Is wind really that important?

[BSK]

Hunting in ridge-and-hollow hardwoods, you better have a keen understanding of how terrain effects wind-flow. In addition, you better know how thermals work in hilly terrain. The very best days for playing the wind are those days with a steady 10-15 MPH wind. In those conditions, scent is going to be concentrated in a 90-180 degree arc downwind. The very worst days are the "light and variable" wind days. On those days, in a 4 hour sit, your scent is going to go in every direction several times during the hunt.

 

[BSK]

We probably take wind consideration to the extreme when choosing stands to hunt. Have a spreadsheet posted in camp house next to the check-in board, that has all the stands broken out by wind direction. Also have a weather station mounted on top of the skinning rack next to camp house. That way we know what the wind is at our location & not at some airport 50 miles away. Everyone chooses where they are going to hunt from the spreadsheet. We have alot of stands and there are 30-40 choices for any given wind direction. Whenever we add or relocate a stand the wind direction is the #1 consideration as to where it is placed. Over the years we also moved all our stands out of the hollows and placed them higher up on the sides to combat the swirling wind currents. OnX is the mapping app we use and all stands on it have the stand name & wind direction listed ex. S9, S-SW-SE.

We do the same. have an internet-based weather station at camp so everyone can see the current wind and wind history leading up to a hunt. We have a paper I have right next to the stand map listing each primary and secondary wind direction and then a list below of each stand that can be hunted with that wind direction.

 

[Snake]

Wind direction is IMO one of the most important aspects of hunting but also how you approach your hunting stand is as equally important. Now to be honest at times you can get away with the not so perfect wind . Stands that deer approaching come from many different locations wind direction is not that important but these stands I usually hunted with virtually no or not much wind and in the mornings hoping the thermals would help . High stands with benches underneath them is another stand location that you can get away with the not so perfect wind . Experience is the key also in choosing stand sites based on wind direction . Those that go through the great pains of scent protection can probably get away with the not so perfect wind for hunting a particular site . But if a hunter don't pay attention to wind direction in choosing a stand site then IMO he's already got the odds not in their favor . # 1 defense of a whitetail is his nose most hunters will agree to that .

 

[Tom Collins]

Very mindful of the wind and scent control. I will say though, if i have a spot I know the bucks are using DURING the rut.. I'll often roll the dice (with a questionable wind) and it's paid off numerous times. Of course it's hard to quantify the risk reward payout in this situation over time but I'll only do this during peak rut.

 

[fairchaser]

We probably take wind consideration to the extreme when choosing stands to hunt. Have a spreadsheet posted in camp house next to the check-in board, that has all the stands broken out by wind direction. Also have a weather station mounted on top of the skinning rack next to camp house. That way we know what the wind is at our location & not at some airport 50 miles away. Everyone chooses where they are going to hunt from the spreadsheet. We have alot of stands and there are 30-40 choices for any given wind direction. Whenever we add or relocate a stand the wind direction is the #1 consideration as to where it is placed. Over the years we also moved all our stands out of the hollows and placed them higher up on the sides to combat the swirling wind currents. OnX is the mapping app we use and all stands on it have the stand name & wind direction listed ex. S9, S-SW-SE.

I'm curious if these changes have resulted in better sightings of deer or even mature bucks. If deer know that they can sense danger by approaching from a certain direction to a certain area, you might be training them to avoid stands.

 

[fairchaser]

Hunting in ridge-and-hollow hardwoods, you better have a keen understanding of how terrain effects wind-flow. In addition, you better know how thermals work in hilly terrain. The very best days for playing the wind are those days with a steady 10-15 MPH wind. In those conditions, scent is going to be concentrated in a 90-180 degree arc downwind. The very worst days are the "light and variable" wind days. On those days, in a 4 hour sit, your scent is going to go in every direction several times during the hunt.

This is so, so true. As a competitive shooter, I've come to learn so much more about wind currents and how terrain and many other variables affect the wind especially when it's light.

 

[fairchaser]

Hunters should know that when the weather report says the wind will be SW. That means sometimes it will be from the South and sometimes from the West and all points in between. Occasionally, it will completely reverse and that's without the terrain or vegetation moving it. Bottom line is that wind is fickle.

 

[BSK]

Bottom line is that wind is fickle.

You said a mouthful there! The best we can do is play the wind the best we can.

 

[archer19]

As long as the winds not rocking the stand
i just go hunt

 

[BigAl]

For some reason the winds seemed more fickle this year. Or was I just paying attention more?
I have two spots I like to hunt where the deer can be seen or move in any direction and any spot regardless of the wind.
What do you do in those spots regarding the wind?

 

[Trapper John]

In all honesty, there came a time as I got older when I stopped paying that much attention. Our farm is very much a ridge and hollow type situation with a good chunk of river bottom. I've hunted it long enough to know that, odds are, in the morning the thermals are going "that" way and in the afternoon they're going "this" way. I typically go by that. I pay more attention to it when I take a friend than when I go on my own.

That being said, if I want to hunt a particular stand because of my mood or the view or whatever, I do it. I've killed deer in the worst of wind situations and been busted in what I thought were the best. If I catch myself ovethinking it to the point of losing some enjoyment of the moment I'll just go where I want.

 

[Cull Buck Hunter]

Where I hunt in the Cherokee NF the wind is everything, I hunt into the wind or a still wind or I don't hunt certain areas. At home it really doesn't make that much of a difference, the deer are used to people and farm equipment and will literally just stare at you and "walk off" 90% of the time. In the mountains they usually run 90% of the time with the exception of an occasional young deer. The wind is very unpredictable in some area and will change direction based on thermals and the terrain, it is impossible to just look at a weather forecast and get it right 100% of the time, first hand knowledge of that area is critical if you want to be "consistently" lucky.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Hunters should know that when the weather report says the wind will be SW. That means sometimes it will be from the South and sometimes from the West and all points in between. Occasionally, it will completely reverse and that's without the terrain or vegetation moving it. Bottom line is that wind is fickle.

Absolutely correct fairchaser. Consideration of the W and S winds mixed in to that SW is wise.

It all comes down to your end goal. Is that a doe? Any young buck? A mature buck? Many on here for years talk about their zero worries and just go hunt. I'd like to know their main goal. If it is to go out and get a doe and maybe have a chance at a good looking 2.5 or 3.5 that merits bragging rights, you can get away with a lot. But if your main goal is a minimum 4.5 or older, you can't go out willy-nilly and be consistent with that approach. There are very few exceptions.

As far as my preference on wind, I like a consistent, non-swirly wind, anywhere between 4-10 mph. One thing I've learned - deer will still move just as much on above average windy days as they do what some would say are "perfect conditions". I used to not hunt much and talk myself out of hunting on windy days. It does not bother the deer as much as it bothers us. I see just as many - you just have to keep your head on a swivel

 

[1jamey]

I was sitting in the woods this past week, Hunting a saddle on a Ridgeline feeling a little breeze on the right side of my face for a bit then nothing then a breeze on the left side of my face. I will get some hate but I try to hunt the food, travel and bedding. Wind is something I just can't factor in or I would never be hunting.

 

[DeerCamp]

There's no question, a deer's number one defense is their nose. Everybody that's deer hunted knows that. But, the real question is how effectively a hunter can use the wind to their advantage to avoid that nose.

Most of us choose our stand locations based on that day's prevailing wind. I do! In open country with few obstacles, maybe this works. But, we don't hunt open country. We hunt hardwood hills and hollers. We hunt the edges of fields and over swamps. We hunt food plots and thickets. Additionally, the wind changes directions and stops and settles and gusts. Terrain and vegetation changes the winds direction. The sun coming up and going down affects the wind currents too. So let me ask you. Can you really guess the wind during a 4 hour sit?

The next time you're debating which stand to sit, ask yourself if you could go to any spot regardless of the wind, where would it be and should you not go based on the wind or go and hope that buck comes from a direction that fools his nose?

I know we should try to put all the odds in out favor but can we really or just get in his area and hope for the best?

I can reasonably predict the wind, but on our property its anybody's guess which direction the deer are going to come from, and usually its "all of them". Best we do is try to not put stands on the northside of most common travel or food.

 

[Bone Collector]

there is no right or wrong answer. The terrain, the thermals, etc. all play a role in making the prevailing wind not go the way one would think (in a straight line). However as others have mentioned are you doing more harm than good hunting a stand on a bad wind?

Well that last question probably made me miss a good buck this season. I hunted a stand that I thought would do less harm than the one I wanted to hunt. I thought the N wind would send scent up into my neighbors property and I thought the deer may be coming in that way. It turns out that this range shifting buck that showed up and left after the pic I got that day was probably in the block of timber on my property that the N wind would have worked perfectly for. I chose to sit in another stand due to not wanting to booger it if they came in from my neighbors, and if I had just sat in the stand I wanted, I would have gotten a shot. missed my opportunity and he never showed back up.

Point is sometimes I think we overthink the wind.

 

[fairchaser]

there is no right or wrong answer. The terrain, the thermals, etc. all play a role in making the prevailing wind not go the way one would think (in a straight line). However as others have mentioned are you doing more harm than good hunting a stand on a bad wind?

Well that last question probably made me miss a good buck this season. I hunted a stand that I thought would do less harm than the one I wanted to hunt. I thought the N wind would send scent up into my neighbors property and I thought the deer may be coming in that way. It turns out that this range shifting buck that showed up and left after the pic I got that day was probably in the block of timber on my property that the N wind would have worked perfectly for. I chose to sit in another stand due to not wanting to booger it if they came in from my neighbors, and if I had just sat in the stand I wanted, I would have gotten a shot. missed my opportunity and he never showed back up.

Point is sometimes I think we overthink the wind.

BC, this is exactly my point. I've seen hunters avoid their best spot all season due to a questionable wind leaving that buck that is often killed by another or dying from another means. I'll go sit on the ground if necessary. You can't always predict that bucks travels. I've seen deer pass through the hardest route you can imagine. They have 4 hoof drive! If I feel like I want to hunt a spot, I'll move my stand or hunt from the ground. If you have a gut feeling for a spot, that's probably your primordial instinct; go for it.

 

[Headhunter]

The next time you hunt, ask yourself the question 'are you doing more harm than good?' when you hunt a stand with the wrong wind direction.

That being said, there can be exceptions to the rule... it seems deer have a hard time detecting you downwind if the winds are more than 15 mph. And I'd rather hunt with a consistent wind in one direction, than swirling winds going every direction.

My question is "How do you know what is the WRONG WIND DIRECTION for a stand?"

 

[tellico4x4]

I'm curious if these changes have resulted in better sightings of deer or even mature bucks. If deer know that they can sense danger by approaching from a certain direction to a certain area, you might be training them to avoid stands.

Definite improvement on sightings of mature bucks. We started this about 5 years ago & has taken quite a bit of effort on relocations & adjusting approach routes. If stand setup is for a N-W-NW wind, then we try to make our approach the same. I think it's 117 stands we have for 15 members, so there's quite a few choices on just about any given wind. That said, the past two years we have had a lot of easterly winds, especially SE. Need to do a better job with those setups this spring.

 

[megalomaniac]

My question is "How do you know what is the WRONG WIND DIRECTION for a stand?"

When I hunt a spot, i can predict about 75% of the time the general direction the deer are going to come from. Based on that knowledge, I don't want to hunt with a wind direction blowing to where the deer are coming from.

The buck I killed Friday we had a south wind. I set up south of a powerline crossing, with my wind blowing back to the highway 75y behind me. Sure, a deer could have come out between me and the highway, and wind would have been wrong, but that was a VERY low probability.