Well I will give my two cents on this and see what it sparks up. I have been hunting for the better part of 35 years, but I would say I have been a devoted student of hunting for the better part of 20 years and what I mean by that is, I have studied, watched, experienced, surveyed, and researched pretty much any and all methods for, theories on, and all things in between the art of whitetail hunting. I have been guiding hunts for about ten years now in several different states. Those states are Tennessee, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Florida. I am sure with all of those states you are saying to yourself, well if you have guided in all of those places you must not be a very good guide. Well when you are guiding you follow where the seasons are, now I only guide for one outfitter who has a lodge in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa. So here is what I have seen with my own two eyes and what I have experienced as a hunter and as well as a guide.
One thing I have learned is hunting the wind in the timber, big timber that is, can be a crap shoot, especially when the acorns are in abundance. Deer will come from all directions and are very hard to pattern at this time. So you use cameras and do your best to make a rough guess on how they are using the area you are hunting and you hunt the wind that best suits what you figure out. But, what always happens in the timber, they come from the other direction, but you have no choice you have to give up a direction in the timber. Now here is where I have seen things differ and they differ depending on pressure and location. If you are hunting a farm where the pressure is very light on the deer and no one really bothers them during the off season, that doesn't mean farmers doing their thing or just land management task. By Pressure I mean actually penetrating the territory where the deer live and pushing them out of there area or off of their food source. This educates them to certain smells, movements and to certain sounds. Here is an example I will give you, have you ever been driving by a field with deer in it and they just stand there and look as long as you are moving, but as soon as you stop they are gone! Those are educated deer, I think we can agree on that. Have you ever been somewhere that they do not move either way whether you stop or you keep going. So I think wind in the timber is a gamble and you have to know your location and whether the pressure is light or not so light. In my opinion since we are giving opinions and this one is supported by hours and hours on stand and moving to stands. If you are hunting in big timber, your approach had better be your number ONE concern. You won't have to worry about the wind if it sounds like the Mongolian Hoard is coming in to hunt for the day.
Now for hunting food plots and agriculture and how I have seen wind affect methods of hunting them. I will say I have had deer come into fields and food plots directly down wind of me and I have killed them in these scenarios but not often and only a hand full of times with a bow. The bow kills were young deer and does at that. I have experienced a couple of clients taking deer that came in on the down wind side of them as well some have even been very large bucks. Having said that most of them were at 40 yards or more. I had one client that killed a 156" eight point in Missouri on the down wind side of him, but, the buck came in at an angle and by the time it got into his shooting lane it was at 15 yards and it had just moved into his scent cone. He said the deer stopped and began to get very spooky and as the buck turned to leave in the direction it came in, he slipped an arrow in him on a full quartering away shot. These deer were extremely low pressure deer, this particular buck had only been seen a couple times from very long distances away with binos. This hunt took place on the edge of a cut bean field in a draw that was all CRP with some sparse oaks scattered about. I had set the client in the draw because the wind was blowing toward the field, the smallest edge of the field. I had hopes that the deer would come out of the deep draw and thick cover and he would get his shot before they could get into his scent cone, it worked, barely but it did work. Now do I think this deer would have shown himself if the wind were pushing my clients scent into that draw and cover, no I do not, not even for one second do I think that. The next day I took that same client to a different farm to kill a doe. I set him in a stand that I had watched six does and some yearlings come by four consecutive days in a row. When I say come by I mean that they were in range of the stand when they came into the food plot. I was watching the deer come out of the woodbine and into the food plot from a tractor road so I did not know where they were coming through the woods. I just knew where they came out woods and that he could easily get a shot from this stand. So on the day I sat him in this stand the wind wasn't perfect which a perfect wind would have been blowing into the food plot because in this particular slough of the field the deer were only coming into the plot from two spots and they were in range before they could ever get into your scent cone. Instead of perfect the wind was at a slight angle which pushed my clients scent slightly into the woods across the most narrow point and into a neighboring property field. Keep in mind this is early November in Northern Missouri so the leaves are all on the ground and you can see very well through the woods. As my client sets in his stand he is surprised by several deer blowing at him and blowing at him constantly. He was able to see them with his binos in the neighbors field, six does and some yearlings raising cane and blowing their heads off at him. So the deer were coming out of thicket on the neighbors place across his field down the creek bead in the narrow strip of woods and up the trail that lead past the stand. When he told me what happened I said wow I would have thought they were coming out of our thicket and up the hill. He said me too, but thats not the case. We both laughed about it over dinner and said we will get'em tomorrow. He was the first person to hunt that stand all year! So low pressure but very close to civilization so very weary deer not necessarily spooky but weary enough to not chance whatever that new smell was in their area.
Now lets talk about my favorite type of hunting area, Funnels or corridors. Places where the animals are channelized or forced to use because of access, and cover. These can be in timber or CRP or even crops can create a funnel. I will tell you there is a time if you find a hot funnel that the wind will have little effect on your deer sightings in that particular funnel. That time is peak/heavy rut time. This can even hold true on fields, plots and the timber as well. These funnels are going to be your best spots during the rut as well, deer have no choice but to come through the area so if a hot does is being chased she will blow through your scent cone because she is being chased by a rut enraged buck and he can't smell anything but her. Having said all of that if he is not chasing but only trailing or seeking and you play on a bad wind your chances of a fully mature buck not spooking out if he smells something different are slim to none. So I suggest that you at least play the best wind you can, but if you know the rut is on hot and heavy you can chance it on a wrong wind, just make sure that approach is good to go.
So lets sum this up as I am sure you all are tired of reading, if you even bothered to read this far. Do I think playing the wind to your favor is 100% necessary 100% of the time NO I do not. Do I think and do I know that playing the wind to your favor will in fact give you a better chance to get MATURE bucks in front of your stand, YES I do! Do I think that sprays and suits and rubber boots and all the other bells and whistles make you scent free? Scent free, well I wouldn't say that, but what I would say is this. If it gives you even a slight edge or if it helps even 1% thats more than zero, right? Do I use these products, yes I do and most hunters now days do. So my advice on the wind would be this. If you are in a light pressure place and you know that buck is there you might take a chance, but don't do it more than a couple times or you will educate him, especially if he ever bust you. If its a high pressure place or close to civilization I think you might be asking for issues if you do not hunt the wind, can you get the old "blind hog finds and acorn" buck on occasion, yes you can but its a slim chance with a bad wind. Now some guys don't have time to play the wind and all of the other factors. Whether its due to only a short amount of hunting time or just a small window to kill a buck thats on your ground. To you hunters I say hunt, and hunt every chance you get, who knows maybe the odds will fall in your favor. I only say this because you may only have a couple days or a couple weekends that you can hunt, therefore not hunting due to wind just isn't an option, heck you may never even get to hunt if you wait on that perfect wind. Here is what I would want anyone who reads this take away from it as to be my opinion of the wind.
You should hunt the wind to your advantage as often as you can. It might not be a 100% perfect wind but the closer to perfect you get the better your chances are. I have seen, and experienced that to be true. If your time permits don't take the chance, just to take that chance, hunt another spot where the wind at least better. Make sure your approach to your stand is as close to perfect as possible and pay attention to the wind on your approach as much, if not more, than while you are in the stand. Remember, its not ole John Smith that the deer smells, its just something different, something out of his norm. Deer, especially mature bucks like "the norm" because its safe. I hope I have given a little different perspective on the wind issue, if I missed something or you have a question or you disagree lets discuss it on here, heck I need all the help I can get and I am by no means finished learning about hunting whitetails.
I also have an article on how to chose an outfitter and by no means does it suggest anyone that I currently work for or have ever worked for. It is completely non bias and will give you the right questions to ask and what to look for on the internet.
