If you're hunting a trail that runs East to West through some hardwoods, and got a steep ridge to the South of you (running uphill behind you), would hunting a N, NNW, or NNE wind (wind blowing from North to South) be a bad idea? I do not want the wind to whirl around on the ridge and come back to bite me. What is y'alls opinion on this?
The wind from the south would most likely swirl once it gets over the ridge that's behind you. So, essentially the wind would hit your back and be swirling in front of you. Probably not ideal.
Thanks for your response. So conversely, would hunting a North wind be bad since the wind would be in your face, hitting the ridge behind you, and changing direction due to the ridge? Or do you suppose the wind will keep rolling North up the steep ridge?
My apologies, in my original post I meant 'would hunting a wind coming at you, with your back to the ridge, be a bad idea?' My thought is that the wind will blow into the ridge and swirl around right in there with you, so if a big buck comes in he's going to catch my scent and high-tail out of there....
I initially thought you were at the top of the ridge. At the bottom, you're going to get some swirling, back and forth as wind speeds cause eddies to break off, fade out and start back up....but in that scenario, something from the south will offer the most consistency.
That's my bad. I didn't do a good job explaining the situation haha... That being said, I agree w you. Thanks for your response.
Here’s what sounds to be a similar set up and how I hunt it. North facing ridge, the stand is the yellow dot and is on the edge of a steep creek bank at the bottom of the ridge. There is a pond to the west. Bedding area west of the pond. The ridge top is the red line. Creek is the bottom of the ridge. This stand works in the morning with just about any wind because the north side doesn’t warm up as fast and is still shaded. The top of the ridge and south side heat up first and thermals push the cold air down on the dark side. This changes when the north side gets sun and starts to heat up, but my stand is right on a ditch and is still shaded by another ridge to the north so, most of the time, the thermals are sinking at my stand, pushing my scent down into the creek ditch ( the creek ditch is about 8’ deep) This set wouldn’t work if I was south of the trails bc my scent would be pushed down into the deer trail. Thermals down swirl really. It’s up or down. Rising or falling thermals can meet wind and make a thermal tunnel and that’s usually where the trails are found running with the ridge. The deer can smell below with the thermals rising and above with the leeward wind. Don’t know if this helps, but some theory to help you sort through your set up
Sounds like you know what you're doing brother. Thanks for the insight, it'll definitely help when I set up at this spot. I've had a few shooter bucks coming to that area and I want to do everything in my power not to pressure them out.
This is correct, all thermals do is rise and fall....beyond that, they do exactly what the wind and structure/terrain make them do via mechanical turbulence. But this sounds like something straight from the Beast...and is 100% incorrect, lol
I didn’t intend for hat stand to work out that way. I put it there to hunt that pond before I ever learned about thermals. Sometimes you just gotta put a strategy in motion and learn from it. Good luck!
