LT, I'll try to answer your question to the best of my ability, as you've asked it, with my experience while hunting.
1. I'm not the "Diehard" who believes practices in the deer hunting woods are an Absolute in any way but there are consistent trends that do happen.
I attempt to remain flexible due to the conditions as they present themselves in the area I'm familiar with...and I stress the key being "Familiar".
Familiarity with the area your hunting, and theWeather conditions that occur,gives you the experience of how deer react, by witnessing it in person, over mulitple years. Example: "This deer did this, at this spot,when these conditions were present". When it happens that way on more than one occassion...it becomes a trend. When it happens that way on multiple occassions you can use that information in how you hunt that area. The more your hunting an area the more information you have to go off of to make the decisions in your setups or changes in them while hunting.
2. I do believe the more you change your initial plan of hunting an area the more chances you have of "Getting Busted".
If your plan was good to start with becauseyou've done the homework(thier home-not ours) temporary changes in weather conditions are already considered in your initial setup.
I do believe that with the information we now have availible these days that we did not have in years past we can use that to our advantage. For instance if we know that in the morning the wind will be heading in a certain direction(familiarity from experience AND weather reports confirming the same)...but in the afternoon alow pressure areais pushing through and the direction will change...it makes sense to input that information into your plan. Plan your move ahead of time so your decreasing the chances of busting out the deer you've been waiting on.
If you have not taken into consideration what could happen with the weather later on in the day...your plan was not complete to begin with.
3. Good Stand Placement is IMHO the result of many things. Years of seeing how deer use the cover to travel an area being on the top of the list for me. Thier using it with the best possible conditions in thier favor..most of the time. Though I do give them credit for amazing abilities I do not believe they are infallable and without the chance to make a rare mistake. I also believe that on the rare occassion they are susceptable to "Information Overload"...especially in a situation when the conditions are changing rapidly. Though they can process many inputs at once...they are going to react to the "Most Clear and Present Danger" that they sense. If anyone believes they know exactly what that is on every occassion I find that very hard to believe since we do not experience thier abilities or even come close. I believe they can remember something about an area where they felt or sensed something that was not safe. I do believe however thatsituation can be forgotten in thier minds if the conditions have them reacting to something they feel is more of an immediate danger.
4. Deer are creatures of habit. Thier habits have kept them alive at least up to that point you've seen them. Mature deer get that way because thier habits are better than other deer. I believe that alot of deer that had the capability of become mature, old, and yes...Smart deer were killed early. Older deer make less mistakes then thier less experienced cohorts who end up on alot of dinner plates gave them information they became conditioned to. They got shot! That Old buck that was following the scent trail of a hot doe was preceded by a younger buck. When He gets to the area the younger buck was killed at your field dressing or theres a gut pile. IMHO....He'll remember that for awhile! When it happens again because we humans think we have that area figured out...it's just more of an informational lesson on his part which continues to reinforce what he's learned/sensed up to that point.
5. Deer pattern people just as much as we attempt to pattern them if not more.This goes back to thier survival instinct and the quantity of lessons they have learned throughout thier lives. I believe that a benefit can be obtained by using a standsite that is lesshas less than perfect conditions..but only on a rare occassion. On the occassion that a deer I'm after is using a travel corridor that is relatively inaccessable I will put up a stand and use it in that area in hopes that it will change his travel to a better situation for my other stand nearby. I could get anchance at him/her there however if he's/she's getting pushed through by other infleunces and pays less attention at the time to my intrusion.
Yes..I do attempt to pattern Does as well...especially those that for whatever reason have picked me off while I'm waiting for them to pass by because someone else is following them and He's who I'm after[:@]

I believe the best we can hope for is to give the deer the least amount of information possible that we are there...before it's too late for them to do anything about it. Use what we do know about an area, including as much information as we have availible(including the other hunters whotell us how they use,or we watch silently from a treestand, usethe area) , and place our standsites in thea way that thier not included in a deers informational process. Adapt to changes we know are coming and add those that suprise us toour own informational download to factor into anduse the next time. Remain willing to be Flexible and change what we believe, and how wehunt,when information happens in the process ofhunting, pre-season scouting, or at anytime other than that...
(I'm not sure when that 3rd one is though...LOL...there's "Hunting" and "Scouting" in my book)


BTW, Your comment about the "Thongs" was hilarious
That subjectwas once tense around here(no pun intended) for awhile...whenI used one of my wife's from the laundry and placed it on the upwind side of a trail. She realized it was missing and in a fit of pure stupidity I told her the truth and how i used it. At first she was quite upset(actually for many hours) then after the blessed silence occurred she asked me if it worked....I was packaging the venison and simply pointed to the cutting board