Originally Posted by
Gunplummer
I used to swallow all that crap when I was younger too. When it comes to reading about deer and learning you can pretty much forget it. Most if not all that nonsense in the books is taken from a controlled situation. Think about this, why do deer go up a hill in the morning to begin with? I believe it is from years of hunting pressure that causes them to instinctively bed in heavy hard to reach cover. If you hunt in an area with no hills they usually bed in thick cover when the pressure is on. A couple mountains I hunt are a few miles back with nothing but a river and valley at the bottom. During a really good acorn year the deer lay on the steep, rocky sides and go up top at night to feed on the oak flats up top. They have no reason to come down so they don't. If it has a large enough crop area, they bed right in the crops. Get to know what the deer do in the area that you hunt because every area is different.
While I do agree with you on part of your statement, I definitely disagree with the other.. Let me explain ... The fact that you think Animal Research is completely false due to "controlled environments" is quite surprising to me. There are an equal amount of studies performed in natural habitats as there are in controlled ones. The problem with the general public is they feel that as soon as they read something on paper that it's completely black and white. So when it doesn't happen exactly like they read, it immediately omits the information as false or incorrect.
Studies are just that, they are measurements of pattern within any metric they are calculated in. They are an observation and a not a full statement of fact. Obviously as you mentioned in your post that the main thing you need to do is study the area and pattern of the deer in your area, basing your opinion off of that "study" ... well didn't you just perform your own pseudo-scientific study during this period?
So my suggestion to everyone would be this, read all of the studies you come across in print of electronic publication, and then use those studies to pattern the animals in your specific area. This doesn't say they are going to be exactly the same, however I'd be more than willing to bet they will be similar.
To the OP's original question -
Yes thermals definitely matter as this is how scent is carried, so it will definitely effect the deer movement as much of their patterns are based on live situations... If you sit on top in the evening and the thermals are traveling downward, you've got a good chance of that Buck walking the creek line sniffing you out before you even seen him and visa versa.