Troutman10

The area I'll be hunting is flat and open in some areas. It does have some really thick brush throughout however. I will be hunting from some of the trees on the property and was wondering what I should expect as far as my scent and deer detecting my presence.I've heard of "thermals", but don't know exactly how they work. Does scent rise over trees in windy weather and does scent stay somewhat confined in wet, rainy weather?It seems like commonsense that myt scent will also linger through thewoods when all the leaves are gone as well. What should Iexpect? Thanksin advance.

timbercruiser

I guess wind speed, humidity, temperature, time of day and other factors make this a "just depends" kind of answer. The time proven "hunt down wind of your prey" is the best answer. I don't think humans have a true appreciation of the ability of a deer's smelling ability.

TurkeyStalker

From what I understand thermals are warm ground air that rises as the area heats/warms up in the morning and fall in the evening. You need to get an aerial photo and a topo map with elevation numbers on it to understand how and when they rise. In my opinion you might want to stay up on a ridge in the morning rather than being down low. If you are down low and the thermal rises it leaves you scent on whatever on the way up. Where as if you are on top of the ridge your scent rises into the atmosphere leaving less scent behind. One other aspect that should be relized is that a deer using thermals to scent check for other deer in the area. If you look at your topo map and figure out how thermals work and how they will work in stages according to the elevation. A deer will use these thermals while cruising in the morning and the evening. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Troutman10

There's really no hills or ridges in the area that I will mainly be hunting in. I will be in stands, so I guess that could "simulate" me being on a ridge, sort of.If it's raining and the wind is about 10 mph, in general, will scent be more confined to an area b/c the high humidity compared to if it's dry, warm and sunny?

Rhodes4025

If you can't hunt the wind consistently then you will have to go scentless. Any decent deer down wind of you will smell you and leave long before you see it. Bucks during the rut have been known to ignore this "rule" but at all other times, deer use their noses to avoid danger. If you religiously use scent free soap, deoderant, shampoo, scent lok clothes, and rubber boots you will see more deer.