore them after a few weeks, can have multiple hunters to share the experience.The Bad:  Deer patterns can and do change leaving you and your PITA to move, blind out of position.  Elevated blinds are expensive to buy and then maintain.  The higher the blind the more unstable you become.  Safety considerations.  High elevation means longer falls and deeper divots when you land.  The blind will be unoccupied for 98% of the year, so weather and other critters (squirrels especially) will attempt/succeed in wrecking the entire thing over the course of the year.  Multiple trips during the year may be necessary to ensure the blind will be working come opening day.The Ugly:  Jealous dolts like to shoot holes in blinds in the off season.  Broken windows and ventilated walls suck.  So visibility from the road might be something to consider.Now onto the the other issues that have come up........   First:  How well do you know your ground?  Like you mentioned, elevated blinds can be a PITA to deal with.  I wouldn't even consider one unless I knew the deer movement patters VERY well over the course of the entire season.Second:  How long do you plan on keeping and hunting the land?  I would be much less inclined to deal with elevated blinds if I were looking to upgrade ground.  Third:  How elevated?  Higher might be nicer, but stablility, access, and other factors may make a shorter blind the better option.  Gound blinds are essentially elevated blinds with zero elevation and LOTS of deer get taken out of ground blinds.  Fourth:  How big and who is going to use it?  I have found that hunting by myself out of a two man tree stand is MUCH more comfortable than using a single man stand.  I have also found that when hunting with ladies or young hunters, that having more space makes the hunt infinitely more enjoyable.  So for me and hunting solo, I would want enough space for two.  If I were going to hunt with someone else, I would want space for 4.Fifth:  What material?  Fiberglass molded blinds are light, durable, and relatively easy to deal with, but are noisy, cold, and tend to bend out of shape after a year or so in the field making doors, windows, and other openings not seal, squeek, and otherwise not work properly.  The higher the blind, the worse these factors seem to get, however you can move these much easier than a wood blind.  Custom wood blinds are heavy, expensive, and take time to build, but have almost none of the issues mentioned of fiberglass blinds AND you can put the windows/doors exactly where you want them.  However, moving these is generally much more difficult if not impossible.Sixth:  Location of the blind and some factors to consider......    If in farm country, how is crop rotation going to affect deer movement?  Are cattle a factor?  Cattle just LOVE to rub on blinds and push them over.  How does snowfall affect deer movement.  On my land, there are certain locations that are real good until the first snow falls.  Then there is 4 ft of snow where the stand is regardless of the amount that fell.  When will you want to hunt the blind?  Will the location be good early season as well as late season.  Will the blind be good in the mornings as well as evenings?  It all comes down to how the deer move on your property.  Finally:  Can you influence any of the above with bait, food plots, tree plantings, and other property management techniques?  Sorry for the long winded response, but I've built 3 of these and only use 1 for the most part as several of the factors I mentioned above didn't work out for the locations of the other two and makes them basically unusable.</blockquote>

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