so most of are hunting tactics are to play the wind. But my confusion is that how do you judge this. i know that deer learn the skill of moving in the wind and you always you want the wind in your favor, but how are you going to have the wind in your favor if deer move into the wind. so i read every article about people telling you to play the wind but i believe you could say this about every stand. especially for my land being 60 acres of thick swap land you don't know where the deer are going to come from. so would you rather have the wind going to where the deer are going to coming from or have the wind blowing the other way but i don't get this because deer move into the wind can you please explain. if confusion just ask and i will clear up for you
Deer do not always move into the wind. If you know where they are coming from and going to make sure you are downwind
Deer don't base their movements on wind direction.. Its not like they wake up and say I gotta go this way to eat because the wind is blowing this way. They travel to get to where they want to go, and use the wind in their favor as much as possible to get there safely. I try and hunt cross winds-- not directly down wind of the travel path I'm expecting movement on. Sometimes it works and sometimes not...
Yep, deer don't base their lives off what the wind is doing. If they always walked into the wind there would be several days in a row they are always walking south or north and they would be miles from home. You hunt the wind to be in your favor, deer are going to do what they want regardless of the wind.
What everybody else said. If that were the case, you wouldn't see well-established deer trails. The wind couldn't blow constant enough for deer to wear out the ground enough.
I would just try to locate the food source and scout hard with trail cameras trying to find the direct path or the main trail they use and play the wind from that.
I'm going to disagree to an extent with everyone saying deer don't base movement on wind direction.. Last fall I had a trail camera set up on a small food plot just inside the woods with a large bedding area to the South and an open field to the North. I could only hunt the area with a South wind due to the bedding area to the south. I had over 50 pictures of my "target buck" in the food plot in September & October, with over half the pictures being in the daylight. Of the 50+ pictures, the buck was only there 4 times during a South wind. Of those 4 times, once was during the day. I think mature deer do learn to use the wind to their advantage and actually do move based on the wind sometimes.
The wind can be in their face but you can still be downwind of the deer as it passes. Just have to setup correctly for that wind.
Speaking of mature bucks, although movement is not dependent on moving with the wind in their face, bedding is very specific to wind direction. What Mitch witnessed with his food plot observation is the buck he was after was feeding in the location on specific winds because he was using the adjacent bedding area with that specific wind. Deer often, especially when feeding, move with the wind directly at their back. Deer will even feed across a field with the wind to their back, stop feeding to cross back over the field to again feed with the wind to their back. This way they can see anything infront of them, and smell anything behind. But with all wind direction, the key is bedding, where they're coming from and going to. If you don't understand this, you're really not in the game for mature bucks, and won't understand setting up properly to have consistent success getting on mature bucks.
Deer won't decide where to go by wind, but they'll decide how they get there by wind (generally). Knowing how they will approach a destination with a particular wind is key.
You actually answered your question (sort of) Like the others said, They're not constantly walking into the wind, but they're always checking it by throwing their nose in the air to see if something stinks (like you.) That being said, yes with the proper "studying" you can determine the normal path the deer are taking, They're creatures of habit, they basically do the same thing day after day. You'll begin to learn where they're coming and going from. Then you can select your stand placement from there. I'll give you a personal example. Last season, I had a doe and 2 younger fawns on my property. Unless Momma busted me first, everyday between 8-9am, one of the fawns would come rolling through. So much so, that we named her "Clockwork" because she was like clockwork everyday. So, now you know where and when they're traveling, you've set up your stand. You check the wind for the day and realize there's no way you can sit in that stand without the deer getting a whiff of you. So, what do you do? You buy another stand, and possibly another, and another. (or move your existing stand) Now, you're playing the wind.
Pretty much agree with everything that has been said, and add a little. First, every area has its own wind patterns. You should constantly try and feel the wind and learn to sense the patterns. I often take a squeeze bottle filled with baking powder, so I can see what the wind is doing. It is important to get a weather sense for what the different wind patterns mean. Second, the total absence of wind can be worse than a steady breeze. Your odor will tend to seep around you, and with no wind to blow it away, deer sometimes sense you more quickly. Third, of couse we always try to be downwind or crosswind of the approaching deer. You don't always guess right. Depending on the wind speed, and how high in a tree, deer close and directly down wind may not smell you. Your odor will be blown over them. Finally, you will get busted smetimes no matter what you do. It's part of the fun.
