Product Review: Beavertail Boat Blind

I have to get this off my chest now. My fondest memory of boat blinds has absolutely nothing to do with actual duck hunting. Really, the image most locked in my mind relating to boat blinds occurred with the boat on the trailer, the season still closed, and in my front yard some 300 miles from my favorite duck hole. It happened just like this:

One fine Sunday afternoon, I had my duck boat out next to the curb, trying to reconfigure my trolling motor mount. The goal of the exercise was to give the blind a little more drape on the front end of the boat. I would take the blind from the traveling position, flip it over so that the blind canopy was fully deployed hiding the boat, adjust the angle of the motor, and then do it again. One of the precious little girls who live across the street was watching this process, time after time. She appeared to be completely transfixed by it all, especially the big camouflage canvass over the boat. Finally, after about the 27th time I flipped it over, she came and tugged on my pants. She looked up at me with the giant, innocent eyes of youth and said, “I figured it out.” Not realizing the true genius of little girls, I asked, “What did you figure out?” She replied, “I know why you have that big muddy tent on your boat. You don’t want the fish to be able to see you.” I told her she was a genius. She had just figured out a way to convince 800,000 bass fishermen that a big ‘ole camouflage tent on their boats would be the de rigueur accessory for the coming year. I tell ya, the kids in my neighborhood are some kind of bright!

The blind in question that day was a Beavertail Boat Blind made by Fisher Beavertail Manufacturing, Inc. in Minnesota. It has been one of the hardest working, best designed waterfowling investments that I have made in recent years. I would like to say that I did extensive research and analysis to find this blind, but it really was not like that at all. You see, I had just purchased a new boat with side console steering. I had previously watched someone else try to configure a blind from Beavertail’s main competitor to work with a side console. It was NOT a pretty process, and included screaming, tool throwing, frame bending and some foaming of the mouth. This all convinced me to come up with another option for my boat. Luckily, another owner of the same brand and configuration of boat told me to call Beavertail, since he had just put one on his boat. One look at the blind he suggested and I made the call to get one on the truck headed this way.

I believe that I got my blind the first year that they were on the market, which was three duck seasons ago. At that time, I had never seen anything quite like it. The Beavertail Blind operates on a “center pivot” concept, unlike any of the other blinds which I saw on the market at that time. Instead of pulling up brackets and locking them into positions with bungee cords and the like, the Beavertail Blind operates on 4 poles that pivot off an elliptical center cam. So, when the arms are stacked on one side, the blind is totally out of the way. Since the blind stacks on the side of the boat, it does not lay in the bottom and get sopping wet. When you are ready, a quick flip of the bundle pivots the arms the other way and the canvas drapes out with the arms to totally cover and conceal the boat. The blind’s frame supports rest on top of the gunnels of the boat, and may be bolted on if you don’t mind using a drill. I have taken my blind off the boat and used it for a field blind, as well. The blind is a joy to trailer, since it stacks neatly on one side of the boat and cinches down into a tight bundle. I have never seen an easier to deploy, yet more compact and easy to store boat blind to this day.

The 500 denier cordura material of the blind cover slips over 4 lightweight sections of conduit that connect the two sets of rocker arms. The blind, when deployed, sits about 28” inches over the gunnels. This allows use of the gun box, boat seats and other storage compartments in the boat without constantly moving the boat blind as in other designs. The top section of my blind has three “shooting holes” that can be closed via “hook and loop” fasteners. You can pull open as much or as little of the cover of each “shooting hole” as you need. On my blind, the shooting holes are divided, although on the 2003 model of this blind, you can open up the entire center “strip” of the blind if you would like.

The Beavertail blind takes less than an hour for one person to put together with a couple of wrenches, and can be attached to the boat in about 2 minutes. With two people, the blind could be assembled in a snap. It weighs a total of 47 pounds once assembled, so it is easy to handle. Once in place on the boat, it can be deployed in less than 3 seconds. The same design will work just as well with mud-motors and outboards. This blind will also work equally well with either a semi-V boat or a square front jon boat. It is a very user-friendly product.

When I purchased my blind, it was only available in the Advantage Wetlands camouflage pattern. However, the blind is now available in most of the camouflage patterns preferred by today’s waterfowlers. The version that I have did not come with “stubble straps” for attaching vegetation to break up the outline of the blind. However, the new blinds come with “vegetation pockets” which allow large amounts of native vegetation to break up the contour of the blind. I have had ducks almost land in this blind, so concealment has never been a concern with it.

This blind material is tough as nails. During the last hurricane to visit my little corner of the world, the winds blew my Beavertail off my boat. The wind sent the blind parasailing off through my yard and on a tour of the neighborhood. Other than a tear from being impaled on a fence post when it finally came to rest, the blind was unscathed. Is your boat blind hurricane tested and approved? I store my blind outside, and the cover has not faded or mildewed. I just hose it off the night before the season starts and head off to the races. You can’t beat that kind of durability.

The frame of the Beavertail boat blind is made of marine grade aluminum, stainless steel and galvanized tubing. The ends of the frame that actually sit on the gunnels are covered in rubber to keep from scratching your boat. I have had no trouble with the frame of my blind. However, if you are planing to weave your boat through heavy flooded timber, you need to be careful not to bang the edges of the blind into trees where it can snag. I have been “banging” mine ferociously for 3 years, and the blind has held up fine. You will definitely want to drill the frame and screw it into your gunnels if you use the blind in heavy timber. Otherwise, the frame will eventually get knocked off your boat at an inopportune time. Be careful when you first mount the blind that you allow enough room for your steering cables to move without hitting the cross-beam.

One of the strong points about the Beavertail blind is also one of its few weak points. The vegetation pockets solve one of the common complaints about the early Beavertail blinds, which was the lack of a 3D covering. The solid covering of the Beavertail makes it into a fort. You simply cannot believe how warm it is inside one of the blinds, since it is totally windproof. You do not need to pay extra for an optional wind screen with the Beavertail blind. If you button up the top of the Beavertail, it is pretty well waterproof as well. I have ridden out some seriously gnarly weather tucked up in my warm and dry blind. However, the “fort like” aspect of the blind can be a downside if your dog absolutely must see a bird fall in order to take a mark. I have never had an issue in this regard, as I just pick up the edge of the blind and out goes the dog, taking hand signals if necessary. The newer Beavertail blinds come with an optional dog door, so this may no longer be an issue for as many folks. It really is more of a “dog issue” than a “blind issue.”

The Beavertail Boat Blind is a finely designed, well-built, extremely useful product. It performs its role of concealing the hunter and protecting him from the elements as well as any blind from which I have yet hunted. I would not hesitate to buy another one, assuming that I live long enough to wear out the blind that I now own. You can find more information on the Beavertail Blind at FisherBeavertail. Please tell them that Waterfowl Review sent you!