Catman and other wind pros, a question

[PossumSlayer]

I hunt on a mountain/high ridge... I'm on the back side of it.. south side. If the wind is prevailing north south within a 3 hour period I'll get wind north, east and west!
Wtf am I supposed to do? Get higher in the tree?

 

[Rackseeker]

Not a pro, but I have hunted the mountains the last 40 yrs. Go hunt and don't worry about it. Alot of variables makes that question impossible to answer. I have places I have been hunting for several years and it has took a while to figure the wind out for the most part where the deer are more likely not to wind you. Trial and error, just moving a few yards makes a difference when dealing with thermals and wind in steep terrain.

 

[THE DUKE]

If you know where they are passing then back stand away if possible get more distance between them and you.

 

[Rackseeker]

Another rule of thumb hunt below where you expect to see the deer in the morning and above in the afternoon. I have had deer below me in the mornings and the wind hitting me in the face. And still get winded because of the thermals.

 

[PossumSlayer]

If you know where they are passing then back stand away if possible get more distance between them and you.

Bow season is the problem

 

[Mescalero]

Another rule of thumb hunt below where you expect to see the deer in the morning and above in the afternoon. I have had deer below me in the mornings and the wind hitting me in the face. And still get winded because of the thermals.

I thought thermals "wake up" in the morning and "lay down" in the evening.

 

[catman529]

I rarely hunt mountains, but I hunt steep ridges that have the same kind of effect on the wind. From my experience the most predictable wind is in the evening when the sun dips behind the horizon and the wind dies down and the air starts to get cool. That's when the thermals reverse and the wind starts dropping down into the hollers. It's almost better to hunt the downwind side of a ridge on a day with little to no wind, because thermals will take over and wind will generally blow uphill during the day and then fall down in the evening when it cools off. In the early morning the thermals will still be dropping down until the sun rises and starts to warm things up.

 

[catman529]

Another rule of thumb hunt below where you expect to see the deer in the morning and above in the afternoon. I have had deer below me in the mornings and the wind hitting me in the face. And still get winded because of the thermals.

That was probably the wind messing with the thermals and carrying your scent in a direction you couldn't tell. That's why so many people use milkweed, because a piece of silk will travel a long ways in the wind and will show you some crazy changes in wind direction that you wouldn't expect.

 

[double browtine]

I had a friend that used to hunt 400 acres of hardwoods in Stewart County. He hung about 8 stands on the property. He only hunted muzzleloader and gun. He took a chainsaw and cut a 20 yard wide swap in 4 different directions all around his stand, about 100 yards long. He hunted out of 16-20 ft ladder stands. He did this around each stand and said he rarely worried about the wind direction. He killed plenty of deer every year. He once missed a buck at 100 yards and the buck turned and ran straight to him at 20 yards on the trail. Now I realize that this isn't possible to most people to do on public or leases but it works to have a good clear shooting lane in big timber. Just a thought, but lots of work with a pole saw and chainsaw. I could see it working in East TN on those high long ridges.

 

[BSK]

I hunt on a mountain/high ridge... I'm on the back side of it.. south side. If the wind is prevailing north south within a 3 hour period I'll get wind north, east and west!
Wtf am I supposed to do? Get higher in the tree?

You're on the lee side of a ridge/mountain, hence you will get a roll-over wind (like the eddy on the backside of a boulder in a stream). How close you are to the top of ridge/mountain will determine how consistent that wind is. Close to the top and the roll-over kicks in only occasionally. More than a 1/3 of the way down the lee side, the roll-over (reverse) wind will be the predominant wind.

Of course, the question needs to be asked, what exactly are you hunting? Are you hunting a particular feature or pinch-point that concentrates deer into one spot? Or are you just hunting the side of the mountain expecting parallel travel along the mountain side? If hunting a single spot, the wind is very important. If just hunting the general "paralleling the terrain" movement pattern, the wind is nowhere near as important, as 3/4 of your field of view is upwind or side-wind at any given moment.

 

[Snake]

I have two stands on a ridge top no more than 40 yds apart and if the wind changes it's nothing for me to move to the other one . Thermals in the morning has helped me in certain areas to get away with wind changes on ridge tops because at time it will carry your scent over deer but in the afternoon thermals will give you up .

 

[JCDEERMAN]

You're on the lee side of a ridge/mountain, hence you will get a roll-over wind (like the eddy on the backside of a boulder in a stream). How close you are to the top of ridge/mountain will determine how consistent that wind is. Close to the top and the roll-over kicks in only occasionally. More than a 1/3 of the way down the lee side, the roll-over (reverse) wind will be the predominant wind.

Not my picture, but this is a great illustration of this

 

[megalomaniac]

You hunt that spot with a south wind. Problem solved!

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

For many many years I would avoid great places due to the wind..last season I had a big deer show up on December 7th that any hunter would kill and the biggest of my life so far. I knew I would be lucky to have him hang around up to a week, on December 14 I went in there on a freezing and awful windy evening due to the fact that I knew he was about to head back to his home range. I killed the buck in that awful wind, needless to say it changed my whole attitude about the wind in the mountains

 

[REN]

I have a spot where I hunt that has a big knoll in the middle of it and the deer love to bed on top of it. Been hunting it for 20 years and just found it makes no difference which way the wind is blowing in the trees. Somehow no matter what the wind is blowing up the knoll lol. its the 8th wonder of the world as far as Im concerned haha.

 

[Harold Money jr]

My favorite stand is a thin strip of hardwoods running east/west 2/3 the way down on a south facing slope with cutover and thickets on the north and south of it.
When I get a strong north wind 9+Mph I'll usually kill or see a good buck cruising the bottom. When we have anything other than that, the guys near the top kill em. It's not 100% but it's close.
I hunt another East/west running hardwood ridge, it's where I go when hunting a less than 9mph north wind, I hunt it mostly 1/3 from the top on the southern side. About 3 weeks ago I jumped a mature buck out of his bed, he was parallel to me on the ridge. I had never noticed the small flat where he was bedded with the wind from the north at his back and him facing south. Oh well I keep learning. I'll spring a sneak attack with a cap and ball in my hands in a couple weeks.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I had never noticed the small flat where he was bedded with the wind from the north at his back and him facing south. Oh well I keep learning. I'll spring a sneak attack with a cap and ball in my hands in a couple weeks.

Finding those areas can be money. Remember that specific spot, not only for this season, but seasons to come. Those type spots can produce perennially. I wouldn't tell anyone about it.

 

[Harold Money jr]

Yessir, what that told me was they are stopping short of my stand. I'd have never known it was there.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I love finding those. EVERY time I jump a buck out of his bed, I go examine every square inch of it. Bend down to his POV and you can immediately see why he is there. Almost bullet proof. Find enough of them and you know where to start looking. I've tracked several on our place over the years and have assumed they are there on certain wind directions. That will dictate where I will hunt if I'm after him, or where to avoid when going to a completely different location. Getting a picture 200 yards away from there 30 minutes after dark is all I need to know and assume he's there.

 

[Willysman]

Wind in the mts usually blows in all directions it seems. You have a perfect wind, get everything ready, set down and it changes directions.

 

[PossumSlayer]

Wind in the mts usually blows in all directions it seems. You have a perfect wind, get everything ready, set down and it changes directions.

Definitely!

 

[Stumpsitter]

I've hunted the south Cumberland plateau all my life. It's hard hunting. The wind is difficult to "dope". I learned a long time ago you have to give something up hunting the mountains. The wind is never perfect, the thermals will frustrate you beyond belief. I've hunted a big gap that has 2 hollows that come together where the gap goes off the mountain. High ridge on the north side (and the best wind to hunt) . I come in the south side with the wind in my face. No joke , I have had the wind hitting me in the face and felt it hitting my legs going the opposite way at the same time & that's at 25'+ up a tree. I've watched milk weed do some crazy stuff in there. I've decided to totally back away from the gap this year and try to catch them coming to the south side and sacrifice the being able to see the other side.
I generally get as high as I can in the tree, be very anal about the scent on your clothes/scent control. I'm actually trying a ozonics unit this year hopefully this might be the answer to the nasty thermals. If I hunt the side of the mountain I always hunt the high side of the trail/ sign in the morning , low side in the evening. Next time your in in the stand watch the leaves on the trees below you when the sun starts to come up (quiver) . You can actually see the leaves shake as the woods start to warm up. The same thing will happen in the evening except you'll notice they were go down. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[poorhunter]

I envy you guys that have been able to get any kind of handle on air movements in hill and holler country. I gave up and just do my best keeping in mind the morning and evening currents. I just don't hunt enough to figure it out past that.

 

[BSK]

Not my picture, but this is a great illustration of this

View attachment 117209
View attachment 117210

That's it exactly JCDEERMAN

 

[Willysman]

You nailed it.