I always hear this story...
 

About how people hunt the wind exclusively to prevent being busted. That is a given I understand. But then you have the die hard that says he will not hunt a stand if the wind changes while he is in said stand. If the wind changes, he leaves and goes to another stand in favor of the wind conditions. Well, my question is, how often do you think getting down from that stand and moving has caused you to get busted or worse you see the infamous white flag of a 150 class buck as your feet touch the ground?(This deer was probably coming in from your upwind side even though you thought you had him figured):eek:

Just looking for some opinions/tactics here.

LT

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I agree with you there, if the wind changes on me, im defenitely not getting down and walking to my other stand. You have a waaaay better chance if you just sit up there and wait. Who knows the wind might change again.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I think the point is if your wind is blowing to a known bedding area or an area that you know the deer are currently using. I hunt where my wind blows over a fence to a sheep farm and I face a thicket- If the wind changes to my back- I eject.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I always hunt the wind...I check the weather before I go, I get on the computer and check which way its blowing or check my weather radio...
Occasionally they are wrong but its not the norm...Fortunately I work for myself, so if I decide to go at the last minute, the only person I have to ask (or let know) is the wife...

I know which way the wind should be for each of my stands, if it's wrong, I will not hunt that stand.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

If the win changes I move. Do I spook some deer on the move? Maybe. But thats better than sitting there blowing in their face for the rest of the day.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I grew up hunting the mountains of the shenandoah valley in VA where apparently there is no such thing as prevailing winds. If I climbed out of my stand every time the wind changed directions, climbing up and down trees would be all I ever accomplished. It seems to be a little easier playing the wind in this part of MD...without the mountains.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Depends on stand position and the area you hunt. One spot I hunt has deer everywhere. If they don't come from one direction they may come from another. Changing stands in the middle of a hunt is up to the individual. If I do it I'll back out go back to the truck or the cabin take a break for an hour or so then go back out to the new stand where the wind may be more favorable.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

What about scent-away and all that? Does anyone not put complete faith in those anymore?

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I hunt in the mountains and you never know which way the deer or the wind will be blowing.I always stick around.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Sure, I do all that but it isn't foolproof, hunting the wind is your best bet. The longer you sit on stand you'll put out scent especially from your breath. The carbon suits are not 100 per cent they're just help.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

It depends on the situation. If I am in a spot where the direction of deer travel is highly predictable, and the wind starts blowing that way, I will leave. However 95% of my hunting is done in swirling & ever changing winds and the weather channel is right only about 2% of the time for the places I hunt. I try to heavily rely on being scent free. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

IMO, when your 15+ foot in the air, wind direction doesn't matter. I highly doubt any deer will bust you that high up.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Use your wind indicators. The wind could be blowing downward as well especially if it's light. If it's going up then great. If it's blowing down and towards the deer you might never see the deer and not know you got busted!

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Where I hunt ther are no beaten down trails from a paticular bedding area to a feeding area.Deer can come in from any given direction,with that said I do try to leave as little scent as I can and use an earth scent cover scent also try to get 18-20 ft or better in a tree and if the wind is steady deer usually won't bust me.I hate those calm cooling days with no wind and the thermals just take your scent and disperse it all aroung you right at nose level it seems.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I think we all just play tobig of a role in all the hype any more. I never change stands in the middle of the hunt because I'm confident in the products I use. I've killed 120 and 130 class deer down wind and they never knew what hit him. And sure, theres going to be people hear that say "Well thats why you've never killed a 140+". Maybe thats true but where I hunt killing a 100 inch deer is big. Everyone can do what they want but when I'm on stand I'm a rock

RE: I always hear this story...
 

What?? You've never had a deer wind you on the stand before? You underestimate a
deer's nose and one of its primary defenses.

I think LT has a point - people can go overboard with all the wind talk. It is big, especially for
certain set ups, but not all situations call for getting off a stand. But it is obviously more important
for bowhunting, and I will be giving it more and more attention as I try to become a better bowhunter.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I wish I could plan my hunts around the wind... The farm Ive hunted my entire life seems to have absolutely no pattern to the movement at all. We have managed the land for a few years, and there are lots of deer, and Ive taken several good bucks, but even though I see deer almost every time I go to a stand, I almost never see two deer traveling the same trail, or direction for that matter. I see lots of deer, and I never know where they will come from or where they are going to go, I just set up where I know there is lots of activity, and hope my scent control practices work some for me, and they dont smell me if they get downwind. I would like to hunt some places where there is a predictable pattern in how the deer move, but my family farm just isnt that way..

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I think they're saying if it shifts and stays that way they'll do it. I will. BUT, I'm not going to jump out a tree with a momentary shift of the wind either. Of course every momentary shift does contaminate to some extent territory I wish it hadn't We have to accept those changes, but a little whiff can put deer on alert. The closer they are the worse it is. I will move if the wind shifts and really blows were I don't want it to. That said, I check the weather every night before a hunt and for the next few days to see what's happeningl. Hell, I watch the weather all fall just about anytime the TV is on. If you know your area you'll know what a certain wind will do for a certain area. Then all you have to do is sort out the thermals and the occasional weird wind, terrain, WRONG WAY winds that occur... and they do. Wind floaters are great.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

When the wind switches to an unfavorible direction, I get down and circle the globe and come in from behind. A lot of the time that take me so long that the wind has switched again, so I just go home and wait for a better day.;)

RE: I always hear this story...
 

There's an article in Bowhunting magazine that talks about this as being 1 of the things in hunting that people rely on way too much and he talks about that if you are in a tree stand your scent is carried above the deer most of the time. If I remember I'll scan the article and post it here tonight.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

This doesn't surprise me.

All I have to do to prove this in my mind is......think about ALL the times I've had deer come from a TOTALLY (say...180deg.) different direction than where I thought they were going to come. What good does it do to set up "playing the wind"....when the deer don't cooperate?

I'll play it to an extent......but I won't get down and move if it shifts. I'll take my chances being 20' up and as clean as I can be.

Kudos to you guys who REALLY do this (move).

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I agree I think hunters go WAY overboard about trying to become scent-free. I believe in rubber boots and maybe some scent-away spray, but if you climb 20-30 ft you wouldnt have to worry about your scent. Forget all those suits, the quote "A sucker is born every minute" comes to mind about them. I NEVER worry about the wind in picking my stand, and always kill good bucks every year. I just hate to see hunters make such a big deal about the wind unless you are stalking or on the ground.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

To me wind is very important, especially from a tree. Eventually your scent hits the ground some distance away from your stand. I've seen this first hand. I have a stand where I'm 28' off the ground. I expected the deer to be coming from the west and had a west wind. Well, the deer came from the east, down wind from me in an open field (picked beans). They picked me off from 200 yds. One more positive reinforcement to not hunt an iffy wind. I will only hunt a stand if the wind if perfect for the stand. Don't kid yourselves that by being high in the stand that the deer won't notice you. This only works if the deer are too close to you that the wind blows over them.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Greg I have seen the same thing . I have a stand about fifteen yards inside a field edge,from this stand I can see across this field and I have seen deer spook after the wind shifts.
And rattling has also proven how good a bucks nose is. I will never rattle from a stand that a buck can circle down wind to approach .
To ignore the wind is a grievous error.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Nobody's saying "ignore the wind".Admittedly....I've only been hunting whitetails for the better part of two seasons.....but I've learned afew things:

1) Deer are skittish by nature
2) I can never tell what makes a deer calm one minute and alert the next
3) I know I can't do this from 200 yds away....with something I can't see

Translation....How do we know what makes a deer spook if we don't see it? We can surmise....but we're still guessing. Could have been a coyote. Could have heard something we didn't. Could have smelled something totally foreign. And yeah....could have smelled us.

Your scent could also go in the direction you're hoping for it to.....and get behind you and swirl back to where you don't want it to go.

Again....I give you hardcore guys a lot of credit for your tenacity.......but I just don't know how much of a "science" this "playing the wind" can be whittled down to.

I also LOVE it when a TV hunter tells his audience the deer caught his scent. LOL....how do they KNOW? Maybe he caught your camera man picking his nose? Maybe a glare off the camera lens? Maybe they caught your scent off your entrance trail? Maybe they smelled where deer earleir had been alerted and left scent? Maybe a wolf came through there, last night? Etc...etc...etc...

RE: I always hear this story...
 

We have more days with variable winds than we do with a true, steady wind... I rarely move once I'm situated, b/c I know without question the wind will change again, it always does... Makes the hunting tough.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I don't know what to say.... I know that you've only been hunting for two years and I know it took me many years to experience and see what makes deer spook. In my experience, the number one thing that makes deer spook is

HUMAN SCENT!

It's a well known fact that the deers best sense is their smell. In the 40 years that I've hunted them, I've seen deer do some incredible things with their sense of smell. This is how they survive. Why would anyone down play a deers best defense mechanism. With all that has been published about their scenting capabilities and first hand observances from experienced hunters..... it baffles me that anyone would question the deers ability to detect and avoid danger with their sense of smell. The wind is a scent carrying agent and the deer use it to their advantage. That's gospel!

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I agree with the wind playing a major role in hunting but I also agree you tomkat. I dont ever get down I just make sure that I am covered with as much scent eliminating material as possible. Scent lok suit, Scent Away Spray, Rubber boots, Cover scent possibly not alot of that. I dont move around alot. Unless Im rifle hunting, if nothing is going on I might get down and still hunt around field edges but thats about it.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Greg....I'm not downplaying their sense of smell, at all. I'm downplaying what I think is often OVERPLAYED......which is us thinking we know everything that spooks them and how to avoid it. In essence.....I'm giving them MORE credit for being harder to figure out.

I'm just saying we can't pas it off as "I got winded" everyt ime we see deer scamper. We ought to just say the truth. We don't know why they ran off. We didn't see anything. We didn't hear anything. We didn't smell anything.

It's a well-known fact in here that I have a healthy repsect for your knowledge of these animals. If you say they winded you.....I believe it. What I don't fall lock-step into is the bandwagon that says they won't hunt a stand they've checked the wind for (before they got into it)....if the wind switches.

In this scenario....I don't think you're givingYOURSELF enough credit.

No disrespect re: your knowledge or beliefs, at all.....just a difference of opinion.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Good ole mags they write one thing one onth and the exact opposite the next.

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]