There is another post here about hunting in high winds. This actually has me thinking about a recent observation I had while on a set last evening. I hunt the best stand based on wind almost 90% of the time. The other 10%, is usually in the middle of rut where I honestly don't care about wind as much. We've had really crappy southerly winds now since the opener of our season in PA. I don't have a great deal of stands for south winds as we usually don't get a great deal of them. Well, I climbed into the stand yesterday around 2pm. We had a 20 degree temp drop, it was misty, drizzly at times... "bucky" kind of weather. The wind was out of the south, southeast, as predicted, but then it it hit me in the face, then to the side of my face, then back to the southeast..... I've noticed this quite a bit where I hunt. Mountainous ground, ditches, rolling hills, steep hollows, ridges, etc. The only wind that seems to stay relatively consistent when its forecasted is a north wind. Everything else will swirl, thermals will carry it this way, then that way. I've come to the conclusion that wind direction isn't nearly as important to focus on in this type of property. Just pick the best stand for the time of year and hunt it. On big mountain ground (we do have quite a few food plots and fields as well, but its bigger woods, especially compared to most midwest property, deer come and go from any direction, at any time of day. Bedding areas are small isolated patches here and there. Deer bed wherever they feel like it, get up and move when and where they want. There is some semblance of a pattern, but hunting transitions, and travel corridors is your best bet of placing deer under you. Trails are vaguely followed. So again, wind direction is a crap shoot. Anyone else deal with this scenerio? I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you tackle it.
I've been having this exact conversation lately. The area I hunt is mountainous (for oklahoma), mountains/ridges/saddles/benches, etc. Unless the wind is realllly blowing hard, it's completely worthless to try and hunt the wind. Any given sit, it's absolutely common for the wind to hit me from every direction on the compass. And just like you say, they bed everywhere, and they can show up from any direction. I try to play it, as much as I can, as far as the prevailing wind goes. Beyond that, I just try not to work up to much of a sweat, spray down with scent killer (for however much or little that helps) and hope for the best. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Had this exact scenario last Tuesday with a "north" wind. Felt like it blew from six different directions and I had a deer blow at me from upwind. Frustrating.
I hunt a couple of spots that are a travel route between bedding areas. Depending on where the deer are and where they are going, the wind is both right and wrong at the same time. I guess it adds an element of luck to the equation. Sent from my VS500 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I honestly think you're right about the "element of luck". I know I get these swirling winds on the mountains here more often than not. Combined with the fact the deer come and go from any direction... its a crap shoot. The best I can do is keep my scent to a minimum (is that really possible?), hunt the forecasted wind, and hope for the best a lot of times.
I recently listened to an interesting interview with Trad-bow hunter Barry Wensel, where he talks about pre-season wind checking. After he sets up his stands in the summer, he actually gets into the stand and sets off a smoke bomb. They can be purchased pretty cheaply online. He uses these to indicate where and how the wind travels from his stand. Comparing mornings VS evenings with pressures changing and different wind directions. Not sure if I would fully adopt this method, but would be interesting to try out. Perhaps this is something which may assist you in the upcoming years. Best of luck! If its any consolation, I have similar terrain features which causes these swirls etc. depending on the wind and time of day. Its a tough code to crack for sure.
I checked the weather today before heading to the stand. Sustained SSE 10-15. Get up my tree and it hits me from the NW...the only direction I haven't felt is NE Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
this plays into my thinking that it might be a good idea to keep something with your scent in your stand all the time so it becomes a normal scent for the area.
Not make this statement to argue...just making a statement. Understanding the wind is entry level basic physics. Shifts, vacuums, vertical, diagonal and horizontal eddy's are created by (wind direction+solid objects)=mechanical turbulence. It's not a mystery or crap shoot...it's actually easy to understand and very predictable. And what the wind is doing right around your person is of little importance, what it's doing 50, 100, 200 yards away is what matters. Good luck and be safe!!
I understand how wind works, and what topography/objects do to it. But I would challenge anyone to hunt areas similar to what I do, and be able to play the wind. Also, I disagree that it doesn't matter near me. Yes, it matters way out there, but when a deer I'm drawing back on smells me at 10 yards, that can be an issue... Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
I’m going to probably get blasted here for this comment but it’s my opinion. The longer and older I get Hunting I’ve come to the conclusion that the only thing needed to deer hunt successfully is noise (or lack thereof). I’m 44yrs old and as a kid never heard of anyone talking about wind direction and all, also scent free and spraying down and all that... my Step Father was a huge smoker and didn’t stop while in the stand and was very successful. To be honest Hunting has gone Hollywood imho the last 15-20years. The reason I say this, just yesterday while checking 1 of the cards from a trail cam I have out, i had someone come on my lease and remove their treestand (I knew they were going to be there) and finished at 4:45..(last pic of them on cam) then have several doe tracking right where they were not 1/2hr later and several more just before dark and that was on Tuesday and up till last night every night there after... So scent free imho is all a money maker. Also, wind direction.. do you really believe back in the 70’s people gave much or any thought to the wind? Sometimes I think we make Hunting to be more then it is.... For me I only concern myself with the amount of noise I make going in and coming out (track in slow and not in a rush) and definitely the noise while in the stand or blind. Anything else I don’t worry about
A deer passing over a trail that someone walked on a half hour ago is a lot different than a deer walking down wind of someone in a blind or tree stand. You only have to hunt deer for about a week to figure out it is their nose that keeps them alive. I'm pretty sure that in the 70's hunters gave plenty of thought to the wind direction. I know we did in the 60's...
I'm 44 also...and I was taught to understand and how to use the wind when I started hunting at 10 year's old. But my Dad consistently shot 140 to 160 inch buck's with a bow on public land throughout the 70's and 80's...one scoring in the 180's. Using the wind to hunt in various ways is a lost art used for 1000's of years, it's only a NEW thing to the majority of hunters now day's. Woodsmanship is a lost art. A group of old stinky woodsmen...that took a bath about once a year, lol...nearly wipped out the whitetail deer with muzzleloader around the turn of the century.
Question: Suppose you’re set up on top of a ridge. Even with swirling winds and changing directions, if the temperature is warming, your scent will be carried by thermals up and vice versa for cooling temperatures? I don’t want to say morning and evening, bc here in Indiana a cold front can come through at noon and drive temperatures down fifteen degrees in an hour, so I would assume in that case you wouldn’t want to be at the top of the ridge if deer were expected to be at the in the bottom of the hollow? Not meaning to hijack, just had a question about thermals that’s been weighing on my mind
yeh sure do...story of my life. Here in southeast Va it's either private farmland or timber co land leased. the private farms are a slam dunk if you can get on one. the timber land, well that's a different animal. all pine plantations and 0-8 year old cutover...a bowhunter's nightmare in my opinion. very few oak trees but several ag fields. I would say that on 7,000 ac I hunt, 80% is a potential bedding area 360 deg around your stand. No matter where you set up, the wind is wrong for most of your potential hunting. It's a tough gig. no travel ways, no pattern, no rhyme or reason. they eat browse in the cutovers and come to the fields well after dark. The catch?? lots of deer and lots big ones. You just have to have it go your way every once in a while.
You baited me in, lol. This statement is an oxymoron, it makes absolutely no since. You start off by "understanding" how it works... Then jump right in to not being able to play the wind (understand it). This is a small piece of what I hunt...I can hunt anyplace on this map with the right wind with no trouble at all.
Very true. This is the first thing I thought of when you mentioned that. These guys were hunters. I'm lucky to have an original signed edition from 1974.
This is a lot of my stand locations as well. Today we had a strong SE wind at the farm. If the deer came from the swamp I would have been fine. If they came from the park reserve I would have been screwed. The property I hunt the most Is very flat and 90% crop field The wind can be mostly predictable. Hunting the property since I could pull a bow back I can look at the windmill before I walk out and decide what stand "should' be the best.
I do feel like I have a pretty good understanding of how wind works, maybe I'm wrong. With ridges, hollows, saddles, thermals, etc, all creating eddies and currents in their own respective ways, I have a hard time believing that you can hunt anywhere you want in topography like that, without dealing with swirling winds. If I am wrong, I would absolutely like to spend some time with, and learn from you. Here's a bit of some of what I hunt Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
I deal with swirling winds at times...but it's not swirling to/towards where my buck is bedded 100 yards or so away. I'm set-up with the anticipation of the wind calming down and thermals dropping at last light when my buck gets on his feet. And I focus on "the" deer I'm hunting...."the" deer I'm not hunting are of little importance. I will add this....If one doesn't know where the deer they're hunting is coming from and going to, the wind makes no difference at all. Just call a hail Mary, climb a random tree and hunt, lol.
