What is your guys experience with shoot through screens on pop up blinds? Have you seen any arrow flight issues?
One out of four times shoot thru screens messed me up. I shoot W W which should make a big hole for the arrow to follow.
One time while shooting at a full strut bird the fletching must have caught the screen. It about ripped the screen off and the arrow sailed way high over the bird.
He came out of strut in a heart beat and started putting around nervously. Got another arrow on the string and put one right in the boiler room. That bird spit and drummed for about 20 minutes before he came into range.
I've not had any problem with deer. Don't use them for turkey.
1 out of 4 doesn't seem to bad considering without a screen my 3 year old boy will mess the situation up 4 out of4!
I don't use commercial pop up blinds, but every one of my ground blinds has netting in the windows. I love the freedom of movement I have inside the blind with critters close by. Still can't make noise though!!! The only arrow flight issue I have found over the years is if you try to shoot thru at a real severe angle to the net, sometimes the fletch will catch on the screen and mess the arrow up.
The only big con is that the netting robs you of a few minutes of shooting light at dusk and dawn.
I've had turkeys at under 5yds and been able to lean over and set my call down and pick my bow up to shoot them!!!!
Bisch
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My son shoots through the netting and says it works good for him I have shot practice rounds and it worked ok but I think it is too dark for last light situations. I have used cling wrap on my box blind windows in the winter to keep the cold wind out and that works .
I wouldn't buy a blind that did not have shoot through mesh windows. Had good success with them for turkey and deer.
Trick is to keep the mesh very tight. :coffee: :campfire:
You could wrap the forward end of the fletching with thin thread or sinew to help prevent the arrow(fletching) from catching on the screen. I've never shot through a screen but I use this method to protect my hand when shooting off the knuckle.
Thanks guys
Never had an issue shooting through mesh with any head regardless of size. This is out to 25 yards or so including a string tracker.
Keep the mesh tight, and replace it if it's full of holes and ratty looking.
Practice shooting through it, my son hung up a broad head in a window while trying to position himself.
Turkeys don't seem to care about open blind windows the way deer do. I really don't use the mesh while turkey hunting (other than non-shooting windows.
Have successfully harvested over 25 birds shooting thru mesh. Have only shot one arrow that exhibited poor flight and that was from shooting at a very acute angle. Have taken many deer, a couple of yotes and a bobcat while shooting thru mesh.
Mesh is typically not required for turkey hunting however, when they are extremely close, at least, I feel a little more confident. My consistent use of mesh during turkey season is predicated upon the frequent encounters with deer. The deer show up many times during turkey season. They don't like black holes are quite adamant to let me know. I have had many turkeys run off do the deer displays and displeased vocalization in past years. Even with mesh, the deer still don't care for the visible blind but most definitely reduce their displays and predominately just keep their distance and the birds appear unaffected.
Had one particular deer setup with a well brushed in blind that if the mesh was up, the deer, each time, would always take the most precaution and time in making the approach and twice backed away. When the mesh was down, the deer just walked in naturally every time. My position is that if a deer takes notice of my blind then I haven't done enough to conceal it.
Mesh also cuts down on flying insects and especially keeps out most the hornets which are plentiful on the farm.
All ten of my ground sets incorporate mesh.
I have had no problems with deer turkey and pronghorn with the mesh down. The mesh did cause me to miss a big buck, won't be using mesh again.
No longer counting down the threads from the mesh to turkey season.
KY Turkey season opens one week from today.
I asked the same question several months ago and received much of the same good information.
I did go and buy a big piece of mesh to do some testing. Here is what I discovered...
1. As many have said, the key is to have the mesh VERY tight... like banjo string tight. Tight mesh doesn't slow the arrow down as much to start the cut and the hole opens wider/faster once the cut gets started. I had very good luck with sewing each arrow hole up with upholstery thread and a curved needle (nothing special, got it at Walmart). This helps keep the mesh tight for other shots. I also used the thread to sew in additional quarter inch bungee cord loops on my blind mesh to help keep it tight.
2. Three blade heads did better than two blade heads and double bevel two blades did better than single bevel. Long and narrow heads did better than "spade" shaped heads or heads with a shorter, wider profile. Three blade solid heads did better than heads with replaceable bleeders (making them four blade heads). In my experience WW style heads did the best and my Piledriver heads did the worst. The two blade heads would only cut a slot, the three blades made a hole and the arrow flew more consistently. "Pointier" heads did better than "tanto" points or single bevel style points. Obviously sharp heads did better than dull heads.
3. Regardless of what head you use it MUST make a hole close to the the cross sectional profile of your fletching (duh... right?) On my first few test arrows through the mesh the arrow was flying kinda wonky, with all of the broadheads I was using. Most of the arrows I was shooting had shield cut, five inch, tall fletches. I never had an arrow catch in the mesh but on every shot the feathers were making contact with the mesh even on ninety degree shots. I switched to parabolic, four inch fletches and as long as the broadhead cut a similar sized hole I didn't get any perceptible change in arrow flight. All the arrows I used were three-fletch and I always put a drop of super glue on the leading and trailing edge of each fletch.
4. In doing testing in the backyard I did notice a loss of vision early and late as several folks have mentioned but not necessarily inside a reasonable shooting distance. The BIGGEST vision concern came when the sun was within a hand span of the horizon. Straight on angles of the sun reflected in the mesh and I couldn't see ANYTHING.
So... what did all this poking of holes in mesh with LOTS of different arrow and broadhead combos prove to me? Primarily it was that it is physically impossible to have NO effect on the arrow when shooting through the mesh but some specific broadhead/arrow choices can minimize the effect. If I was going to hunt a blind with shoot through mesh and expect the best arrow performance I needed to use an arrow with a pointy three blade broadhead that cut a hole as close to the size of my fletching as possible through very tight mesh with no give as the arrow passes through. Also, I needed to set my blind up so that the rising or setting sun did not shine straight in to the blind. My arrow choice came down to using my WW heads with a three fletch arrow, using four inch parabolic feathers. Other than dropping down to shorter fletches this is my standard deer hunting arrow. My Turkey hunting arrow won't work through mesh since I use a spade shaped two blade. This is OK because (as many have said) Turkeys don't have the aversion to the "black holes of death" the way deer do so I just don't use the mesh when I turkey hunt.
I suppose all this effort was useless since it simply proved all of the things that others have said. What it DID do for me was to keep any thoughts of apprehension or dread from creeping in when I pulled back and dropped the string on the very first deer I shot this last season through the mesh on my blind. So for me... TOTALLY worth it.
OkKeith
Never had a problem with it but I haven't shot as many turkeys as other guys here.
It's always a good idea to lightly spray flat black or brown paint on the inside of the mesh. That takes the glare away and doesn't blind you in the sun and even allows you to see better in low light. Do it lightly and you won't affect the shine on the outside mesh that helps hide you from the animal.
Quote from: OkKeith link=topic=166922.msg2861626#msg2861626
date=1554560345
I asked the same question several months ago and received much of the same good information.
I did go and buy a big piece of mesh to do some testing. Here is what I discovered...
1. As many have said, the key is to have the mesh VERY tight... like banjo string tight. Tight mesh doesn't slow the arrow down as much to start the cut and the hole opens wider/faster once the cut gets started. I had very good luck with sewing each arrow hole up with upholstery thread and a curved needle (nothing special, got it at Walmart). This helps keep the mesh tight for other shots. I also used the thread to sew in additional quarter inch bungee cord loops on my blind mesh to help keep it tight.
2. Three blade heads did better than two blade heads and double bevel two blades did better than single bevel. Long and narrow heads did better than "spade" shaped heads or heads with a shorter, wider profile. Three blade solid heads did better than heads with replaceable bleeders (making them four blade heads). In my experience WW style heads did the best and my Piledriver heads did the worst. The two blade heads would only cut a slot, the three blades made a hole and the arrow flew more consistently. "Pointier" heads did better than "tanto" points or single bevel style points. Obviously sharp heads did better than dull heads.
3. Regardless of what head you use it MUST make a hole close to the the cross sectional profile of your fletching (duh... right?) On my first few test arrows through the mesh the arrow was flying kinda wonky, with all of the broadheads I was using. Most of the arrows I was shooting had shield cut, five inch, tall fletches. I never had an arrow catch in the mesh but on every shot the feathers were making contact with the mesh even on ninety degree shots. I switched to parabolic, four inch fletches and as long as the broadhead cut a similar sized hole I didn't get any perceptible change in arrow flight. All the arrows I used were three-fletch and I always put a drop of super glue on the leading and trailing edge of each fletch.
4. In doing testing in the backyard I did notice a loss of vision early and late as several folks have mentioned but not necessarily inside a reasonable shooting distance. The BIGGEST vision concern came when the sun was within a hand span of the horizon. Straight on angles of the sun reflected in the mesh and I couldn't see ANYTHING.
So... what did all this poking of holes in mesh with LOTS of different arrow and broadhead combos prove to me? Primarily it was that it is physically impossible to have NO effect on the arrow when shooting through the mesh but some specific broadhead/arrow choices can minimize the effect. If I was going to hunt a blind with shoot through mesh and expect the best arrow performance I needed to use an arrow with a pointy three blade broadhead that cut a hole as close to the size of my fletching as possible through very tight mesh with no give as the arrow passes through. Also, I needed to set my blind up so that the rising or setting sun did not shine straight in to the blind. My arrow choice came down to using my WW heads with a three fletch arrow, using four inch parabolic feathers. Other than dropping down to shorter fletches this is my standard deer hunting arrow. My Turkey hunting arrow won't work through mesh since I use a spade shaped two blade. This is OK because (as many have said) Turkeys don't have the aversion to the "black holes of death" the way deer do so I just don't use the mesh when I turkey hunt.
I suppose all this effort was useless since it simply proved all of the things that others have said. What it DID do for me was to keep any thoughts of apprehension or dread from creeping in when I pulled back and dropped the string on the very first deer I shot this last season through the mesh on my blind. So for me... TOTALLY worth it.
OkKeith