From my Blind.... (long post)

GREAPER

I went out well before sunrise today and set up my blind in a grassy area in the middle of the river.

I thought I could walk out there without getthing my feet wet... doh! guess not.

It wasn't long after I got it set up and hopped inside before the parade of subjects started.

First to arrive was a GBH but it was still pretty dark and tripod or no, shutter speeds were tooooo low. (3 sec)

When the sun came up the light got better fast.

a egret came by to see if the fishin was good.



While he was checking it out, a group of white tailed deer cut through the river to avoid the people that would soon be jogging about through their woods.



Before long, the egrets were fighting for elbow room.



The GBH came back and brought a few friends. I was affraid he was gunna stick that spear of a nose through my blind he got so close.





He eventually moved off, I could hear a couple of them argueing back and forth behind my blind but i was affraid to unzip for a look. A was surprised and the constant bickering over territory between egrets and herons alike.



As the heron moved away from the blind, I saw this comorrant hop up on a rock about 30 feet from me.



He decided to catch some rays and dry his wings.



While he was sunning himself, this buck made his way across the river. I wonder where he is going... Ooohhh thats right, there were some does by earlier.



The wings were now dry so it was time to fish some more. The comorrant gave the blind a glace and hopped back in the water.



I was hoping a green or night heron might make an appearance, but it didn't happen.

I saw plenty of egrets and GBHs though so I was happy.



This guy caught a crayfish which are pretty common here in the river.



This mallard swam by turns out he was gunna be my last guest for the morning.



A couple of people came walking up the game trail making enough noise for a Mardi Gras party. They stopped and had a chat for about ten minutes twenty feet from my blind. Of course the wildlife dissappeared.

All in all it was worth the wet shoes. I had a good time.

Thanks for looking.

Brian

Dee

How neat
So sorry the people came by and scared off the wildlife.

We watch this one spot where the gulls and pelicans come in and take a "bath." It never fails when there's a nice big group of them that someone comes up to the point on the bluff above their "bath house" and they all take off in a flurry -- or if a dog comes by then it's goodbye birdies!

You got some really neat photos though, certainly worth the wet shoes.

DavidTO

Greaper,

Sure wish I coulda shared that time...looks fantastic. Nice shots. Jealous, I am.

tinbasher

Hi Brian,

Well, you have way more patience than I do...I would have yelled at the people on shore after 30 seconds...lol!
You definatly have a way with the camera...one of the nicest sets of pics I have seen!! Nice job indeed! I love the doe's crossing the river...an exposure nightmare, but you HIT IT dead on.
Keep up the nice work.

Cheers, Tony

Harryb

Outstanding Brian. The second and thrid shots in particular are prime.

I would love to a shot of your blind.

GraphyFotoz

Holy Crap Greap!!
I was blown away by the Buck and a GBH in the same frame!

I got a blind too this year dunno if I'll get a chance to use it?

pathfinder

Excellent work Brian. I love the close up head shot of the GBH - great light - I know just how hard they are to get close here in the Midwest. Lovely series of shots. The deer in the river are great too, although deer aren't usually as spooky as the birds.

Andy

really nice work, greaper!

bfjr

Been thinking about trying a blind myself, this set my push me into getting one!!

Well done

gus

That deer shot is fantastic mate

GREAPER

Thanks a lot everyone for the kind comments.

I really love being out there watching all of this go on around me.

I am also very happy to have a comunity like Dgrin to share them on.


Harry aked about my blind so I thought I would go out in the yard and shoot it for him.

The blind is roughly 5' x 5' x 5' inside. It has a zippered door on one side and windows on the other three.

This shot is the door side. I have left it partly unzipped so that the door is easy to see.



The window sides each have a small window and a large window. The large one is for hunters, I never use it. The small one, pictured here is twice as high as it looks because I have it zipped up half way.




Inside I usually sit on an inverted bucket (handy for carting stuff in and out as well). I keep my camera on a tripod, and shoot that way most of the time. Sometimes I know it will spook an animal to move the tripod so I detach and shoot handheld if I need to.



Here is a shot with the door unzipped to get in and out.



This all folds up into roughly a 2 foot disk with shoulder straps.

Generally I can walk up to a location, and set up in a minute or less.

I put down my stuff, pull the blind out of its carry bag and pop it open. It is like a spring when you fold it up so when you unfold it, it pretty much pops open.

I put my gear inside and step in, I zip it behind me.

Presto, I am out of sight.

There is more to do, braces in the ceiling, stakes in the corners, set up tripod, assemble camera, etc. All of these things I do slowly and quitely from the inside.

Dont get me wrong and think this is all easy and peaches and cream... It's dark out, You are generally on rough and unknown terrain. You are carrying. Your camera bag, A tripod, a 5 gallon bucket, and this blind. and maybe even a small cooler with beverages or a lunch. It's a lot of stuff and it gets heavy.

I have hiked in as far as 2 miles carrying all this crap. It was flat level ground, but it sure gets heavy.

This morning I only had to walk in about 200 yards to the river.

It can be a great expierience and well worth the effort. If you are successful in setting up undetected, the wildlife will ignore the blind and go about their lives. If you are careful, you will get to witness it up close.

GREAPER

GraphyFotoz wrote:

I was blown away by the Buck and a GBH in the same frame!

I got a blind too this year dunno if I'll get a chance to use it?

There is an OOF egret in the frame as well..

Osprey Whisperer

Nice set of photos, Brian. Hmmm a blind, eh? I've never used one.....or thought about using one. Interesting approach. I guess I'm lucky as most of the local birds are pretty freindly....and not afraid of people. I get pretty close and have only been using a 200mm for most of my shots. I've actually had egrets and GBherons walk into my house if the patio door is left open. I've also had snakes come in. :uhoh I'm wondering if those blinds come in funky blue? I know a few guys that might like one in just such a shade.

Well done...again.

MM

John Mueller

Good stuff Brian
Thanks for sharing

GraphyFotoz

Yup Yup
Yup looks a lot like mine Greap! Folds the same way just the openings are a bit diff.

Allen

Very nice Brian, 2nd with the herd is my favorite.

Now tell us, how long does it take to put the blind away? I have one
like it and after a couple hours I gave up. My wife was ROFL. I'm
planning on setting it up near a kingfisher perch but don't know if I'll
have the strenght to twist it back down. The spot is too long a walk
so I'll use my mountain bike and at five dia. the ride back would be fun.
AL

GREAPER

Allen wrote:

Very nice Brian, 2nd with the herd is my favorite.

Now tell us, how long does it take to put the blind away? I have one
like it and after a couple hours I gave up. My wife was ROFL. I'm
planning on setting it up near a kingfisher perch but don't know if I'll
have the strenght to twist it back down. The spot is too long a walk
so I'll use my mountain bike and at five dia. the ride back would be fun.
AL

, funny you should say that.

It doesn't take strength, it takes finness (SP?), which I usually lack. It's all in the twist. Put one hand on each side and twist them the opposite way. It should just twist right into a disk. That's what I told my Dad while he watched me put it away after shooting these pics. He had a good laugh at my expense because it just didn't want to go. I got it on the third try.

In the field this morning it practically jumped back into it's bag.

GREAPER

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

Nice set of photos, Brian. Hmmm a blind, eh? I've never used one.....or thought about using one. Interesting approach. I guess I'm lucky as most of the local birds are pretty freindly....and not afraid of people. I get pretty close and have only been using a 200mm for most of my shots. I've actually had egrets and GBherons walk into my house if the patio door is left open. I've also had snakes come in. :uhoh I'm wondering if those blinds come in funky blue? I know a few guys that might like one in just such a shade.

Well done...again.

MM

It's not my original idea, I read a lot about it on the web and thought I would try it. I have had good success with it. The birds up here have a pretty broad fight or flight zone and will not allow a close aproach.

A person is lucky to get within 100 feet before they fly off. In the blind I had a GBH to close to focus this morning.

Rohirrim

Outstanding series.thumb I'm going to have to get me one of those! The birds in this area are also very skiddish. I've never been closer than 50 yrds to a GBH.

ginger_55

Wonderful shots, Greaper! Where does one decide to place a blind? Where do you live? Etc?

Those shots are prime! You got it all, almost.

Where did you get the blind? did you make it?

A shot of the blind would have been great, smile. Scratch that, you did a great job showing us the blind. Looks like a tent we used to camp in, but a diff color.

I can just see me putting a blind up somewhere with the tide out.............and, well, actually, I would have no idea where to put a blind, but a tide dominated area would not seem to be it. I need one, though. My birds are like yours. They like their personal space.

ginger

GREAPER

ginger_55 wrote:

Wonderful shots, Greaper! Where does one decide to place a blind? Where do you live? Etc?

Those shots are prime! You got it all, almost.

Where did you get the blind? did you make it?

A shot of the blind would have been great, smile. Scratch that, you did a great job showing us the blind. Looks like a tent we used to camp in, but a diff color.

I can just see me putting a blind up somewhere with the tide out.............and, well, actually, I would have no idea where to put a blind, but a tide dominated area would not seem to be it. I need one, though. My birds are like yours. They like their personal space.

ginger

Blinds like this can be bought at any hunting supply store like cabella's etc. they come in a variety of sizes, colors, styles etc.

Where to put it... ah... thats the trick.

I pick a spot that has a nice field of view on at least two sides. It should be fairly level and hopefully dry. I try to avoid lots of dead leaves as they make noise when I move around.. If possible, I like to be able to see a likely food source for whatever I am hoping to see. Always be aware of what direction the light will be coming from. You dont want to spend all morning shooting into the sun.

Usually I place it in an area where I know the animals frequent. Someplace I see them all of the time but they will not let me approach.

Here are a coupe of links about it with good info:

HERE

HERE

rutt

Love the shots and words.