Wind Checkers?
 

Just curious. What do you guys use to check the wind? Powder? Thread? Feather? Floaters?

And on a side note, how long will you stay in a stand if the wind shifts against your favor?

LT

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

I like using the powder. I have tried spray scents to see which way that drifts also. That don't work to bad. Cigarette smoke works good too but it kinda keeps the deer away:D As for how long, I stay in the same place just for the reason I don't stay all day during archery season.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

I use the powder which is my favorite. I have switched stands before when the wind has switched directions. The one stand I hunt is in a corridor that runs East-West and is only about 75 yards wide, so with most winds it won't kill me..

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Windtracker.

I used powder for almost a decade, until I hosted Matt / PA a couple years ago and he had some Windtrackers with him... I fell in love with the fact you can watch what the thermals are doing or how the breeze is moving 50 yards past your stand...

http://www.martykeeven.com/WindTracker/SellSheet.html

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Greg~~~ Could you do the same with parts of a cotton ball? It looks to be about the same concept? >>>Or would cotton be too heavy??

I just thought of something else that would probably work better then cottonball, Fly Tying Dubbing seems to match about what looks to be in those windtracker tubes???

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Matt's sitting here Greg, it's a good thing you gave him street credit for those, you should have heard him when I clicked on the link. ;)

I use white stitch thread. I keep a roll of white thread with me and hang them in the trees with me. A slightest breeze will move the thread and let you know at a glance where the wind is blowing.

I do like the idea of the WindTrackers too.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Wind Floaters or anything similaras they allow you to see what the wind does evenquite a distance from you.

Sometimes it's very interesting!;)

Dan

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Greg, I started using something similar to those last season. Pretty neat to see everything the wind is doing. The ones I purchased were put out by Primos. They come in a plastic can like a Skoal can. There is a little hole in the top to pull a small amount out and let it go. Works really well imo.

I guess old Matt is pretty smart after all.[:-]

LT

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

WesternMD, probably anything would work in that similar vein... small tufts of yarn, milkweed pods, etc...

Rob, tell Matt he knows the next place he'll see that tip... ;)[8D]

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

i use the powder

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

So you know which way the wind's blowing?

What good does that do you.....once you're on stand.....if you're not prepared to getdown and move?

I don't carry one.....just being honest.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

For those of us who would like knowledge of thermals/swirling winds in our preferred setup areas.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

You can make your own by filling some nose spray bottles with baking powder.Or you can atleast refill the bottles that you buy.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Milkweed floaters with the seeds removed, they're free and they work as well as anything else.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

I like the floaters.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

I have bags and bags of very small and fine little feathers that I pluck out of the chickens I kill.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

When I was younger I went sailing on lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. I didn't really know the guy who took us but he said he would check the wind by turning his head and waiting until both ears would have wind in them. I use that method when possible or I take anything dry around me and let it fall.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

I use a bic lighter.If the winds turns bad for a stand I get out ,I would rather be setting in the truck thengiveing my stand location away.


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RE: Wind Checkers?
 

I actually have the powder style and the wind floaters in my fanny pack. I personally prefer the floaters because I can visually track them much farther down wind than the powder. I think both are effective methods though.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Jeff,

I find them extremely valuable for a few reasons:

One, is that on the main farms I hunt, I have an aresenal of tree stands pre-hung come hunting season. By the time Matt arrives in late October, I'll have upwards of 35 fixed-position stands waiting for us. Obviously, we look at a few internet weather sites to determine predominant wind direction before going to bed as we lay out the next day's game plan -- and again quickly before we leave the house (it's a 40-mile drive to my hunting land each morning, and we need to have a good sense of where to head before we ever leave). We also verify the direction once we step outside our vehicle when we pull into the parking area... stand choice is all about the prevailing wind direction then.

I know you can make those choices in the preceding paragraph without the aid of the Windtrackers or similar devices... but here's the point they do come in handy: The first few times we sit a particular stand, we'll deploy some and watch how the prevailing thermals react in a particular hollow, on a hillside or in some other geographical feature. Sometimes, we've found out that the wind acts a certain way almost every time, and it's a way that we wouldn't have predicted. It's also a way that simply holding a bic lighter (as I used to do a lot) or puffing a squirt bottle of unscented talcum in the air which dissipates after five or even ten feet can't tell us.

They're also extremely helpful when mobile, such as when I'm hunting out ofmy Lone Wolf Alpha Hand Climber. I have climbed down many times over the years when I've discovered the wind has shifted or the evening thermals are carrying my scent a diretion I didn't anticipate upon setup. With the LW hand climber, I can be down the tree and set up on the other side of my ambush spot in less than 15 minutes, and I'll take that any day over sitting an area for a few hours knowing that I'm ruining the spot for that and many more days if I remain where I shouldn't.

Hope that helps a bit.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Be sure to read my disclaimer before reading this.

I don't think that knowing wind direction is just about getting down and moving assuming you only hunt from an elevated stand. But for me personally I'd like to know where my scent will definetely be and where I can expect to get busted.

Two examples, I had the wind blowing directly into one of my major lanes. I had a buck coming down a trail that crossed two of the lanes. I let him have it in the first lane before he ever got to the main lane. FWIW the major lane would have been a bettershot but I was not going to chance it.

Second example, I had the wind blowing into a lane. I had a buck come directlyunder my tree and get into that same lane. The bucks noseraised and I'm sure he was busting me. But I knew where the scent was being blown andI let him have it the secondhe raised his nose. If I would have waited at all he would have been gone.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Very good post, Bob... and I certainly use them in that regard as well.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

I gotta get one of those wind checkers Matt has......they are pretty cool. I usually have a lighter in my pack when in the woods to check wind, but it isn't going to show you thermals like that little puff will.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Those are two SOLID points.

Thanks.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

Windfloaters. I like to see what's going on when they get out away from the stand.

RE: Wind Checkers?
 

I really feel this is the heart of the matter. Especially in hunting trails and lanes. I feel open woods can be a lot more tricky, as I have watched the wind floaters go out 150yds andmake a 45 deg turn and then go straight in that direction out of sight. In open woods, these thermals that you see causing the floater to change directions a certain distance away from you can really educate you on what "might" happen if a deer comes from that direction. This also applies to low-lying areas where the wind can bounce off a ridge or knoll and go back the way it came from.

Thanks BobCo. Very good points.

LT