From Gun Cases to Hunting Blinds, Foam Can Improve Your Hunting Experience

When opening day for hunting season arrives each year, people take to the great outdoors, equipped not just with arms, but with plenty of experience, know-how and do-it-yourself accessories to help them get their game. Because so much of hunting is about utilizing preparation, tact, and guile to get an advantage over one’s prey, homemade hunting products are often go-to materials in a hunter’s bag of tricks, from blinds and practice targets to decoys. Durable, water-resistant, and strong, closed-cell foam is one of the best materials for crafting your own accessories and The Foam Factory has an inventory of materials to help you take home the season’s biggest prize.

Custom-Cut Foam Gun Case With Eggcrate Lid Liner

One of the first additions to a serious hunter’s repertoire is a hunting blind. These are structures, ranging in scope from shanties to small homes, that conceal movement and noise and allow the hunter to mask themselves much better than if they set up in the open. Whether they’re not much more than a small tent or as ornate as a full-fledged cabin, their purpose remains the same and foam is a product that can help you outfit a blind for the best chance at a successful hunt.

Blinds play a major role in concealing movement, muffling sound, and sometimes masking scent if outfitted with the right materials. Even the most basic blinds, homemade or purchased, will help mask movement, but noise is often a different issue. If you’ve constructed or installed a permanent blind with solid flooring, heavy hunting boots can spook prey as you re-situate or adjust yourself. Nylon fabric blinds can cause a plastic bag sound underfoot, and floorless blinds leave sticks snapping and stones cracking on the ground. Some people have put down carpeting in their blinds to avoid this, but brand-new or used, these can carry strong scents and may mold or mildew over time, become rather unappealing. A solution to this is water-resistant, closed-cell foam floor mats.

A sheet of resilient, non-absorbent gym rubber or neoprene floor padding placed on the floor of a blind can muffle any footsteps and movement while providing stable footing to confidently position yourself. The Foam Factory can cut either material down to a thickness of 1/8 of an inch for thin noise-deadening rubber floor mats. For more permanent blinds, adding these materials to the walls, or even insulating polystyrene foam board for serious construction, can help keep you warmer and quieter.

It would be pretty easy to say the most vital equipment to a hunter is his or her firearm or bow, since without one, there isn’t much hunting going on. People spend thousands of dollars on their weapons and accessories, knowing that they can easily last a lifetime if taken care of properly. Routine maintenance and general care goes a long way in keeping a gun or bow around long enough for it to become an heirloom, and the way they are transported is a major part of that. Utilizing foam inserts for a snug fit in a weapon or bow case is important for ensuring that an item doesn’t get jostled around, damaging itself or other components sharing the case. Because of foam’s compressibility, shock-absorption, and softness, it functions as a snug, form-fitting material for keeping hunting weapons in place. The Foam Factory stocks open-cell charcoal and Anti-Static foam in styles perfect for outfitting your case.

Bases from 1/2 an inch up to 3 inches provide a solid layer of cushion for your item to lie upon in its casing. For customizing the foam casing to the unique shapes, sizes, and layouts that exist, Pick and Pull Grid foam is the perfect layer in any protective carrying case. These foam sheets come with pre-scored serrations that allow the user to easily slice or tear away foam to fit the profile of the item that needs storage. Trimming foam to dimensions slightly smaller than the item ensures that it will be held snugly and securely. These pluck and pick foam sections all feature a ½ by ½ inch grid structure to remove foam pieces and can range from ½ an inch to 3 inches in thickness. For deeper materials, multiple layers can be combined for complete 3-D security. Lastly, convoluted/eggcrate topper sheets are manufactured for case lids to serve as a final layer of protection as the case is carried. These eggcrate sheets are available in 1-1/2 or 2-1/2 inch peak varieties. These case foam materials come in three standard sizes; small at 12 by 13 inches, medium at 18 by 20 inches, and large at 24 by 26 inches. Custom sizes may also be ordered if needed. Specialty Anti-Static foam is a useful gun foam for moving items with sensitive components, as it dissipates any charges generated during transportation.

For waterfowl hunters, one technique that has shown its value over the years is the use of decoys. These floating replicas are used to lure birds into areas for getting off a clear shot. Decoys are readily available for purchase but people have been hand-crafting their own DIY decoys for generations, and the ability to customize decoys to your region and game offers versatility stores cannot always match. It is often cheaper as well, and the sense of pride in constructing your own is a benefit unto itself. For some people, the creation of these decoys is a hobby just as beloved as the hunting they are made for. Decoys are made from many materials, most commonly wood. However, polystyrene is one alternative material that works for decoy-makers, both new and old.

Charcoal Firm Foam Bow Case Insert

Polystyrene is an incredibly buoyant material and can float easily, even with added weight in the form of a keel or attached movement mechanism, making it great for decoy carving. By purchasing blocks of polystyrene or laminating smaller sheets of the foam together, a raw form is produced that can be trimmed and shaped exactly the way you want. Using handheld hot-wire cutters or carving carefully with sharp detailing knives, custom designs can be sliced out of the foam, which after applying coating, can then be painted for another one-of-a-kind touch. The Foam Factory sells four-packs of their 28 by 48 inch foam sheets in thicknesses of 1 to 4 inches and can be ordered in custom sizes as well. Adhesives are always in stock, specially formulated for bonding polystyrene.

Enjoying the great outdoors, spending time with friends and family, or just getting some alone time are only a few of the attractions of hunting. And with The Foam Factory products, you can make your hunts more enjoyable and hopefully more successful.

Tags: Custom Cutouts, Custom Foam Packaging, Foam Inserts, Neoprene, Outdoor Foam

Posted in Foam Packaging, Other Products