RE: I always hear this story...
 

I know for a fact that human scent is our biggest enemy when it comes to whitetails. With this I have seen deer react differently in different environments. I have hunted everything from suburban woodlots to big farmland. On farmland I have seen or heard deer blow out from my scent from a very great distance and was amazed at how keen that sense is. In a suburban environment it's much different. Deer won't blow out from your scent from 200 yards away because there may be 10 people between you and them in those 200 yards going about their business. However, when a deer gets close (50 yards and in) and the wind is in their favor they know when there is danger even in a human scent saturated environment. They know their environment better than we can imagine and we have to respect that.

I know I play the wind the best I can, but it does swirl a lot in my area so if I changed stands everytime the wind changed I might be going up and down the tree 3 times before I get to the ground. If the prevailing wind changes to not be in my favor and stays that way I will get down and go to another area.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I don't think that anyone has said every time a deer scampers off it's because they were winded,but if it is with sight and you know where the wind is blowing and watch it's body langauge it's not very hard to tell what caused it.

If your hunting a bedding area and the wind starts blowing into it ,I feel no matter how high you are, chances are you ruined that hunt.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I know of no better way of ruining a great stand than by hunting it when the wind is wrong. And the damage is not just for a day or two. If a buck winds you he will remember .
I have stands that have not been hunted for years because the wind has been wrong and they are near bedding areas that I never disturb except in the spring when I will go shed hunting a couple of time other than that they are off limits.
If you don't know what spooked a deer you are not paying enough attention. A buck will look right at your wind his head will go up neck stretched out and he will turn and bound without hesitation once he has scented you.
You've been busted................And you will have lost that round........
If there is any chance of being winded don't hunt that stand.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I certainly hope nobody's thinking I underestimate a whitetail's olfactory system. Not the case. I just think we sometimes (as a hunting community) forget an essential FACT. WE are the ultimate predators. WE have superior minds. I just think we need to trust our instincts, more.....and "conventional" wisdom, less.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I have 11 different stands total, and at least 2x different stands that will accomodate any wind direction at any given time on my property. Several of these stands only get hunted once every 2 years or so because the windis rarely right in those locations.....but when it is right.....we seeLOTS ofdeer out of those stands because we don't pressure them and haven't educated them.

My father on the other hand only hunts a single stand on the property regardless of wind direction, and by the end of the first week those deer are so educated you can watch them skirt the stand by 50-60 yards walking out of their way in the mornings to avoid the location. It's really amazing to see them adapt to it, and it's because he educates them and doesn't hunt the wind. It's a shame too because this stand produces more buck sightings than any other stand I have ever hunted in my life, but shortly into the season they have him patterned better than he has them.......lol. Someday he might get lucky there in the first few days, but after that time period he sees lots but only gets dinks and does close enough a few times a year.

If primary wind direction shifts when in a stand that doesn't accomodate it, yes........I will get down and switch locations. I am fortunate enough to have property that has terrain features, food sources, and bedding areas that force the deer to move in certain directions and most of my stands will never have a deer coming from an unexpexted direction. I also have enough stands pre hung to allow me to do this quickly and quietly. I'd rather the deer see me walking in a non threatening way while relocating, than have them smell me in a honey hole, with the activity from my father while working around the farm they don't get too weirded out from just walking around unless your in the middle of a bedding area.

It amazes me that people will spend hundreds upon hundreds on top notch open pattern camo and put the stands in a spot that hides them so well, but won't get out of a tree when the wind is wrong. I'd be willing to bet every single person on this board (me included) has been busted by a nose many more times than a deers eyes........maybe a lot of the time you don't even realize it though.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I wanted to relay an experience I had about 4-5 years ago...I was hunting in eastern NC, over a large soybean field, I was about 20 feet up in a tree, thinking the wind was perfect, southeast coming from my back, which is where the woods was situated, blowing my scent into the field....Deer in this stand usually come out into the field from another woods line to the east, about 100 yards from my stand and feed toward me...

I had been in the stand about 15-20 minutes, when about 350-400 yards out in the field I noticed 5 white triangles out in the beans....I picked up my binoculars and there were 5 does with their noses straight up in the air....After a few minutes of getting a good wiff of me, they ran into the woods...

Yep, our scent is heated and it does go up, for awhile, but it eventually cools and comes back to the ground...
Any of you guys grow up in the country and see what happens to smoke from a chimney??? Days with a high barameter, it goes up, days with a falling barameter, it comes out of the chimney, then slides down to the ground, same as when its raining...

We can't "beat" a deer's nose...Think about it, they can walk through the woods and with their nose they know that some local dog passed by 7-8 hours ago, they don't need to see it, they know it....The best we can do is to eliminate odors that we emit as well as we can and set up so the wind isn't blowing from where you "think" the deer will come from, this is learned from experience, but you will never be right 100% of the time...

I have often said this..."A deer can see you, and not know what you are....A deer can hear you and not know what you are....A deer can smell you and know where you are, how far away, what you had for breakfast and what color underware you have on"...

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Hopefully you are smart enough to know evenEinstein's mind was not sharper than a bucks nose.

You can use cover scents ,carbon suits and all the other gadgets out there but as long as you are breathing & exhaling a buck can and will smell you.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

In certain situations...I can see this.

HOW can you POSSIBLY know this???

OR when he's scented ANYTHING. Or maybe he heard soemthing you didn't.

So you'll go through an area shed hunting......but you won't take a chance to actually HUNT the stand for years???????? Where is the logic, here???? A deer don't know what season it is.....OR whether you're hunting, shed hunting or playing the game boy in the woods....nor does he CARE! You're there....and that's all that matters, to him. If I'm going in there....I figure I might as well hunt it!

Here's a case for conventional wisdom meets common sense. I agree with this 100%.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Yeah but we're not challenging them to a sniffing contest. We're hunting them. Let's not get carried away.

Then why play the wind???

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Dudes calm down. Everybodys right nobodys wrong its only differing opinions. Plus consider this deer from urban environments around peoples houses and what not grow accustomed to human scents and fear them less. This plays a part of scent control and "playing the wind" also. There are many different ways to look at it and its not worth fighting about.[8D]