Looking for a good base of knowledge to start with here. Never really payed into it a whole lot until i think i got scented by a doe last night (or she saw me moving), either way i want to pay attention to it and learn more. I hear guys playing musical stands when the wind direction changes, just wondering what calls for such a movement i.e., a cardinal direction change (N wind changes to W wind, W wind changes to S wind, etc.) ? Or just a N to NE, S to SW etc? I understand that i want the wind at my face whenever possible while heading to my stand, but do i want it to be blowing in my face while hunting? And does this mean that deer try to always travel with the wind at their backside? Any solid info to start with would be greatly appreciated. One of the things i am trying this year is keeping a hunting journal, writing down specifics for each hunt that i go out on, and wind conditions are one of the points that i record. By using this journal each year, I am going to learn what conditions (wind direction, wind speed, temperature, time i sat in stand, time i exited stand, lunar phase, deer seen at what time, etc ) and patterns deer use. Thanks in advance!
if the wind is blowing east you want to be facing west in your stand, so that the deer are on the upwind side of you, so the air does not pass over you and to the deer allowing them to smell you. if you are downwind of where you expect the deer to be then they can not smell you.
Are you hunting flatland or land with some decent elevation changes? Personally I hunt hill country. Most days I have the wind in my face or to my side as I enter my stand, blowing away from the deer. However, once I set on a hillside I let the wind hit my back and face downhill most of the time.
It all depends on where you believe the deer are and will come from. It is tough to play the wind all the time but if the wind is isn't in my favor I still will hunt. I've had deer come from totally where I wasn't expecting and having he wind in their favor. Never spooked but still never gave me a shot. The only time i mite not go in the woods is when it's blowing hard and swirling, they never move in that just bed down.
bowsie, I've had two of the biggest bucks in my life within range when the winds were blowing 20-30mph with gusts up to 40mph. Both times I chose not to shoot because they were not close enough for my liking with that wind. Had they been within 10-15 yards I would have shot. They were both between 20-30 yards.
The land I have been hunting is north eastern ohio--- flat as a pancake. I have a stand facing east, at the edge of the woods facing a corn field (woods to my back, corn field in front of me.) Typically, the wind blows from west to east, and i would expect the deer to be coming from behind me in this stand. I expect that if i am high enough up, a deer passing under my stand to get to the corn will not pick up my scent. Although last night a doe and fawn surprised me, by coming 30 yds broadside from the north headed south. I am facing the direction that I am because it is facing the corn field, offering an open shot, as the woods behind me is moderately thick.
Although the land is typically flat around here, I found a hunting sanctuary that has a creek and tall ridges on either side of it. It is pretty open all around the creek, with tall timber around it with a great natural funnel. Also has a block of 50' pines on one ridge. it's beautiful. it's a view like no other around here, looks like it belongs in field and stream magazine. Came across this property today, and i got permission to hunt it! Already took the Viper up to about 22' to take a look around. I am pumped like you don't believe!! Can't wait to get out in that big timber and take it all in, and hopefully tag a big O-H-I-O buck!
