I've never had alot of success hunting on windy days later in the season. The deer get really spooky. They don't like all the movement in the woods.
What's everybodys experiance though during the early Bow season? Im planning an afternoon hunt on Wed and its suppose to be really windy. I was thinking since the deer havent been pressured to bad yet, the wind might not be a factor. Opinions.....
Any day spent huntin, is better than any day spent workin,,
Duckmastor2
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If its not about hunting, I don' t want to talk about it,,,,
Late season..early season... if you're like me, you only get to go so often, so go when you can!! Wind, rain, heat, moon phase...hunt eveyday like there's no tomorrow!!!
I've not noticed any serious suppression of deer movement as a result of heavy wind. Wind can be a challenge but the deer still seemed to move, maybe just a little later. I've hunted through two hurricanes and saw deer during both!! I like to still hunt more on the windy days. Slip through the standing corn fields and see what's there!
If I knew I could only go once in a certain week, and had my choice of days, I'd opt for the less windy day, but like DEBob says, I can only hunt so much, so I'm not going to be sitting around the house because of ANY weather. Radio collar studies say deer move less when it's windy, above 15-20MPH, but go back to normal if the wind stays for longer than a day or two, I guess they get used to it.
"In heaven, even the fish have antlers"
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"In heaven, even the fish have antlers"
I took some buddies to my property for the rifle opener two years ago. We hunted the first full day, dark to dark, and the next morning until about 11. We each saw over 50 deer (some may have been repeats) in large part, we believe, because the deer were unpressured before that, and because wind was pretty strong and swirling at times, and had them smelling danger but not knowing where it was coming from. Lots of movement was natural, but there was some from nervous deer walking around not knowing where to go to escape the danger.
Wind is fine to hunt in, but I don't like it as much because you have to rely solely on sight to locate deer. I like looking in one direction with ears open to hear them if they come another way.
Hey Duckmastor, the temps are supposed to drop quite a bit between now and dark, due to these strong winds bringing the cooler air west of us into the area all afternoon. It's gonna be a good evening to hunt, temps dropping, front coming in, I'd definitely hunt tonight if I could. Don't get to hunt too may days in the season where the temps are dropping all afternoon, but it usually produces good deer movement. Should be a prime couple hours, especially if the wind lays down right before dark.
Good luck if ya go.
"In heaven, even the fish have antlers"
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"In heaven, even the fish have antlers"
I have had my best hunting experiences on windy days at noon. Yes, I'm serious. The deer will stay near their beds so you must still hunt. Keep the wind in your face. When the wind kicks up, you walk. Your footsteps will not be heard among the rustling leaves and branches. When the wind stops, so do you. Freeze, look around carefully. I have gotten so close to deer that I could jump on them and ride em out of the woods.
I try to bring extra arrows on windy days because I get so many more shots.
Do it. The best part is that you are usually the only one in the woods. No one hunts on windy days or at noon.
Windy Days for Early Season Deer
