Use the wind to your advantage. Just about every hunter knows that. Position stands so that prevailing wind is in your face or at least not blowing your scent toward where deer are likely be. But how do you hunt windy days? From the couch? Do you hunt before and after a windy day or two? Do you grind it out in the stand for an all day sit if that's the only time you can be out there? Over Thanksgiving weekend, I sat for 3 hunts. One was absolutely perfect IMO. Wind had been blowing for a few days, then a cold front came in. Was 24* at 5:30 am when I was driving out to hunt. Sat for a few hours till 10 or so. Then stretched the legs a bit, checked 2 scrape lines and walked another area stopping every 5 or 10 steps to look/listen. Didn't see a damn thing. I've got another similar opportunity coming up. Windy today and tomorrow. Then calm and cooler mid week. Growing up, my Dad and uncles taught me that deer didn't move if they couldn't hear their surroundings. They have to eat sometime, so after 2 windy days, does it matter? Are calm days after windy ones typically better days to hunt? I would think so, but having a hard time proving that out. How does wind affect your hunting plans? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
I've typically seen days with some wind to be more productive. Usually a decent 10mph wind seems to be great for deer movement in my experience. My #3 buck was taken on a day that had solid 20-25mph winds. I actually had another giant come through on me that day as well when I was gutting him, but I had no tags left at that point.
Seems like it's always windy in my home area... I don't even blink or think about doing something different until it starts to get over 30mph... I may select a more secluded stand - something 'thick'... Then it's more about safety and can I get off a good close shot then IF the deer will move...
You move to heavier covered areas? Closer to food sources? Bedding areas? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
I love days that have around a 15 mph wind. Anything between 10-20 is prime. When it is windy I can get in tighter to bedding and my overall setup is more quiet. I hate calm days. I always chuckle when i hear guys on tv say how its a nice calm day. I want a true steady wind that is more predictable and covers up sound
I've lived and hunted in North Dakota the last 2 years and have learned a lot about the wind. I think first off, everything is relative to what the avg. wind speed is in your area. For instance, here it is seemingly always around a 10-15mph wind, which I like to hunt. Though when it is extremely still, and there is next to no wind, I find that deer are much more skiddish and seem to be more nervous. I don't see any negatives in deer movement up to about a 25-30mph wind. When the wind gets particularly gusty, I'm talking 30mph+ winds, I go down in topography. Even out here in ND. I have a few river bottom areas where it is hard to get a consistent wind. But days where the wind is howling, I am able to get a better consistent wind down in the bottoms, and the wind isn't blowing quite as hard down there. These days have produced some of my best hunts. For example, this season the three most mature bucks I've seen have all been days where the wind was gusting 30-40mph, and I was hunting my riverbottom spot.
Best days to hunt are windy cold day. Many hunters think deer don't move when it's windy, in fact they move a hell of alot more up until gale force winds. South facing slopes near the bottom of ridges you will often find them. Another good thing about windy days is most guys don't hunt in it, stalking is the ticket when its blowing.
Maybe it's just my area or my inexperience but I don't think the deer in my area move when windy 18 and over winds. My opinion on this is a deer's main sense is his ability to smell. If winds are up and those scents are blowing all around my guess is they stay put cause they can't pick up where it's located. This is just my opinion and I'm no pro in the woods but would love if someone can prove my wrong.
