Help me hunt the wind......
 

If you'll look at the attached photo.....it's an aerial view of my hunting area. Orientation is basically coreect if you assume that the top of your screen is plan North.

So.....all tracts I can hunt are on the North side....with a man-made break line.....a parks system.

What wind can I hunt.....if I'm going to "hunt the wind".

Per the photo.....I can hunt every tract from the 10 acre woodlot......along the south side of the road.....as far as you can see.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

photo did not come up Jeff.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Jeff If I may I will take a look tonight and post later. I love these kind of posts. I posted one and I have a stand called Germ so we will see what happens there.
Also where you parking at or entrance pretty much?

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Jeff, hard to tell. i see the "honey hole labled..its high...maybe move the screen up and center your spots on the map...

also, id need a better photo to try to guess thickets and likely bedding areas...i assume the darker green would be it? i cant tell. if so, id say from the honey hole, the deer bed infront of you(south) and youd need a wind blowing from the south to the north.

really all depends where the deer are. you dont want your scent blowing towards the deer. (duh..) but its hard to say where the deer are, from that photo...

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

You're correct. They bed in the pines in the park. I enter from the North....using various (and varying) entry routes.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I asked this question to sort of let everyone know what a conundrum I'd be in if I "hunted the wind" all the time.

Prevailing Wind here is from the SW. If I hunt this wind in the mornings.....my scent would be drifting in the direction the deer are coming from. I could hutn this wind in the evenings, just fine.

If I hunt a N wind (rare)......I could successfully hunt the mornings.....but not the evenings......but even then my scent would be drifting into their bedding area. E or W wind.....and I'm contaminating whichever hunting area I have to either side that's downwind of me.

I have to hunt what I have. I have to practice scent control to the best of my ability......play the wind to a certain point.....and hunt.

My way is working, so far. It's not possible for me to "hunt the wind" and hunt NEARLY as much as I do. I enjoy hunting too much to let it dictate whether or not I sit in the house.I'll take my chances that I know my deer as much as anyone.....and what they'll tolerate.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Are all the numbers homes??

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

MOHO, no...there are no homes in the park. I'm not sure what the numbers are. Would they be elevations...?

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

The numbers are grade elevations.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Its pretty simple. On a north wind you hunt stands on the south side and south wind the north side. East ,west bla bla bla. In your situation I doubt it matters with the number of deer you speak of.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Here is my rule:

I hunt the stand the puts the least amount of wind between me and the deer when I am walking in and hunting.

If I am hunting the North side of a lot. The wind is coming from the SW. I hunt NE side and enter from that side. Assuming the deer are bedding in front of the stand. I want to limit my scent as much as possible. If I can have only NE side "tainted" with my scent it leaves all other sections clean. All about % IMO

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I approach it a little differently, Germ. i watch where most of the deer movement is.....and I try to put myself in the best spot to be THERE .......and play the wind as "important".....but not the end-all to dictating whether I hunt or not.

My location is "unique". Granted.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I'd give most the benefit of the doubt as to knowing their situation, as well. If I hunted your woods......I might take a different approach......totally different outlook.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

You might get real boared because I bet you will see more deer on openiong day than I will all season. Your welcome to come join me though.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

And you know if you can work it out, Chris....you are welcome in my woods, any time. Open invitation. Come see your bro and shoot whatever you want. Hell I'll drag 'em and butcher 'em!

Now.....about that KS invite.....:D

My goal in 3 yrs is......more healthy deer......less deer. I'd sacrifice the sightings for the end result.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I saw more deer in one morning and two evenings than I saw in two seasons where I hunt albeit I saw less bucks but no one can condemn a man who has a great spot.....and thus his agenda to thin the herd this year. I wish I had it so good (numbers).

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I guess it differs on what you want to do.

If your out to shoot a pile of deer like you are, I understand.

I am trying to shoot "A" deer everytime I go out. Meaning when I am doe hunting I treat it like I am hunting for a mature buck. I do everything thesame. I hunt what the wind gives me. I have sat where I was sure I would not see a deer, but the wind was right. I would rather hunt 4 weeks without seeing a deer than risk giving away my position to a mature buck just once.

Way I look at it everytime a mature buck winds you walking to your stand, you have just decreased your chance at killingthat buck by 80% in that area.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

LOL Id like to have more sightings and less monster racks...for now anyway, until i can get my bow kill numbers up.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

No condimnation here brothers. If I were him I would be doing the same thing. Its an open invite here to Jeff, but you will have to hunt the wind.:D:D

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I have found that the areas I hunt that are near a higher level of human activity I tend to get away with deer winding me a lot more. Now granted I don't set up without taking the wind into consideration but I do feel there is a certain level of "human intrusion" that the deer are used to and I will hunt a stand knowing the wind is not absolutely perfect because of that.

I won't try that at the farm though. I'll hear nothing but hooves stomping and deer blowing and I'll see nothing but white flags waving in the distance or nothing at all.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

What is it you think I try to do?

I wasn't last year. I hunted the same way you did.

So did I, last year. I won't change a thing, this year.

And you're assuming he WOULD bust you. I risk that he won't. Different approach.

Way I see it.....you have a ZERO percent chance of killing a buck if you're not where he travels.

Their brains are smaller than a pear.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Well don't forget I tried to do what you are trying to do. I have pile respect for your effort. Good luck

If you ever quote me like that again I am going to drive to NC and wimp your arse:D

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

forget the wind, just hunt- right??...:eek:

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Do you think it's futile, Gary? I'm naive enough to think it isn't, still. I just don't know. I know I'm likely going to sacrifice a couple of years of hunting like I'd LIKE to.....to hunt like I feel I NEED to.

I hope I'm doing the right thing. I sure would feel good if things turned around.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Yes it was futile for me.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Gary, explain this to me cause I don't know what you tried to do?

As far as Jeff's situation, it's only futile if the deer population goes up which could be the case having been there, seen it. The doe population is way, way out of control and Jeff alone might not be enough. He's getting help from the farmer across the Park and if he can get a number of guys surrounding the park or himself and friends do try...at least try to check the numbers.

We all know that an overpopulation of does will stunt not only the deer but the buck quality as well.

A freezer full of venison, opportunity to feed others, attempting to thin the herd, getting years of experience in one season, I see no negative to the attemp Jeff, futile is yet to be seen.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I'm serious......why?

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Because I could not kill enough deer to make a dent in my area. It is just as important to do so in the surrending areas, what happens is if your landis what thedeer prefer those deer are replace with others.Deer just gravitate to your area. You have the same or more deer than you did before.

Since no one else is whacking does it becomes a futile effort(did for me). I got frustrated and mad and was not enjoying hunting. Again it may be different for you. Just what I went through

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

It's a real possibility.....that I won't knock a dent in them. Hell I don't know "what if" unless I try, though. I can tell you this......if I lay 8 or so does down......the farmer's already killed 9.......and we do this for a couple more years......with no discernable difference.....I'll be disappointed.

I'll especially be disapponted if I forego possible buck opportunities in doing so. Killing deer isn't "all that". I have a way I WANT to hunt. I'm just not gonna get to do that for a while. I would LOVE to hunt 3 or so deer.....exclusively. That is my carrot.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Well if you have 1 guy with you, that is 100% more help than I got:eek:

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I've got more than that. My buddy on the 120 acre lease is shooting does, too. We've got basically a square mile we're hunting. I'll take 8 does.....Tim took 9 already.....Gray's said he'll take at least 4. That's 20+ does out of one square mile.....in one season. I'd bet it ends up being 25.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I agree GMMAT i too have trouble ALWAYS hunting the PERFECT wind, just because my land is set up not so much in my favor, it favors the deer much more.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

I had the same issue, runs West is front and East is back. I went to boat and water.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

Well there is useful info:D Your neighbors must like you[:-]

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

GMMAT, my friend... Don't think we're saying you can't hunt if the wind isn't directly in your face. You can hunt with the wind in either ear too (crosswind). In many cases, you might have to set up so the wind is quartering. Set so that the scent is blowing in the direction that it doesn't cross the path where you expect the deer to be coming from, but crosses their path beyond you into the area they are going to. Sometimes they'll reverse and come right back to you when they catch your scent.

You just never want the breeze directly at your back if you can possibly help it.

You can't forget vertical air currents either. Air that's warming up rises, so in still conditions or very light wind in the morning you want to be higher than the deer. Treestand or up on a hillside. Air that's cooling off sinks, so in the evening you want to be down lower and look for deer that are up on the hillside. In those cases, if you have to set where the wind is at your back, it's not quite as bad. Or, again, be crosswind or have it quartering away from where you expect the deer.

RE: Help me hunt the wind......
 

We started meeting and talking about what everybody was thinking. I don't say I trust one of them 100%......but the other speaks the truth. I trust him.

Nuff said on the topic, though......I appreciate the discussion.