Let's assume it's a prevailing west wind, but you will see winds from each direction all season. This is a random place so crops are unknown.
With the thermals and being up hill it's fine. Remember it's more of a morning spot and if you hunt the field edge at night a west wind is what you want
It's not about being strong or weak it's about how the air moves once the sun comes up. read this http://forums.bowhunting.com/whitetail-deer-hunting/22920-thermals.html
More thermal reading in this thread if you are interested. Thoughts from Dan Infalt and Troy Pottenger in it as well from 2009. http://forums.bowhunting.com/whitet...hermals-how-deer-use-them-my-experiences.html
I meant like a regular wind, not thermals. In the morning winds aren't as strong as they can be in the afternoon. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You can order from Dan Infalt's website. http://www.thehuntingbeast.com/shop/product.php?id_product=16
That's what the whole forum just did when they read that response. I'll lay it out for you in my next post for you
I drew this out the best that I can. Wind speed doesn't matter. If you have a west wind it is going to blow up over the top of the hill and not blow down the far side of the hill. Especially in the morning when thermals are in play because the west wind plus the thermals are going to take any scent up and over any incoming animals. The only way I do not hunt that stand in the morning is a NW wind with a cold front coming in before daylight. If this was flat ground it would be a little different but I would still hunt it in the morning. I hope this helps.
I get the drawing but wouldn't that be an East wind? How would it affect the deer movement if it was coming from the prevailing West?
Dammit your right . West wind = perfect wind The only thing that changes is the deer might "J" hook around his bed to scent check the area first but still shouldn't be a problem.
I would choose an area, say 200-400 acres in size, and learn it the best you can. I marked up some spots and I like the area I marked in the black box the best. It is 1.5-2 miles from the parking lot, many terrain features exist including points and negative terrain, accompanied by close proximity to a creek bottom. Within the places I marked up, try to find edges of thick cover that run near the preferred terrain travel route and you will be in the money, I guarantee it.
What ^ said. This area is the confluence of 5 creeks + several springs and those neat little dips from the last ice age that collect and hold fresh water for weeks. Because of the unique structure of the mountains north, north west, east and south, you would be able to figure out in advance what the thermals would do under different temperature/prevailing winds and have half a dozen selected spots to choose from. Then you can pick out and GPS mark the spots you would hunt on virtually any day. I also really like the fact it is far from parking and you would have a good chance of having deer driven to you if you go out REAL early. The difficult part would be getting to the area without spooking the critters. My sister lives about 36 miles from this spot and it is one of the area I was considering when I move back home.
Here is a couple pictures of my target area: Satellite Image Topographic Zoomed in Satellite We would look at a base camp on "G" and there's a jeep trail all the way there. We are hunting Mule deer and doing it spot and stalk. So, what do you think of our camp location, and where would you set up to glass? We have radios and will have one guy on the scope and the other will be on the stalk.
If it were me i would camp closer to the foot hill away from the wind so you could walk along it early and sneak over the ridge for a bushwack. If you camp higher, do you not think the night thermals would pull your scent down into the deer.
