Originally Posted by
Gunplummer
If I am at a decent place, I do good on days when the wind is moving all over the place. I am usually hunting steep mountains with lots of gullys. Best time to walk up a deer is on a bad windy day. Most of the time the deer really sit tight. They are afraid to move because they can not hear or see well because everything is moving. A deer's sense of smell is highly overrated. There are very few days when they can use it to their full potential.
I agree with some of this, but strongly disagree with Gunplummer on the rest.
"Best time to walk up a deer is on a bad windy day. Most of the time the deer really sit tight." Absolutely true. The BEST time to be in the timber is a VERY windy day. The wind has to be strong enough to be moving leaves on the ground--that's the key--the leaves on the ground have to be moving around. Hunt with your face in the wind, go slow, use your binoculars in the timber trying to glass up bedded bucks. I've killed two (2) 160+" B&C bucks doing this and have passed on many smaller ones.
Gunplummer wrote, "A deer's sense of smell is highly overrated." Nope. Wrong Answer. Just last season while eating lunch at the truck, the wind changed direction and 800+ yards away I was able to observe 14 does and fawns explode out of their beds, tails up and flee the country. I can provide a mountain of evidence for the power of a deer's nose.
NEVER, EVER disregard the direction of the wind while hunting anything.
Bronc