Can someone explain scent thermals, how the act, when and what they do? I've read a lot about them, but never really found a simple easily understood explanation.
A thermal is a column or stream of rising air created by temperature differences between air at ground level and air higher in the atmosphere. In the morning, as the sun heats the ground, air at ground level rises. The opposite occurs when the sun is setting and the earth starts to cool down. Air cools and settles back toward the ground, pulling your scent along with it. - See more at: https://www.qdma.com/beat-bucks-nose-remember-thermals/#sthash.QsTVImzB.dpuf
On sunny days hunt high in the morning and low in the evenings. High humidity and rain changes this all around though...
I agree. I like to remember it by thinking of a hunting cabin in a valley...the hunters climb up the slopes in the morning and walk back down in the evening.
Thermals do not need hillsides though. A thermal can exist on a flat too. If the thermal drops your scent will be around you. I fit is rising your scent goes up and animals around you cannot get your scent.
Where I hunt thermals and downdrafts are VERY often stronger than wind; especially at first and last light. I've seen a ton of deer and killed quite a few that were "downwind" of me per the prevailing winds; but those were trumped by thermals created by the terrain around me. In fact I have more than one stand site that I rarely worry about the wind direction b/c I know the thermals will more often than not take care of it for me.
dnoodles, you understand wind and terrain effects well it seems. But those are not thermals just terrain influencing the winds. Either way it is important to know how all this needs to be taken into consideration for hunting successfully.
