I learned a great deal about wind currents and thermals in the book, Mapping Trophy Whitetails. It is absolutely amazing how the wind reacts in hilly terrain. It will eddy over a hilltop, bouce off the sides of hills...funnel through valleys......Add thermals to that, and you have the ingredients for an ever changing dynamic.

If I have any choice at all, I'll hunt on a ridge top in the morning, if there is high pressure present. The thermals will shoot almost straight up in the air. Deer also use these thermals, and you'll catch them walking the ridges in the morning, I believe, to grab any scent of anything below them.

Last year I began really watching how the wind reacts when coming from any direction at my stands. Very, very rarely will it remain consistent, even when I am hunting high. Which is why I employed such a strict, almost obssesive compulsive, attitude toward scent control last year. And yes, carbon clothing plays a part in it. I believe the only place the wind will remain constant at all is in wide open, flat terrain. And the thermals will still come into play there.

I don't hunt to much big woods Buckeye.. mainly swamplands.. smaller woodlots (under 100 acres).. etc etc etc. In Illinois.. big woods are scarce and not the norm. Even the public land I hunt has inadequate woods.. you really have to travel to see any bigger woods (above 500 acres.. even above 300 is pretty scarce in the entire northern half of the state.)

And southern Wisconsin (although better) also has little acreage that I would ever call big woods.

As already said, scent control is the best defense. Thermals can be very tricky. It amazes me to watch a tuffed of yarn fiber released from the stand and watch what it does. not what one would think. play it the best you can and keep that four leaf clover in your pocket

I've always struggled with "playing the wind" cause maybe twice a year at most does it actually blow from only one direction. I get TONS of ebb & flow wind currents.
Even if 80% of the time its from the west, it will still "draw back" east part of the time. Not to mention every one elses comments about it swirling and bending around hills, hollows & other terrain features.

Scott I have said what you posted for a long time, LOL

I think it really depends on the property I am hunting. At my place, we have some pretty significant terrain features that force deer to walk in certain areas and funnel them around, and this makes the deer approach in predictable fashion. I try to avoid hunting the spots that I'm not 99.999% sure of where they will come from and head to so that I can play the wind. Our wind directions also tend to work out pretty well and stay pretty consistent there.

Dan's place on the other hand is a crap shoot at best. He has a lot bigger woods than I do and less terrain features, as well as more inconsistent winds. Both places we are anal retentive about scent control though and I feel it helps us, especially at his place.

With all this said, this year one thing I want to work on at my place is creating more funnels to force deer to walk in certain directions in a few spots. I have some great natural funnels but want to hunt a few other spots that don't have predictable travel patterns and I think I can funnel them a bit by dropping trees, etc......

I have deer come from a few different directions but primarily one bedding area so I play the wind fr that area and try to be as stealthy about scent as possible.

I try not to get too anal about it as that takes all the fun out of it for me.... I pretty much know where the deer SHOULD come from and I use the wind accordingly......

This is one reason why I have always said that people play way to much into the whole "wind" thing. Granted, we want to be as scent free as possible, but swirrling winds make it nearly impossible to hunt the "perfect" set-ups. I am lucky, the deer I hunt are use to being near humans on a daily basis so scent control and playing the wind aren't very important. I would much rather set-up in a stand with good cover that doesnt have the perfectwind directionand take cautions to be as scent free as possible than to set up in a not so good set-up with a perfect wind direction.

This plays into another thing that I have never understood..... hunting with scents. When hunters set-up for a hunt, they usually put their scentsout in an area where they have a shot, and they usually set them so the wind blows towards where they expect the deer to come.... but that puts the hunter upwind of the deer

I always look at the general wind direction the night before on weather sites. I then look at the area I am hunting and generally try to hunt the higher areas and ridge areas of the property and pick stands that are downwind of where the deer should be moving as long as the winds are not over 15mph. If the winds are over 15mph then I hunt the thick stuff out of the wind and still try to be downwind of travel areas. On late day hunts I try to get back down in the lower lying areas where deer will be moving from bedding to feeding areas, again on the downwind side of major trails.
I do look to scent control but do not hold faith in scent control clothing. I shower with scent free/descenting soaps and spray down with scent control sprays. I usually wear a scentlok headcover and still spray down my head and face with spray. I feel you can "Hunt the Wind" but not master it.