Do you hunt the wind poll?
08-25-2004, 01:58 PM
#21
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pittsburgh PA
Posts: 947
RE: Do you hunt the wind poll?
Good point Rack. I have a good idea of where I think th deer are headed, but my game camera shows me different. I have a couple stand sites that border roads, construction sites and houses that I can use as a border, but my other stands are in the middle of the woods and are a lot harded to read where the deer will be coming from. Thanks for the responses. Keep them coming.
08-25-2004, 02:06 PM
#22
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 716
RE: Do you hunt the wind poll?
hunting the wind is one of my TOP priorities when out there... But... I must confess that I already picked out a spot on my land and it didn't involve checking wind direction [&:]
What I'll end up doing is getting up there and seeing what direction it's blowing on Oct. 1st and then look in that direction less than another direction hahaha...
What I'll end up doing is getting up there and seeing what direction it's blowing on Oct. 1st and then look in that direction less than another direction hahaha...
08-27-2004, 07:01 PM
#23
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pace,FL
Posts: 210
RE: Do you hunt the wind poll?
I joined a new hunting club 2 seasons ago and they ABSOLUTLY hunt by the wind and I learned to do so as well. Both seasons combined I have taken 18 deer and will continue to check the wind to detremine stand placement.
08-27-2004, 09:03 PM
#24
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: MD
Posts: 4,572
RE: Do you hunt the wind poll?
well, I guess I'm in the "dont hunt the wind" category, the property I hunt is long and narrow only about 70 yards wide, anywhere I hunt on the property the wind is the same, I switch stands, so I dont overhunt one or the other too much, but watching the wind wouldnt help me. I can honestly say that I make a mental note of which way its blowing, and surprisingly most of the deer always are coming with the wind, surprised the heck outta me, of course most of my bucks I have killed were during rut, so I doubt it any scent but one would have mattered to them!!
08-27-2004, 10:45 PM
#26
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Lakeway (Austin), TX
Posts: 16
RE: Do you hunt the wind poll?
I guess I fall into the "its basically random" category. I've heard lots of talk about how deer/hogs smell so good and are spooked so easily. Here's my experience (I'm fairly new to hunting).
Abut 10 deer running around me while I'm in a ground blind, they're all around me, none notice me. One spike buck runs up to me and my guide, he stops and stares directly at us to 90 seconds, we don't even blink, he's literally 5 feet away, eyeball to eyeball, he then casually walks away and eats corn. Granted we had a freshly cut cedar ground blind, cedar has a strong smell and may have masked us somewhat. Ok, so I shoot my best deer ever at 125 yards, 9 point about 135 gross (actually, my 2nd and only deer). 3 deer between me and the one I shot just stand there. I wait 2-3 minutes, then me and my guide get up and walk out of the blind toward the deer I shot, the other deer just stare at me. I get 15 yards from one and yell at him to move on and he finally runs to the bushes. So much for smell. As we tag he deer, the other deer return to feed while we're loading up the buck in the pickup, they're 40-60 yards away in plain sight.
Once hunting hogs in a friend's stand I saw a deer and after 20 minutes I raised the window to scare it away (I was boared), so I hung my hand out and slapped the blind, he just stared at me. I yelled at him and he just stared at me. Then he walked off. He had a real stupid look.
There may be times when deer listen to their noses, but I haven't observed that to be the case (most of my observations are of does, maybe bucks are smarter). If they're used to getting corn at a certain place, they'll come back even if it smells a little. Hey, maybe I don't smell?
Most important thing to me is a solid rest for a steady shot, and a good shooting lane. Wind is absolute last on my list, along with moon phase.
Abut 10 deer running around me while I'm in a ground blind, they're all around me, none notice me. One spike buck runs up to me and my guide, he stops and stares directly at us to 90 seconds, we don't even blink, he's literally 5 feet away, eyeball to eyeball, he then casually walks away and eats corn. Granted we had a freshly cut cedar ground blind, cedar has a strong smell and may have masked us somewhat. Ok, so I shoot my best deer ever at 125 yards, 9 point about 135 gross (actually, my 2nd and only deer). 3 deer between me and the one I shot just stand there. I wait 2-3 minutes, then me and my guide get up and walk out of the blind toward the deer I shot, the other deer just stare at me. I get 15 yards from one and yell at him to move on and he finally runs to the bushes. So much for smell. As we tag he deer, the other deer return to feed while we're loading up the buck in the pickup, they're 40-60 yards away in plain sight.
Once hunting hogs in a friend's stand I saw a deer and after 20 minutes I raised the window to scare it away (I was boared), so I hung my hand out and slapped the blind, he just stared at me. I yelled at him and he just stared at me. Then he walked off. He had a real stupid look.
There may be times when deer listen to their noses, but I haven't observed that to be the case (most of my observations are of does, maybe bucks are smarter). If they're used to getting corn at a certain place, they'll come back even if it smells a little. Hey, maybe I don't smell?
Most important thing to me is a solid rest for a steady shot, and a good shooting lane. Wind is absolute last on my list, along with moon phase.
08-28-2004, 06:06 AM
#28
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: MD
Posts: 4,572
RE: Do you hunt the wind poll?
[quote]ORIGINAL: taylor814
leashed??? game perserve??? or just plain dumb???
I get 15 yards from one and yell at him to move on and he finally runs to the bushes. So much for smell. As we tag he deer, the other deer return to feed while we're loading up the buck in the pickup, they're 40-60 yards away in plain sight.
08-28-2004, 06:30 AM
#29
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Missouri
Posts: 610
RE: Do you hunt the wind poll?
If you don't hunt the wind, you might as well stay at home. I don't want to rely on luck and dumb deer to harvest a whitetail. I would hate to lose the buck of a lifetime because I didn't take the time to hunt the wind.
08-28-2004, 08:58 AM
#30
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Lakeway (Austin), TX
Posts: 16
RE: Do you hunt the wind poll?
I hunt to get out of the house, if I shoot something that's a bonus. If I just want meat I can go to the grocery store. I disagree that if you don't bring home meat then you might as well have stayed home, this isn't the 1840s.
As I've said, I'm fairly new to hunting, and been somewhat successful without considering wind. While hog hunting, the only ones I've missed are the ones where I couldn't get a shot off in time, so my very limited experience is that you need a solid rest, a confortable position so you can stay ready for hours at a time, and smart shooting lanes. Hogs do seem to be able to smeel, I've seen one (friend's personal video) where the hog walks up to the point my friend approached to get into his tree stand, and at exactly the point where he walked (within 6 inches) the hog does a 180 and bolts. His guess was that the hog smelled the rubber from his clean new sneakers. So we both are careful to wear weathered footware and get them real dirty before hiking to the stand.
If I owned land and were setting up blinds and had time to think about it, I might think about prevailing winds. But most of my hunting is Texas Parks and Wildlife hunts where they assign you a blind, drop you off there in a truck, and wave goodbye. The only thing under your control is the shooting (solid rest, always ready). Either a deer/hog walks by or it doesn't. Wind and moon phases are not under your control.
Here's the 2nd (and last) deer I've shot.
As I've said, I'm fairly new to hunting, and been somewhat successful without considering wind. While hog hunting, the only ones I've missed are the ones where I couldn't get a shot off in time, so my very limited experience is that you need a solid rest, a confortable position so you can stay ready for hours at a time, and smart shooting lanes. Hogs do seem to be able to smeel, I've seen one (friend's personal video) where the hog walks up to the point my friend approached to get into his tree stand, and at exactly the point where he walked (within 6 inches) the hog does a 180 and bolts. His guess was that the hog smelled the rubber from his clean new sneakers. So we both are careful to wear weathered footware and get them real dirty before hiking to the stand.
If I owned land and were setting up blinds and had time to think about it, I might think about prevailing winds. But most of my hunting is Texas Parks and Wildlife hunts where they assign you a blind, drop you off there in a truck, and wave goodbye. The only thing under your control is the shooting (solid rest, always ready). Either a deer/hog walks by or it doesn't. Wind and moon phases are not under your control.
Here's the 2nd (and last) deer I've shot.