Getting Closer to Wildlife Using a Photo Blind: Part 1

Tragopan V6 Blind set up along the edge of a field.

Have you ever wanted to be able to get closer to the wildlife you’re photographing?  If you have any experience photographing wildlife, I think it is safe to say that the answer to that question is often, YES!

It can be challenging to get close enough to wildlife, even with long telephoto lenses.  Wildlife have very good senses of smell, hearing, and sight that makes it difficult to approach an animal without scaring it and causing it to flee.  Did you know that a Black Bear (Ursus americanus) has a sense of smell that is estimated to be 7 times greater than a blood hound?  It is safe to say that these amazing animals often smell us before we even know they are there.  It is likely that this sense of smell has allowed them to survive in the forests for as long as they have.

If you are like me, there is no worse feeling than being responsible for an animal to flee an area.  Most animals are struggling to survive, and any time that they spend being aware and vigilant, due to your presence is time that that animal is not feeding or taking part in another activity vital to their survival.  There is also the issue that if an animal allows you to approach without fleeing, often times that animal does not behave naturally due to your presence, so any observations or photos that you get from the encounter look almost staged and lack a certain amount of emotion.    

The question remains, how do you get closer to wildlife without scaring them away and causing disturbance?  The answer may be the use of a photography blind. 

A photo blind can be a stationary structure that is built into the landscape, or it can be a pop-up system that you can deploy in a variety of different areas.  The blind I use is a pop-up tent blind manufactured by Tragopan.  I use the V6 model and this is large enough for one person with all your gear and a stool to make your time in the blind more comfortable.  There are four windows on this blind, one in each direction, which allow for a good field of view around the blind and a variety of shooting angles.  This blind also has attachments such as the rain cover to make the blind even more waterproof.  I have left this blind out in a variety of weather conditions including rain, sleet and snow in the Connecticut winter and it has held up great.  There are also attachments such as the vestibule, that add more space in the blind and also provide a covered floor. 

SO WHY USE A BLIND?

Photography blinds are an important tool for a wildlife photographer as they have many advantages for the photographer and the wildlife. 

A photo blind works to conceal your human silhouette and also decrease the amount of movement an animal may see as you are photographing them.  Blinds also allow wildlife to approach you on their own once they become accustomed to the blind.  This decreases the need for you to approach the wildlife and reduces a chance of causing the animal to flee the area.  Animals can then have a more natural behavior as they approach your location on their own because they do not perceive as much of a threat from the blind, and your presence.  This opens up the potential to observe behavior that may have not been possible if the animal was on alert due to your presence.    

Blinds also allow the photographer to get closer to the wildlife they aim to photograph. Many animals that are very skittish such as many mammals, wadding, and water birds are very hard to approach to get photos. A solution to this is the use of a photo blind that can be set up where the animals are located and reducing the chances of your presence scaring them off. This can help you finally get that photo of a a duck or kingfisher that you can never get close to.  

SETTING UP THE BLIND

There are two basic manners in which you can set up a photo blind.  You can either choose to set it up focusing on a specific habitat type, or you can choose to focus on a specific species.  Both manners of deployment require a little research and planning to have a successful outing in the photo blind.  Without this prior planning, there is a good chance you will leave the blind with a blank memory card. 

THE HABITAT FOCUSED APPROACH

The habitat focuses approach does not focus on a specific species. Instead it aims to set up in a specific habitat type and location where a variety of species may be present to capture images of whatever is active. Setting up the blind in a proper spot requires that you be able to interpret signs that can be seen on the landscape.  It is important to have an idea about how the animals in the area interact with the habitat to understand how they may use the area.  A careful eye will be able to locate game trails that traverse forests or fields which indicate paths that animals use to move through the area.  These game trails are often used by a variety of animals.  If you have ever set up a trail camera on one of these paths, you may have been surprised to see the diversity of animals that use the trail, often in close proximity to one another. 

If you are looking in a forest, look for indented paths in the leaves and areas where the leaves have been pressed into the ground slightly deeper than the surrounding leaves.  These paths may also have areas where the leaves appear to be disturbed due to the animals kicking them up as they walk over them.  You can also look for signs on trees along the trail.  White-tailed deer will often rub their antlers on trees in the late summer and fall to remove the velvet from their antlers and these rub marks are often evident on the bark of trees.  Black bears will also claw trees along paths as a way to mark their territory. 

If you are looking for game trails in an open field, look for areas where the grass has been knocked down or where there is not as much brush.  Animals will most likely take the path of least resistance when moving through a habitat and will not go directly through a patch of rose bushes unless they absolutely need to.  A common area to look for trails is along the edges of forest and field.  These areas provide an avenue where vegetation may be lower due to the shade of the trees and they also provide an avenue of escape from predators.  Look for exposed dirt and areas where the ground has been compacted due to heavy use. 

Rather than looking for game trails, you can also instead look for resources that animals may go to and set up the blind in one of these areas.  Sources of water and food can be very productive locations to set up a photo blind.  These are also areas where animals may linger for longer periods of time as compared to along game trails, leading to better observational opportunities and longer shooting sessions.    

If you have a trail camera at your disposal, it is often a good idea to set it up in the area of interest to see if it is an active area.  Leave the camera up for a few days prior to setting up the blind to determine when and how the wildlife enter the area.  Once you know what species you are likely to observe, and when they enter the area of interest, you can then set up the blind.

That is all for this week.  Next week, I’ll talk about the species specific approach to setting up the photo blind as well as when to set up the photo blind for success.

Until next week, go out and enjoy nature!  

If you want to see me use my photo blind in action, check out my Youtube video where I set up the blind and photograph White-tailed deer. I used the habitat approach to set up the blind in this video and I provide some more real world examples of why I set up in the spot I did.

Be sure to subscribe to my Youtube Channel to get access to all my videos! I’ll see you out there!