Location, Location, Location
As in real estate, location is among the most important considerations in building a duck blind. First and foremost, a blind must be located where ducks want to go. The prevailing wind and the position in relation to the sun are also important factors.
Our blind stands in a shallow open pond on our Middle Bar Farm in far western Kentucky. The blind faces northeast, only 75 yards from the Mississippi River's eastern bank. During the waterfowl season, the wind typically blows from a westerly direction, so this orientation puts the breeze at our backs—and the ducks in our face—most hunting days. The sun rises to the right front of the blind and crawls to the southwest as the day progresses, so we don't have to look directly into the sun on blue-sky days.
The pond is a seasonally flooded four-acre slough in an agricultural field. We try to maintain the water level about knee deep throughout the hunting season. We also keep the pond free of vegetation to ensure that our decoys can be seen by waterfowl trading over the river channel or adjacent bottoms.