I know a lot of the mid west has had the strong winds the past few days, but it reached us here in the northeast yesterday! So question is, do a lot of you guys stickit out and hunt when the winds are 15-20mph with 25-35mph gusts? Or just call it quits?! I shot one of my bigger bucks this past october when the winds were between 15-20mph. So im a strong believer that you wont kill anything from the couch! But just curious, as its a lot colder now lol What do you do? And what are some of your tactics for strong winds?
Saturday was 15-20 mph winds with even stronger gusts and I saw four bucks cruising. Calling is not very effective due to noise reduction, but scents still seem to be effective
Yea i got to see a decent buck yesterday afternoon in my neighbors yard doggin a doe that was feeding near his bird feeder. So i know they still move this time of year, but my father damn near refuses to hunt when the winds get like this. Says they dont move much. But i have seen them moving, so was just curious what some others thought about it
i hunted this weekend in the midwest with the winds and had a good buck all the way into ten yards he busted me before i could get a shot but still an awesome encounter.
hunt where there are wind breaks. deer will go where the wind isnt. ravines, ditches, behind dams etc. i still struggled to kill this weekend but there were deer laying up behind our dam and in some bottoms that has a big pine stand adjacent as a wind break. it was getting in there without them knowing that was tough
Yes most definitely. I see some of my best buck activity on windy days especially during the rut. I tend to sit in larger trees though so its not a roller coaster ride up in the tree.
Friday winds were ok but way too warm movement was ok but mostly at night on my cellular trailcam Saturday temps dropped from 60F to 35F and movement was crazy deer everywhere Sunday in the crazy winds absolutely nothing moved even on my trailcam Dan
If I am in a tree stand in the woods, no I don't hunt. About 15-20mph is my cut off in that situation. Not because I don't think deer are moving but because of safety. The woods I am in usually seem to have a lot of deadfall and having a treetop fall out 10 feet from you just isn't a fun thing and I imagine its even less fun if it falls on your head. If I have a good field to sit on where I can kind of get away from the trees in a nice patch of cedars or something then it doesn't really matter how hard the wind is blowing.
Absolutely, if you use Google, you'll find studies done from universities that show an increase in deer movement up to gale force winds, after gale movement drops out and they bed down.
During the rut absolutely. Might change where I sit but winds won't deter me much. Bucks are going to move regardless of weather, hunt downwind of doe bedding areas and hope when they get up occasionaly they move just enough. If nothing else it can cover your movement if you try to get closer on the ground. Early or late season not so much as their daily patrern isn't going to get them on their feet like a doe in estrous will.
Yes! But in Kansas you have little choice. Get below 10 mph and it seems worst. Been out there when wind was 30 - 35 with gust to 50 but hunt from the ground.
Well, i set up in my friends set, since im still waiting for my gear to arrive. But man im doubting this the tree is a max 8-10inches in diameter. Lets get ready for the roller coaster ride lol. But checked my trail cam and deer moved through here all day yesterday evenwith the wind/snow. No shooters though. Wish me luck
I'm in New York to and between the late rut and now strong winds it's been a tough go. I agree with your dad to a certain point. The deer in my area do not move when windy as much. But during the rut or when the shotguns hit the stage all bets are off
Pretty much all the time it will be between10 to 20 mph. It does lay down but mostly to change direction. Finding a break that you can hunt is the hard part. Practice in the wind is a must.
Depends on where your at. I'm in NE KS and it isn't so bad. There is always a breeze but it's not going to blow you over most of the time. We still have some trees and landscape to block some wind in this part of the state. Go west and south from me and yeah you have a stiff breeze more often than not and really nowhere to hide from it.
It depends on the wind direction for me. If I can hunt from one of my blinds, I'll hunt in the wind. If the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, I either don't hunt or just go ahead and sit in the blind and hope for my cover scent to do the job. But in all reality, the wind is probably blowing the scent away fast enough that cover scents don't really matter.
My cousin shot an 11 pointer and my friends daughter shot an 8 pointer both on saturday in the windy midwest. Both mature.
It is probably a location thing but when the wind picks up where I hunt, nothing moves. I figured that out when the only thing moving one day was a lone mockingbird building a nest. Nothing else was moving or making a sound. Happened last Wed, my last day to hunt this season. The winds were supposed to be bad Thur but started creeping in 10 am Wed. I stuck it out until 11 but even the birds and field mice stopped moving, so I packed it up until next year.
