Deer Creek Ranch

Hunting Blinds

There are 5 permanent, elevated and enclosed hunting blinds on the ranch.   There are two 2-3 man blinds and three 1-man blinds.   

Four of the blinds are all located on ridge tops in strategic locations and one blind is located in a heavy elk traffic valley.  All the blinds on ridge tops have shooting lanes up to  300 yards long and 20+ yards wide that have been bulldozed thru the oak brush.  Alfalfa has been planted in each of the shooting lanes and one of the newly cut roads. 

Hunters can walk or drive to each blind.  Once in the blind,  hunters have superior visibility and are in a hidden, elevated and comfortable position to take a shot from a solid rest.  Its also more likely that hunters will get better shots when hunting from the blinds as opposed to taking shots at spooked and running game when hunting on foot.   

The location of the blinds are such that game animals that are feeding or moving thru the ranch will likely be seen by one of the hunters in a blind and offer a good opportunity for a shot.  All 4 elevated blinds can be used with no competition or adverse effect to any of the other blinds. 

All blinds have roads to them and provide shelter from the weather, a stable shooting platform and superior visibility in several directions.   Plexi-glass windows and small propane heaters keep the blinds comfortable and dry during cold and stormy weather.   

Blind No. 4 (above) on the top of one of the highest points near the western property line.  It is a one man blind that is 4' by 4' by 6' tall.  The floor of the blind is 11' above the ground and the roof is 17' above the ground.  It has a steel frame from Cabelas, plywood sides and 2 shooting windows (closed in photo) on each side (one for sitting and one for standing) for a total of 8 windows. 

The view from Blind No. 4 (above) looking northeast along the ridge top shooting lane.  The shooting lane is about 300 yards long and 20+ yards wide and was cut thru the heavy oakbrush and oak trees.  Several major trails cross the shooting lane from east to west and the shooting lane has good natural feed growing in it.  Several good bulls have been harvested from this blind in recent years.

View from Blind 4 (above) looking northwest.  In the mornings the elk tend to cross from the higher ridge on the left side of the photo to the lower, more feed-rich pastures on the right side of the photo and beyond.  

Blind 5 (above) is in the southwest corner of the ranch at the highest ranch elevation of 7500'.  Blind 5 is similar in construction to Blind 4 in all respects with a steel frame, 8 shooting windows and the floor at 11' above the ground.  It controls the high ground southwest corner of the ranch and has several major trails that run along the east-west and north-south fencelines.   The neighbor's alfalfa fields are just over the ridge about 100  hundred yards to the south of the blind.  In the mornings, as hunters from the neighbor's ranch leave the lowlands and hunt upward, they push elk up over the top of the ridge toward this blind.       
 

View from Blind 5 (above) looking north.  This view is of an approximate 300 yards long by 20+ yards wide shooting lane cut thru the thick oak brush and oak trees along the top of a ridge.  Several major trails cross this shooting lane. 

View from Blind 5 (above) looking west toward the highest spot on the ranch.  A couple hundred yards over the top of the ridge in the background are hundreds of acres of neighbors' alfalfa and hay pastures of the Morapos Creek valley.  The elk feed in those hay pastures at night and in the mornings hunters from those ranches push the elk out of the pastures toward higher ground cover.  They often cross over the top of the ridge (on the top of the photo above) into the area around Blind 5.    
 

Blind No. 7 (above) on the far east side of the ranch.   It is a 2 man blind on top of a strategic ridge with good visibility in all directions.   Two bull elk were harvested from this Blind in 2009. 

View from Blind 7 (above) looking south.  Blind 5 can be seen on the horizon about 550 yards away on the right side of the photo.  

View View from Blind 7 (above) looking east.  The largest elk trail on the ranch can be seen crossing the pasture on the center right side of the photo. 

Blind 10 (above) is a 2 man blind overlooking a pond near the middle of a long north/south running valley on the east side of the ranch.  It has 8 plexiglass removable windows and shooting rests for both standing and sitting shooters.

View View from Blind 10 looking north (above).  Several bull elk have been harvested while crossing this valley.    

             View from Blind 10 looking south (above).