Thermals

[Vol Hunter]

Discussion in some other threads about wind got me thinking. Other than simply feeling it on your skin, what is the most effective means of checking and detecting wind thermals and their flow? Thanks.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Milkweed. Get a bunch of it and keep it in a container or baggy. It is that white stuff you see floating around in the air. It will tell you everything you need to know. Google what the plant looks like

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Commercial puff bottle, fine string tied to the end of your stabilizer, milk weed seeds. I'll use any of the 3

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Milkweed. Get a bunch of it and keep it in a container or baggy. It is that white stuff you see floating around in the air. It will tell you everything you need to know. Google what the plant looks like

I just grabbed a couple new pods the other day. Here's what they look like.

I just shove the seeds into the worthless zipper pocket most packs have

 

[catman529]

The pods Buzzard Breath posted are from sand vine, which is a climbing species of milkweed with elongated heart shaped leaves. That and common milkweed have the biggest pods. Lots of other types of milkweed that have much smaller pods. They all have the same silk that works really well to see thermals.

The pic above is common milkweed.

 

[catman529]

This is what the stalks of common milkweed look like right now. They're pretty easy to spot from a distance. Notice most of the leaves have fallen off already, leaving just the pods hanging out on the upper half of the stalk.

 

[Heath423]

@Vol Hunter
I agree that Milkweed works fantastic.
Depending on you location you may not be able to find milkweed easily. I ran into this problem several years ago. I'm near Chattanooga and for the life of me I could not find any growing anywhere. Then at sometime during that point Catman posted a regional map (from some gov or university site I believe) showing the areas that milkweed was commonly found. Chattanooga was nearly an hours drive from any of those areas which explained why I could not find any. So my point is you can find plenty online to order cheap or sometimes people will offer to send you a pod or 2 which will last a while.

 

[Pilchard]

If someone lives in a place that there is no milkweed, I'll gladly send you as much as you want. You pay shipping and if we ever meet in person, you buy the first round.

 

[BSK]

Milkweed. The powdered wind indicators don't hold a visible cloud long enough to see where the wind is going far from the stand. I can see milkweed floating on the thermals for a good 75 yards.

 

[Willysman]

Knight and Hale used to have something similar to milkweed. You just pulled a little out of the canister and turned it loose. I once released some hunting in the mts. It went to the right of me for a little piece, turned and came back by me. I probably could have caught it and reused it.

 

[dsa5455]

I have used lent from the dryer vent many times. We use the odor free soaps. Will not float as far as the milkweed but will work in a pinch.

 

[BSK]

I once released some hunting in the mts. It went to the right of me for a little piece, turned and came back by me. I probably could have caught it and reused it.

Back when I was still trying to learn how thermals and "moving air" in general worked, I would let a milkweed fluff go every 5 minutes, and then draw out the path it took on a little map of my stand area. You wouldn't believe some of the crazy paths thermals and moving air that is interacting with trees and leaves will take. But that was also when I learned about near ground eddies. Ever notice how a flowing stream, right at the bank, has a very narrow eddy running back upstream? Air does the same thing flowing over the ground, especially ground with some curvature or roughness to it. I first started to notice this effect when milkweed I had released finally fell to the ground. It would hit the ground, but then slowly start rolling back into the wind. This is the near ground eddy. I've even seen the milkweed slowly roll all the way back to my stand and roll out in front of me into the wind. I believe this is why deer have developed the behavior hunters think is "pretending to feed" when an upwind deer has seen you. They're not pretending to feed, they are sticking their nose down into the near ground eddy and trying to pick up your scent right at the ground surface as it moves back upwind.

 

[Huckfin]

Int

Back when I was still trying to learn how thermals and "moving air" in general worked, I would let a milkweed fluff go every 5 minutes, and then draw out the path it took on a little map of my stand area. You wouldn't believe some of the crazy paths thermals and moving air that is interacting with trees and leaves will take. But that was also when I learned about near ground eddies. Ever notice how a flowing stream, right at the bank, has a very narrow eddy running back upstream? Air does the same thing flowing over the ground, especially ground with some curvature or roughness to it. I first started to notice this effect when milkweed I had released finally fell to the ground. It would hit the ground, but then slowly start rolling back into the wind. This is the near ground eddy. I've even seen the milkweed slowly roll all the way back to my stand and roll out in front of me into the wind. I believe this is why deer have developed the behavior hunters think is "pretending to feed" when an upwind deer has seen you. They're not pretending to feed, they are sticking their nose down into the near ground eddy and trying to pick up your scent right at the ground surface as it moves back upwind.

Interesting, never thought of that but I will look for it in the future, Thanks!

 

[Headhunter]

Or you could be an idiot like myself. I rarely pay attention to the wind.

 

[45-70power]

Or you could be an idiot like myself. I rarely pay attention to the wind.

Thats hard to do when bow hunting. I'll play the wind versus buying scent lok clothes and ozone machines lol. The heads on my walls say that stuff is a waste of money.

 

[Headhunter]

Thats hard to do when bow hunting. I'll play the wind versus buying scent lok clothes and ozone machines lol. The heads on my walls say that stuff is a waste of money.

I don't have scent lok or an ozone, and I usually wear the same clothes I wear all the time. And I basically do not pay any attention to the wind, no matter what I am hunting with or if I am hunting from the ground or a treestand. I haven't killed many deer so there is that to.