Layout Blind

Altec

Altec

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Hey Guys,

I was thinking this year of buying a layout blind for Goose hunting. The one I was looking at is the Avery Fred Zinks Finisher blind.
As anyone here purchased or tried this blind before and might have some feedback on the pros and cons?

Thanks,

Happy Hunting!!
 
Avery is wickedly overpriced, I would google tanglefree layout blinds, I think you will find that they are every bit as good as the Avery however have a much better price point. Compare the canadian price to the american and you will see they are giving us the shaft.
 
Yes they are over priced, big time. I'm kind of limited to what I can get where I'm located. I would have to go to another province or order something else in, which ends up costing more money.
Avery does have a “power hunter” blind that is a little cheaper, but I’m not sure on how well the top lid opens up and it looks small, no side openings for flag, etc…
 
A buddy and I just bought a couple layouts and after researching decided to go with the final approach eliminator express blind blind, $99 on ebay and $20 shipped to Canada. The Avery's are nice and I guess the service is good but most guys said they had to use it (the service) because they have lots of plastic parts that break in the cold and after a couple seasons.
 
google St Lawrence outfitters,you can get a better blind from them and ship it for less than even a power hunter. They are topnotch and are the premiere dealer of waterfowling gear in Canada and yes I know them personally.
 
I would recommend the Final Approach X-Lander. This is the third season using mine and I am pleased with the durability and functionality of this blind. It folds up easily and has back pack straps so it is easy to transport. It will hold 2 dozen duck dekes, and it has a gun scabbard on the back. Its basically a decoy bag that you can hide in.
 
If I may offer my .02 cents worth, there is lots of good advice here already.I have owned many layout blinds, long and short of it IMO....cant go wrong with the Avery. Like anything else you get what you pay for! I have had an x-landr, not again...my reason, doors are too floppy. Rigid doors are so much easier to pop open and get up on birds. Also how big are you? If you are a big guy you'll need some shoulder space.X-Landr is only 27" wide! I am currently running 5 S.U.B's( Final Approach) and have an Avery Migrator MR2 on the way.I like the 37" width much better, there is room for your gear in them with you. I am eventually going to replace the S.U.B's as my personal blind and keep them as spares for when others tag along.Also Rogers in Missouri has a sale on right now and Finishers are $199. They also have the HS Specialties Hitman Blind on for $129 in Field Brown(all mine are khaki or brown, no camo). Buddy of mine is using the HS and it is a great deal on a good blind too.
 
Some extra room in the blind would be a good idea. I know what you mean about the floppy doors; something more solid would open easier and fast.
I’m 6’ around 220lbs so I think the Avery Finisher would provide more room over the smaller Power Hunter.
What camo do you think is a good patten for grain fields, I was thinking the new
KW-1 Camo looks good.
 
Altec said:
Some extra room in the blind would be a good idea. I know what you mean about the floppy doors; something more solid would open easier and fast.
I’m 6’ around 220lbs so I think the Avery Finisher would provide more room over the smaller Power Hunter.
What camo do you think is a good patten for grain fields, I was thinking the new
KW-1 Camo looks good.
Click to expand...

Yes at 6'-220 youre going to find the x-land'r small, trust me. Myself and all my partners have sold ours( with the exception of 1 who kept it as a spare), they were our first layout blinds 5 years ago or so. Great product but too small IMO. Personally I have all my blinds in field brown or khaki as I've found in the past the camo was just an added expense for nothing. You have to stubble these things good with cover from the field you are hunting or birds will see them, plain and simple, so once you stubble them well the camo is redundant. If I had to buy one in camo, KW1 would be my choice for grain fields. I also like the brown because if you are hunting a disced or plowed field you can strip down to the bare bones and blend in with the dirt. Works well on sandy shorleines too. Here are a couple pics of our S.U.B's stubbled in action during our early nuisance goose season last week. As you can see once stubbled properly they almost vanish into the field.The brown blends in with the natural earth of the field as well. We had birds landing less than 10 feet from us! First two pics, harvested barley field. Last pic was a cattle pasture, the livestock had pulled apart two large round bales of hay a few weeks before and it was laying there in a huge pile about 200 yards from where the geese were working, that's as close as we could get to the "x" and still shoot witout buildings or livestock in the field of fire, so we layed the blinds next to the hay and stubbled them to look like the scattered hay bales. Note the floppy doors on the far right in the last photo, thats an x-land'r, the others are S.U.B.s. Watch you dont get the Eliminator Sport Utility, they have floppy sides and doors too and the interiors are bright yellow!.I'd go finisher if it were me, as I said I have an MR2 coming up with my buddy from U.S in 2 weeks. I think it's going to ba an awesome blind from what I saw of it at a store in T.O last year.
HPIM1672.jpg

HPIM1671.jpg

HPIM1700.jpg


Here is a link to Rogers, this is the HS Hitman Blind but once you are on the site you can check out the Finisher too.
http://store.rogerssportinggoods.com/servlet/-strse-941/layout-blind-hunters-specialties/Detail
 
Last edited:
Altec said:
Hey Guys,

I was thinking this year of buying a layout blind for Goose hunting. The one I was looking at is the Avery Fred Zinks Finisher blind.
As anyone here purchased or tried this blind before and might have some feedback on the pros and cons?

Thanks,

Happy Hunting!!
Click to expand...

I didn't think there was any other kind, we have 5 of them in our group. We
have sold the junk off or piled it in the corner of the garage to gather dust.

Life is short, the bird season is shorter, buy the finishers.

Laydownblind.jpg
 
I bought an Avery Sport Utility Blind (SUB) in mossy oak duckblind camo for this years opener. I was hunting with two buddies using Avery X-landers, not sure what camo pattern. As "the Spank" said, stubble them up to match your surroundings and the camo pattern isn't important. The X-landers don't have as much interior space width-wise as the SUB (they are about the same length), but they do have a zipper to allow you to stuff gear under the backrest and have side pockets for ammo and calls. The width between the opened doors is similar. The SUB has a lot more room near the floor however and does allow you to store a hard shell gun case, lay out extra ammo, calls, snacks, coffee, water or whatever. My buddies were very happy with the price and performance of their X-landers and while not overly tall they are both pretty big guys. I'm quite happy with my SUB as well, it cost quite a bit more than their's but the extra room inside and the rigid doors are definite advantages in my opinion.

I would advise wearing full camo even though you are in a blind (including gloves and a facemask). If you go out to retrieve a bird and another flock comes in you can get down out of sight and at least your buddies can get a crack at them. Also close the doors on your blind whenever you leave it, all of ours are bright yellow inside, but even if your interior is camo coloured, the gear you have stored inside will be visible to incoming birds.



Jim
 
Thanks guys for that advice, appreciate it. I ended up buying the Avery Finisher blind. Little more money but it looks and works great.
Nice pictures by the way, blinds look great, well camoed.
 
Any feedback on the Final Approach "One Shot" blind? It seems to be the smallest/cheapest blind they offer. However it looks pretty basic, and I suspect its the identical blind to the Primos Calls Hard Core - I think its and OEM blind that Primos and FA just slap their name on.

I'm on a budget, and I'm trying to justify stepping up to the Eliminator.
 
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