2019 hunting season is one I will surely never forget - my first time hunting in Montana. I had been there a couple of times prior, running camera for fellow Rush Outdoors staff member John Lenox while he chased elk. But this time I was able to hunt myself. I was in search of my very first antelope and Montana Whitetails, Inc. was the perfect place to do it.

After sitting for two, 14-hour days in smaller ground blinds watching hundreds of antelope at far distances, I got word that John had harvested his very first antelope. After John had told me how nice the Maverick Blind was, I had to try it for myself. There were a lot of antelope still in the same area, so I headed to the same blind he had been fortunate enough to fill his tag in.

Boy was he right! The space that the Maverick 6-Shooter provided was astounding! Being a hard shell blind, it also kept the strong winds quiet which is huge when trying to film for television. With the amount of windows it was easy to see in any direction giving me a huge advantage to see the antelope coming from every possible angle.

The twist to my hunt, though, came on day number five. After four full days of hunting now (that’s 56 hours in blinds) it was time to make a move. My guide and I got to the Maverick Blind about 30 minutes early that morning and decided we needed to move it about 150 yards from where it was. With a blind of that size, I was very concerned as to how the two of us were going to achieve this goal. The vehicle we had was an older Suburban with no truck bed to place the blind in. All my guide had was a hitch hauler that attaches to the receiver in the back of the vehicle, which is basically a metal rack to help transport items when you run out of space inside the vehicle. We took the stakes out of the flange on the blind, rolled it onto its side, and placed the top of the blind onto the hitch hauler. While I held the base of the blind off the ground, the guide drove the vehicle through the pasture to our new location approximately 150 yards away. It was very simple and we were set up well before the sun rose on day number five of my hunt.

The move paid off! After sitting in the Maverick Blind in its new location for about two hours, a couple of bucks were headed within range. After struggling to get them to stop, they finally cooperated at about 50 yards. I released an arrow from my PSE and it sailed over the back of the intended target. Boy was I bummed! The blind was in the perfect spot and I choked at the moment of truth. Down but not out, I gathered myself and began to hope for another opportunity. A couple of hours later, for some reason I still don’t know, I opened a window I had closed in the back of the blind to see an antelope walking straight at me. He was at 25 yards headed directly at the Maverick Blind. He walked by at approximately 5 yards while I fumbled and stumbled to get my camera gear and archery equipment moved to capture the shot as I was self filming for Rush Outdoors TV. It all worked out and I made the eight yard shot count!

Long story short, I am now a firm believer that there are no other blinds on the market that allow hunters to be that mobile while still providing a hard shell to keep you out of the elements. I will be placing Maverick Blinds on any and all of my hunting properties in the future.