The Best and Worst Brush for Duck Blind Camo

The golden rule for brushing in any duck blind is to “match the hatch” by using materials that blend into the environment. Photo by Realtree.

On the surface, identifying the best brush for duck blind camo seems simple: Use any natural vegetation that conceals you and your hide and lets your blind blend into the natural landscape, putting ducks at ease.

Practical application, however, can be much more complex. And making the wrong choice can leave you sticking out like a flashing beacon or otherwise hinder hunting success. With that in mind, let’s look at the best — and worst — choices for duck blind camo in several common situations.

LAYOUT BLINDS

Field blinds might require the most thought when considering camouflage, as dry-field hunters often change locations from day to day and frequently try to hide on flat, open surfaces with no more cover than a mowed lawn. The general rule — and this applies to any duck or goose blind — is to match the hatch. That is, the brush or other natural material that covers your blind should look as close as possible to the surroundings. Further, you must use sufficient quantities to cover the blinds and break up their telltale coffin-like profile while still allowing you to flip open the cover, sit up, and shoot unobstructed.

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Often, crop waste or cover surrounding the field you’re hunting is the top choice. For example, when hunting cut alfalfa (hay) fields during the early season, any type of green, leafy weed should let you blend in. Cut cornfields also allow an easy option, especially if the field hasn’t been chisel-plowed and some remaining stalks are available.

Those are the easy ones. Using natural cover for concealment becomes much more difficult when hunting small-grain fields, such as barley, wheat, oats or even cut beans. There simply isn’t much cover. Hay can provide a decent option, whether it’s left in the field after the harvest or you purchase a few bales from a farmer. It spreads easily and fits nicely into blind loops. Just be sure that it matches crop waste well enough to look natural. Likewise, weeds in ditches or fence rows can help, again provided it matches the crop color. Foxtail, a common Midwestern weed with yellow or buff coloration, can work well in many fields. But simply chopping green weeds to hide in a golden-brown wheat or oat field is folly.

When covering up a boat blind or A-frame, zip-tie some brush together to use as overhead cover. This helps hides hunters when birds circle. Photo by Tom Rassuchine.

If blending into the field or waste grain isn’t an option — as with the aforementioned chisel-plowed fields — look for any natural landscape feature that might boost your hide. Good options include fence rows, rock piles, grassy swales, ditches between fields, or even a neighboring field with a different crop or cover. Sometimes, choosing those spots leaves you a bit off the X, but look at it this way: If you’re on the X but not concealed, you won’t be shooting much anyway. These rocky, brushy or grassy areas offer some concealment, and you can also cut more vegetation from the area to further hide your blinds.

With any temporary natural layout-blind cover, be meticulous about filling most of the loops in your field blind to cover unnatural-looking surfaces. Pile extra cover around the edges of the blind, especially at your feet and behind your head. In many cases, it’s best to set all the layouts close together. This breaks up individual blind outlines and lets you share cover between the blinds, although you have to be careful with shooting lanes when birds finish. A field-hunting cliché should guide your preparation: When you think you have enough cover to hide, you’re probably halfway there. Always allow extra time to thoroughly cover the blinds, assess the situation before shooting hours and fill any remaining holes.

BOAT BLINDS

Boat-bound hunters on lakes, rivers, and marshes also move day to day, but they can usually get away with the same type of brush for a season because shoreline cover through a body of water can be pretty consistent. With boats, however, you want something that will stay in place and offer concealment for days of hunting; something that won’t bend or break after a brief time. That’s why woody brush is often a good choice.

Again, scout your hunting area before the season, and match your blind brush to the shoreline. In the Midwest, willow branches blend in nicely to woody cover along marshy shoreline areas. In the South or any area with lots of deciduous trees along the shore, oak limbs provide a good option. They’re sturdy and retain their leaves longer into the season. In the Deep South, even palmettos can work. As with field blinds, bad choices include any vegetation that makes your boat stand out when tucked into shoreline cover. That might involve the color or consistency of the brush, or even the height at which it’s cut.

When cutting and placing brush on a blind, make sure it covers all surfaces but isn’t too tall or bulky that it restricts shooting, calling or other movement. Photo by Tom Rassuchine.

Before the season, cut enough of your chosen brush, including some extra to supplement cover as branches break or are lost during hunting. Affix the brush securely to a commercial or homemade boat blind (zip-ties are great for this), endeavoring to cover any unnatural looking surfaces. Bundle together smaller limbs or boughs to place at intervals atop the blind. This helps conceal hunters’ faces and movement, and can eliminate the dreaded black hole ducks see when they look down into an open blind.

One more consideration with heavy brush or woody vegetation: Make sure it’s cut so you can see fairly clearly. That doesn’t mean you should expose your face. Just don’t leave branches 6 feet tall on the shooting side of the blind. Also, make sure the brush is cut so you can easily shoulder your gun, swing and shoot.

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A-FRAMES/PANEL BLINDS

Brushing in an A-frame blind is similar to camouflaging a boat blind, with one exception. Boats are typically tucked alongside or into cover. With A-frames, you’re hiding in plain sight, often along a shoreline or cut ag field. And because approaching birds can easily see that big blob near the decoys, you want to brush in an A-frame so it appears to be a natural, non-threatening blob. In many parts of Canada, for example, hunters often set up in vast ag fields dotted with small patches of natural cover. They cut cover from those areas to use on the A-frame, making it appear as just another small island of vegetation in that field. Use the same approach as with a boat blind, covering all unnatural looking surfaces and adding overhead cover.

When using A-frames along shorelines, simply cut surrounding natural cover — willows, cattails, grass or tree limbs — and cover the blind so it blends in. A-frames are designed for portability, however, so be prepared to change the brush when you relocate. Obviously, the natural cover that conceals you along a wooded shoreline will stick out horribly when you hunt a mud flat or grass-lined slough.

You’ll often find the best natural duck-blind brush growing in ditches or shorelines where you hunt. Photo by Tom Rassuchine.

SHORELINE BLINDS

Permanent shoreline blinds, whether along a natural lake or a flooded rice field, might be the easiest for which to find brush. Assess the natural cover behind and alongside the blind, and then duplicate that. This can vary from blind to blind because most shorelines have unique features, including rocks, driftwood, mature trees, grass, bulrush, cattails or phragmites. Use whatever brush, wood or even rocks are available to make the blind look like another stretch of that specific shoreline. That might be as simple as piling a few rocks or limbs high enough to break up a blind’s outline, or affixing brush and limbs to completely cover a blind for the season.

As with boat blinds, be mindful of the brush height and how that might affect visibility or shooting. When hunting diving ducks, many of which will approach relatively low to the water and probably won’t circle above the blind, you can get away with limited overhead cover. With mallard and other puddlers, however, you’ll want brush over the top to hide the inside of the blind.

Allow plenty of time when brushing in blinds before a hunt. And before shooting light, assess your cover and fill in any holes. Photo by Realtree.

CONCLUSION

In many cases, the best duck blind brush might exist right where you intend to hunt. When legal, cut and use that to your advantage. (Carrying a couple of saws and weed whackers can really expedite that process.) With other scenarios, you might have to source out brush or other similar cover from other areas and then affix it to your blind before a hunt or carry it in with you.

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The bottom line is simple: The best brush makes your blind vanish into the surrounding cover, and you’ll know it when you see it on your hide. Bad stuff sticks out, even at a distance. You might get away with that on opening day or with unpressured birds, but hard-hunted ducks will immediately spot a fake and avoid your spread.

When considering everything, it’s easy to see why the time, prep and work of identifying good brush and covering your blind with it is effort well spent.