Blind Battles: Layouts vs. Panels vs. A-Frames

Fifty years. Five decades. Half a century. That’s how many calendars have dropped since 1974, the year I killed my first duck. During those 50 years, I’ve used a lot of waterfowl gear. Lead #5s and the first 16-gauge steel. Red Ball canvas waders and $1,000 zip front chest highs. Old school woodland camo and even the return of woodland camo.

And blinds. Over the years, I’ve used dang near all of them. A seat in the tules and dreadfully heavy-when-soggy ghillie suits. I shared a box blind with a little deer mouse and Tony Vandemore in Missouri. Willow blinds in Canada. And, yes, the requisite layout blinds, trendy panel blinds, and the extremely popular A-frames. When talking these last three, is one better than the others?

Let’s look at the Big Three factory-style blinds and their pros and cons; however, allow me to use these words: The blind you use is situational. Sure, it’ll work, but is it the best tool for the job? That's up to you.

Layout Blinds

Oregon’s Ron Latschaw, then of Final Approach, is credited with the first of what’s now the traditional one-man layout blind, his revolutionary Eliminator. From there, the layout has morphed into an almost infinite array of shapes and sizes, modifications, twists, and tweaks. Two-man layouts can be had, as can layouts built with plenty of room for those a touch on the husky side. Sling style chairs. Spring-loaded upright assists. And camouflage patterns A through Z, they’re all out there, but are they any good?

PROS

Lightweight and compact – You can’t beat the weight. They usually weigh less than 20 pounds. The Final Approach Express Low-Profile layout only weighs nine pounds; my blind bag weighs three times that. When folded to be carried, they’re roughly 25” to 30” square, making them compact.

Low profile – Fourteen inches high seems to be the standard for layout height, and that’s pretty darn low. Taller than a disced bean field? Yes, but I’ve made them work in just such a scenario.

Portable –They’re small and light, making them readily portable. Even deployed and stubbled, they’re a breeze to drag and reposition.

Versatile – One of the greatest highlights of the layout is its incredibly versatile applications. It can be set up almost anywhere the birds are. MoMarsh went so far as to introduce their Invisi-Lay, a layout blind on telescoping legs designed to be set in up to 16” of water. You can set up a layout wherever you need to ensure you're on the X.

Easy setup – The first layout blinds used lynch-style pins to connect Support A with Frame Point B; however, that proved to be challenging to some, so manufacturers did away with the pins, e.g., Banded’s Ground Force, leaving nothing to do but connect a few clamps and you’re done.

CONS

Shooting can be challenging – You’re not shooting while standing. You’re not even shooting while seated. You’re shooting from a semi-prone position with a limited side-to-side field of range. It takes some getting used to. I always recommend a few practice runs before the birds are in the decoys to get the feel of it.

Limited on room – While I’ve heard this complaint plenty of times, I’ve ignored it 99 percent of the time. My responses are (1) this is hunting, not sitting in your recliner in the living room, (2) pack less gear, and (3) wear fewer clothes. You’re not Randy from A Christmas Story.

Comfort – It’s no secret that hunting from a ground blind isn’t the most comfortable proposition. You are in a sleeping bag with swinging doors. If you’re looking for a cozy, lavish way to hunt in the field, a ground blind probably isn’t the way to go.

Panel Blinds

I’m not exactly sure when modern panel blinds came into fashion. We’ve been using them for decades now, albeit in a DIY stakes and netting sort of way. Today’s panel blinds, while serving the same purpose and deployed in essentially the same manner, i.e. prop it up, stake it down, brush it up, hide behind, as were/are our homespun versions, have taken on an undeniably 21st Century twist. Lightweight. Portable. Quick to set. And effective, perhaps not in all situations, but enough to garner them quite the following.

PROS

Spacious and comfortable – Get them set, get them stubbled, and you’re sitting in a Coleman camp chair with a thermos of coffee on one side, and the black dog on the other. No lying on your back or standing in the water. The panel blind is the studio apartment to the A-frame’s townhouse.

Lightweight and portable – Tanglefree’s Flight Series blind weighs 17 pounds. Rig‘Em Right’s is 20 pounds. Newcomer TideWe’s panel blind is just 13 pounds. They’re easy to pack and move around. Which is always nice when the hunt is over or the birds move and you have to start packing things up. 

Great for kids/new hunters – Kids want to look around. Nimrods have yet to learn what “pie face” means. A panel blind, with its high sides and even higher overhanging stubble, can help with the latter, while allowing the little ones to gawk at the scenery without scaring the ducks away.

Good field of view – Unless you stubble a panel blind too much, you’re usually afforded a decent field of view in the front, back, and sides. Something you quickly come to appreciate when birds are working and you can see everything clearly. 

Easy to modify – I quickly and easily changed my Rig‘Em Right panel blind from three front panels to one, plus the two sides, using just a Phillips #2 screwdriver. Doing so cut the weight down to roughly 12 pounds, and the footprint down to three square feet. I carry the modification when I must, but I can paddle it in atop my 10’ AquaPod skiff just fine as well.

Great for groups – I’ve hunted out of a panel blind as one of three guns and read that they can “comfortably” shoot four. Should you like the company, a panel blind is great for hiding multiple hunters.

CONS

Lack of overhead / backside cover – Panel blinds are great, IF you can back them up against some type of natural cover and be hidden from behind. If everything’s working out in front of the hide, no worries; however, cover behind AND overhead is often, if not usually, a great idea. Otherwise, you’re exposed entirely to birds working from those directions

Not easy to hide – Unlike a low profile layout blind, a 52” tall panel blind isn’t going to “blend in,” per se. You’re going to have to be selective as to where you set a panel, and then go to great lengths to hide it well, without over-doing it. Many hunters believe that the birds-eye view doesn’t see the dimension of the blind, but they will certainly see the shadows and other funny looking bumps that weren’t in the field yesterday.

A-Frames

Like its half-sibling, the panel, the A-frame style blind has come into vogue recently. For those who might not know, an A-frame blind is essentially a box blind, the big difference being that the A-frame is portable. Canadas hitting Field A? You can haul that A-frame to Field A, set it against a short tree line or alongside a random clump of canary grass, stubble it up, and you’re ready for the next morning. Birds jump to Field B? Not a problem. Simply break the A-frame down, throw it in the pickup, and relocate. With an A-frame, there’s plenty of elbow room and versatility; however, it does come with its downsides.

PROS

Bigger than my first apartment – These things are huge! Fred Zink’s Avian-X A-Frame measures an astonishing 160 square feet inside, while others are more modest, some can be conjoined to be even bigger!

Can be conjoined – If you like lots of company while you hunt, then the A-frame might be for you. One houses four shooters; connect four blinds, and now you’re shooting 14 to 16 guns. A perfect blind for someone who wants to take the whole family and their friends out on a burner of a hunt.

Offers good overhead concealment – With their sloped upper front and rear “walls” and requisite stubble straps, most A-frames can be cloaked with taller native material, e.g. reed canary grass, foxtail, or cattails, to provide excellent overhead concealment, effectively eliminating the “black hole” when viewed from above.

CONS

Heavy and awkward – One hundred sixty square feet of Cordura nylon and tubular aluminum is going to be heavy, e.g. Avian-X at 30 pounds, Dive Bomb HyVert at 37 pounds, and Alps Outdoorz Alpha A-frame at 39 pounds. That’s not a light load if you’ve got a long pack into the field.

Time consuming set up – It’s been my experience that while the framework goes up relatively quickly, it’s the Cordura cover with its miles of Velcro that takes time to set up. And this doesn’t include the stubble, so give yourself plenty of time.

Lots of stubble – There’s a LOT of surface area to cover. It’s going to take some time, and, if you’re lucky, a couple extra sets of helping hands.

Situation specific – Yes, I’ve seen A-frames set in the middle of what amounts to a moonscape of an essentially barren field and work, but not often. Typically, A-frames require something, e.g. a brushy fence line, scrub trees, a cattail-filled depression, with which to be backed and blended, thus making them relatively situational.

Expensive – Shop around and you can get a layout or panel blind for $150. An A-frame will run $250 to $550, depending on the amenities and just how comfortable you want to be.

As you can see, all blinds have their pros and cons, but everyone hunts a little different. Whether you want to sit in a panel blind with your friends, hide alone in the middle of a field in a layout, or chop it up in a penthouse version of an A-frame, there’s something made just for you. This list is just to help you figure out which one will be the right choice.

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