Filming in a Blind Made Simpler

As a licensed professional engineer for nearly half of my life, I feel I have a good grasp on things such as area, volume, and spatial relationships. However, when I hop into a ground blind, I am constantly reminded that I am either more challenged in this area than I think, or ground blinds simply defy the laws of physics. I hope it is the latter, but either way, all I know is that every inch of space in a ground bind is precious, and no matter how many people you have in the blind, you and your gear will occupy every inch of it.

There is probably a scientific name for the phenomenon, and if there isn’t, there should be. I’m referring to the way that the gear that easily fits into your KUIU Icon Pro with a volume of 1850 cubic inches but can barely fit into a ground blind with more than a quarter million cubic inches of space. A couple hunters, a couple chairs, a bow, pile of clothes, some Nose Jammer, and a tripod & camera, and it feels like I have more gear than the entire Lewis & Clark expedition at my fingertips. It truly is an amazing spectacle, and perhaps down the road we will team up with a few Midwestern universities to really dive into this issue of diminishing space inside a ground blind.

Since this phenomenon is unexplainable to date, XENEK has instead focused on creating ways to increase the efficiency of the space we have inside a ground blind. We started with the most awkward piece of equipment… the tripod. This simple device can fold down into the size of a can of Pringles while in your pack. However, once you extend the legs, you’re dealing with a serious space hog in the blind.

Our solution to this issue? Our patent pending space saver that we call… a tripod slot. By far the simplest feature on our blind, but it is also one of the most practical and useful. Perhaps we should have given it a cooler name. However, while many manufacturers spend more time trademarking a word or phrase to describe their “technology” than they spend solving problems identified in the field, Jerrod and I prefer to focus on solving the field problems, so we don’t have to rely on a trademark to sell our products. We’d rather let our products’ features sell our products instead of relying on fancy words to sell our products. Our tripod slot is case in point.

Our blinds’ tripod slots consist of a horizontal “slit” in the front walls of the ground blind. The slits have a flap to prevent light from entering, and this simple improvement allows a hunter filming with a tripod to slide one of the tripod legs through the wall and to the outside of the blind. No, not rocket science by any means, but a tripod that once took up a good chunk of real estate inside the ground blind can now be pushed closer to the window, giving the folks inside more room to lay out all that other gear, or maybe allow grandpa a little nesting area for a short nap. While the tripod slot allows for more usable space inside, it also simplifies the filming itself. By allowing one tripod leg to slide to the outside, the camera can be placed closer to the front window. This gives the camera a much greater field of view and allows the camera guy to get more and better content… unless he’s taking a nap in the space that was once occupied by the tripod, before the invention of the tripod slot. : )

Here’s a short video of Jerrod sharing about tripod slots.

To learn about other XENEK products that can help you with filming, take a look at our patent pending Quick Attach tree screw.

…and our patent pending Mini-Mount for POV and trail cams.

You can also always find us at http://www.huntxenek.com/

Happy hunting.

Jake