Wind Factor

[macintosh]

Hello all,

Slug season for us in MN is tommorow!

Got a question about the wind. How much wind would be considered too much wind? Being too loud for the deer as the wind get windier..leaves rustling around in the wind, corn making so much noise..etc.

Here's the weather report for my area...
Tonight - Mostly clear, with a low around 35. West wind between 9 and 13 mph.
Tommorow (Saturday) - Mostly Sunny, with a high near 65. West Northwest wind between 13-18 mph.
Sunday - Partly Cloudy with a high near 52, (doesn't say about wind conditons)

Now, being a bit windy for tommorow, what do you think the deer would be doing in this type of weather? I would think the the BEST time to hunt would be in the sunrise to around before noon, before the wind picks up? Rut activity is just about starting..I've seen bucks standing out in the daybreak out in the fields while driving to work. But havn't see and bucks chasing does yet.

Would you say that the windier it gets..the more you want to make sure your body scent is covered well? More elimination spray (earth scent human elimination spray) on yourself every hour? I've always figured that the windier it gets the more it carries and the farther it carries out before the body odor disperse (evaporated or disappeared) completely...you know what I'm saying?

How different would YOU be hunting in the stand being in a 3-5 mph winds to a 10-20 mph winds? What methods of precaution or steps would you be taking in this both type of wind/weather?

macintosh

[nyorange]

The windier it gets, the less chance a deer is going to walk by your stand. A stiff wind creates noise, movement, and depending on the speed of the wind, can render their nose useless. (10mph with max gusts of 15 is max for good stand hunting, depends on how you hunting area reacts, in my area the leaves start rustling and the bushes start moving consistently at 20mph). In a twenty mile wind and up, the volume of wind rushing past you is tremendous. An analogy would be the difference between putting a drop of fish oil in your local brook or putting the same drop in the mighty mississippi and seeing which one the fish will smell. Deer are going to hole up. Best course is probably to watch your stands at dawn and dusk and then still hunt the nastiest, most inpenetrable areas you can find since the deers advantage over you via sight sound and scent will be extremely diminished in such conditions and you may jump a nice one. Plus you probably won't see any on stand during the day anyway. Good luck( p.s I always look for any possble reason to justify still hunting, can't sit on a stand for more than two hours regardless of the conditions.)

[North Texan]

If the wind is blowing hard, I don't have a whole lot of luck in a stand. The deer just don't move as much. So I usually try to stalk into the wind in low or brushy areas that the deer are using for wind breaks. I figure if the deer don't come to me, I need to go to them. I don't bother with cover scents because it makes no difference upwind anyway. My best luck has been around the middle of the day.

[macintosh]

nyorange & North Texan -

Thanks for the tips/advice guys.

I've always loved to still hunt or driving the woods out for other guys. I love doing that. Besides I'm deaf..so I rely on movement.

I was planning on going to my stand longer than usual and really try to learn the ways of stand hunting...really try to focus ANY kind of movement. Because I wouldn't be able to hear deer walking in..or birds chirping..or squirrels chattering..But, they way I've learned so far..when I know that I've been quiet, and absulote motionless, I could see birds, and squirrels really close by, in fact I hadn't moved not one inch for almost an hour, and that was hard..I wanted to try it out to see what happened if I did, a bird landed onto my knee, hopped onto my shoulder and started to peck on my hat!!

So..guess I'll have to see how the wind plays tommorow. Probably end up sitting for a couple of hours and then still hunt for a while then back on to the stand. I'm so pumped up! I've got a bad craving for the NEED to hunt..my definition of hunt is this.. The feeling of rush and adrenaline running in your veins as you very slowly take steps, keeping your eyes out and moving for any kind of movement..I mean, that kind of rush is awsome. And you're ready to pull the trigger as you see something pop up. As you seen the "pop up", it turns out to be a coon or a beaver or whatever, and I'd ease off the trigger, telling myself calm down..and that kind of excitement is just as awsome as if a deer DID jump up and started to run.

For a guy like me working in an office 6 days a week (Monday-Saturday) from 8 to 5, to be able to get outside in the woods and hunt it's just PURE ADVENTURE/EXCITEMENT for me!!

Good Luck to all!

macintosh