Wind Speed and Deer Activity

[Headhunter]

You'd lose your "proverbial farm". Nobody can, with a straight face, tell you they know exactly which trail a buck is going to use and which direction he'll come from. But the wind will be in his face more often than it's not, by a lot.

There are also spots where there is only one trail, or a "T" in a trail where it doesn't matter where the buck comes from. If he uses that trail he's dead. I can show you two such stands that are exactly set so that a certain wind direction make them bulletproof. Do I know that the buck will be on that trail the day I'm sitting there? Of course not. But I know very near 100% that if he is, he won't scent me before I get an arrow in him. No other deer using that trail will scent me, either. It's not complicated.

You may have seen this pic and it is a few years old, (several nice mature bucks, including my largest measuring buck are not in this picture) but in my experience, deer, especially mature bucks, are hard to predict, which is why I never even look at wind direction until I get to the spot I want to hunt and for sure never try to predict what a deer will do with any wind, and when I have tried, I have almost always been wrong, most every time. And most every place I have ever hunted, either got hunted hard by many people or the area around it was hunted hard. I love it when the guys I know, on a couple places, say "you can't hunt his spot with whatever particular wind, a deer will approach from this side with whatever wind, etc." because exactly how most will NOT hunt is exactly how I will hunt.

I know most of these are smaller than what most on this site want to kill and most on here would pass any or maybe all of these bucks but I was and am happy with all of them. All of these are from middle Tennessee (except 1 mount - LBL, 1 mount - KY, 2 skulls - Ky) right at half are bowkills, several of them were stalked and bow killed from the ground (in my younger days I was a pretty good "Indian" or at least thought I was) and I rarely if ever pay any attention to the wind, at least for sure not until I get to where I am hunting, maybe I have been doing something wrong, but if so I will keep on being wrong.

 

[Ski]

You may have seen this pic and it is a few years old, (several nice mature bucks, including my largest measuring buck are not in this picture) but in my experience, deer, especially mature bucks, are hard to predict, which is why I never even look at wind direction until I get to the spot I want to hunt and for sure never try to predict what a deer will do with any wind, and when I have tried, I have almost always been wrong, most every time. And most every place I have ever hunted, either got hunted hard by many people or the area around it was hunted hard. I love it when the guys I know, on a couple places, say "you can't hunt his spot with whatever particular wind, a deer will approach from this side with whatever wind, etc." because exactly how most will NOT hunt is exactly how I will hunt.

I know most of these are smaller than what most on this site want to kill and most on here would pass any or maybe all of these bucks but I was and am happy with all of them. All of these are from middle Tennessee (except 1 mount - LBL, 1 mount - KY, 2 skulls - Ky) right at half are bowkills, several of them were stalked and bow killed from the ground (in my younger days I was a pretty good "Indian" or at least thought I was) and I rarely if ever pay any attention to the wind, at least for sure not until I get to where I am hunting, maybe I have been doing something wrong, but if so I will keep on being wrong.

That's a fine lineup of bucks to be sure! Congrats on your success.

But I think you're reading me wrong. I never once said I always know what a deer will be doing or where he'll be coming from. The point I'm trying to make, if you look at what I wrote, is that I am planning for what a deer isn't going to do. I purposely set my stands in spots where a deer is either highly unlikely or absolutely cannot come from behind me, and I only hunt that stand with the wind in my face. Doesn't mean a deer is certain to walk in front of me. It only means he isn't going to walk behind me. I use fields, streams, steep hill faces, ravines, etc. to back my stand up to. Anywhere a deer is unlikely to be is good enough for me. Is it 100%? Of course not. I never said it was. But it's grossly more often than not.

 

[Pilchard]

@Ladys man post #9

 

[JCDEERMAN]

@Ladys man post #9

You beat me to it

 

[recurve60#]

I read a university study years ago, can not remember the school, that stated mature bucks are on their feet more and moving in strong winds.

 

[TNJones4530]

Ski and BSK nailed it!

 

[Deer 1]

I normally hunt woods where visibility isn't very good in a climber i pack in. Maybe 50yds when I'm 25ish ft up a tree, even after the leaves fall.On my way in a nice breeze is good or rain. Covers my leaf crunching and noise while climbing. Once setup almost 0 wind is my favorite, maybe 1or2 miles in my face. I see more deer in these conditions because I hear them long before I see them. I seem to spook more when windy or rain because I have to look around alot to see them and they're already close!


Kinda old thread. I'll past and copy to the new 1

 

[Headhunter]

The stronger the wind, if possible, I hunt the most wide open areas I can find and overall strong, gusty wind days are some of the best for seeing mature bucks.

 

[Headhunter]

If you really want to hate the wind, read up on the venturi effect of wind. It not only causes wind direction to be dictated by terrain, but also alters atmospheric pressure and even temperature according to the terrain. Suddenly a south wind doesn't necessarily have mean south wind anymore. It all depends on where your stand is located. True story. Throw in some thermals & it really gets confusing.

A bow hunter can drive himself crazy trying to figure it all out. How many times have you heard a hunter griping because their hunting/weather app shows a west wind but it's actually blowing from the east? They blame the weather man for being wrong but the reality is that they themselves don't understand the nature of how wind interacts with the earth.

If you think of air in terms of water then it gets easier to understand. Just like a river's current is flowing steadily along, it swirls and changes direction as it encounters obstacles such as rocks, logs, depth changes, etc. The overall general flow is constant. But there are eddies & swirl pools, updrafts & downdrafts, cold or warm pockets all along the way. It's exactly the same thing with wind as it blows across the landscape. And just like the downstream side of a big rock or log often holds a big fish, the downwind side of a knob or finger ridge point often holds a big buck. The same way fish cruise an eddy for bait, bucks cruise backdrafts to scent check for does.

Wind is nothing to hate. The deer use it every day of their lives. The nature of their behavior is largely dictated by it. It's predictable & repeatable, makes them easier to hunt. If that buck was a trout and the wind was a flowing stream, where would you fish?

And what you said is why I basically do not pay attention to the wind until I get to where I plan to hunt and many times I still don't pay any attention to the wind because can and will show up from any direction, especially a mature buck. I wish I could predict deer movement well enough to always put the wind in my favor. IMO that is close to impossible, especially when dealing with mature bucks and does.

Also, many deer and several nice bucks I have killed, I was told by and "expert" you can't that spot, the wind is wrong, the deer only come from this direction, they bed downwind of where you are going to hunt, etc. not only do I ignore them, I see and kill a deer and many times I have passed some really nice bucks and killed several nice bucks including one of my best bucks with a bow when I ignored the "experts" advice about "hunting the wind". I truly believe to many people overthink it when they should just hunt.

 

[Ski]

I wish I could predict deer movement well enough to always put the wind in my favor. IMO that is close to impossible, especially when dealing with mature bucks and does.

It's an odds game. I'm not looking for the unattainable. That's unreasonable. There's no reason to be extreme either way because I'd be painting myself into a corner. All I'm looking for is increased odds, some level of predictability. Doesn't mean I won't get busted. It only means I'll be less likely to get busted. Doesn't mean I know 100% where a deer will come from. It only means I know where he is likely to come from.

Case in point is a spot where I've killed several good bucks from the same stand. It's in a thin strip of woods with a deep creek running through it. To the north is a 20 acre thicket. To the south is cattle pasture and a small trailer park. On a north wind, bucks cruise the edge between woods & thicket so they can scent check any does inside that thicket. My stand is 15yds inside the woods next to steep the creek bank. On a north wind I can see deer all day long and never worry about being winded. Is it possible a deer could approach from behind? Sure anything is possible, but it hasn't happened once in the many years I've hunted there. It's not a crap shoot. On any other wind I'd be in trouble. But on a due north wind I really like my odds. Not every stand site I find is that bullet proof but they don't have to be. I just want to tilt the odds in my favor, even if it's minuscule. Anything is better than a coin flip.

 

[Headhunter]

It's an odds game. I'm not looking for the unattainable. That's unreasonable. There's no reason to be extreme either way because I'd be painting myself into a corner. All I'm looking for is increased odds, some level of predictability. Doesn't mean I won't get busted. It only means I'll be less likely to get busted. Doesn't mean I know 100% where a deer will come from. It only means I know where he is likely to come from.

Case in point is a spot where I've killed several good bucks from the same stand. It's in a thin strip of woods with a deep creek running through it. To the north is a 20 acre thicket. To the south is cattle pasture and a small trailer park. On a north wind, bucks cruise the edge between woods & thicket so they can scent check any does inside that thicket. My stand is 15yds inside the woods next to steep the creek bank. On a north wind I can see deer all day long and never worry about being winded. Is it possible a deer could approach from behind? Sure anything is possible, but it hasn't happened once in the many years I've hunted there. It's not a crap shoot. On any other wind I'd be in trouble. But on a due north wind I really like my odds. Not every stand site I find is that bullet proof but they don't have to be. I just want to tilt the odds in my favor, even if it's minuscule. Anything is better than a coin flip.

those setups almost never happen with me. I have some places I have hunted for over 30 years, and I can tell you what direction a deer is most likely to show up from or where the bucks I have watched use. It seems the mature deer, when they show up, never show up the in place or trail that other deer do. When I use to try be an "expert" and play the wind, it usually went wrong more than it went right. I killed so many more deer and better bucks when I basically quit paying attention to the wind until I got to where I hunted. And I have killed a large number of deer from the ground, including over 50 deer with a bow, 2 bucks that gross pope and young (1 most likely would net pope and young) and 1 that made pope and young, all from the ground.

also, a few of my better mature bucks I have killed came in from dead downwind. And while deer live in the wild and they are awesome at avoiding hunters, they can't avoid every single instance of danger, if they did they would either never move or be like the energizer bunny on crack. Between not hunting because the wrong wind direction or if I don't have a good buck on camera then I am not hunting, it amazes me that some people even hunt at all. I love being in the outdoors, hunting, fishing, golfing, doesn't matter, I love being outside and hunting is one of my favorites. I am not missing going hunting because of a wind or a camera (I never have and don't use cameras). To me life is way to short to miss opportunities to enjoy living, especially time spent hunting or fishing, so basically no matter the conditions, I go.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

It's an odds game. I'm not looking for the unattainable. That's unreasonable. There's no reason to be extreme either way because I'd be painting myself into a corner. All I'm looking for is increased odds, some level of predictability. Doesn't mean I won't get busted. It only means I'll be less likely to get busted. Doesn't mean I know 100% where a deer will come from. It only means I know where he is likely to come from.

Very well said!

 

[BSK]

All I'm looking for is increased odds, some level of predictability.

Everything about my hunting style is simply "playing the odds." Can I predict which ridge or which saddle a mature buck is going to move through that day? Absolutely not! I simply choose stand locations and which stand to hunt that hunt based on odds. Most of the time I lose. However, I "win" often enough to keep playing the odds, and I "win" far, far more frequently that my hunting buddies.

 

[Ski]

Between not hunting because the wrong wind direction or if I don't have a good buck on camera then I am not hunting, it amazes me that some people even hunt at all.

I am not missing going hunting because of a wind or a camera (I never have and don't use cameras). To me life is way to short to miss opportunities to enjoy living, especially time spent hunting or fishing, so basically no matter the conditions, I go.

I keep an eye on the weather, organize trail cam info to pick patterns, and I schedule my hunts only when the time, place, and conditions align. My life is full of responsibilities that limit my me time, so when I do go on a hunt I want it to count. Sure I enjoy just being out enjoying God's creation as much as anybody, and even blind squirrels stumble upon a nut every now & again. But if the choice is mine, and it is, then I'm making the most informed decision I can when it comes to picking my sits.

 

[Ski]

Everything about my hunting style is simply "playing the odds." Can I predict which ridge or which saddle a mature buck is going to move through that day? Absolutely not! I simply choose stand locations and which stand to hunt that hunt based on odds. Most of the time I lose. However, I "win" often enough to keep playing the odds, and I "win" far, far more frequently that my hunting buddies.

Exactly. Nothing is bulletproof but a hunter can increase his odds by making informed decisions. Contrarily, a hunter can destroy his odds by not doing so and hunting willy nilly. We start out with 50/50 odds. It's the decisions we make that skew those odds one way or the other.