Wind direction help!!
 

Hey everyone I’m still fairly new to deer hunting, this is my second year and I still haven't got a deer yet. I have done a lot of research on everything about deer hunting, and have read a lot of the post on the board. But I’m still having trouble seeing deer. I know that wind direction plays a big part in being successful, I just need help figuring out what way I should being facing in my stand in conjunction with the tracks that I’m seeing on the ground/trails, and anything else that I should take into consideration. If anyone can please help me out with some detailed advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

:sign0016: We are glad to have you here and joining the hunting community . You should always try to keep the wind blowing past you in the opposite direction or away from where the deer will be approaching or where you think the deer are. Put your stand up accordingly. If you have a wind blowing from north to south and a deer trail going east to west you would set up on the south side of the trail. That way no matter which way the deer come from the wind is carrying your scent away. Keep wind direction in mind for the walk or ride to your stand. Where ever you think the deer are keep your scent blowing away from them and you will be fine. I hope this helps and please feel free to ask any questions you may have. This is a great community with a lot of knowledgeable folks, and when you are just starting out there are no stupid questions. Good luck this season!
Live it up! Doug

KSwild Thank you for welcoming me to the community!!:happy0001: And thank you for the great advice, I will defiantly be practicing this from now on!

Welcome, the information that KSWILD has provided is sound. Another thing to keep in mind is the trails that you are hunting. Early on in my hunting career, I would find these "Cow path" made by deer and think Wow, this is a sure thing. Very rarely did the work for me personally. The more heavily used trails always seem to be used more at night. Find the food sources (They change through the season) and the bedding areas. Set up down wind of the trails that offer edge and protection and you will not be disappointed. Funnels, pinch points and inside corners of fields are always worth taking a look at. Have as many stands as possible to account for different winds. Most of all, keep hunting and enjoy your time outdoors. Be safe.

375LVR thank you for your advice!! I wasn’t sure if setting up on these trails was really worth my time. I hunt on public land so setting up multiple stands wont be something I can do, but locating food sources isn’t to difficult. There are acorns all over the area, but I really don’t see any deer signs around them to show that there feeding on them. The largest amount of traffic I have noticed is by/on the river that flow on the boundary line of the state land.

I always have good luck by a river or stream. Expecially if there is some kind of food near by. Just hope they don't cross it when you shoot them.. No one wants to drag a long ways.

My advice would be to try and find a seasoned hunter willing to show you the ropes a little bit to hunt with if possible. you can take in alot theses days via the web but not like someone showing you in person or during the actual act of hunting. Also keep youe expectations real in the beginning and for the type of area you are hunting. It would be so easy for someone getting started out to turn on the tv and measure themselves next to what you see them shooting. A trophy is in the eye of the beholder and should always be that way. Not only that we as what I refer to as us normal hunters don't have to cross a 10' high fence to get to our stand in the morning. Good luck to you this season and the many to come.

Not sure I can add to what has already been said. Some good info.

I would walk that river and find where they are crossing! That is always a hot spot especailly since the other side is private! Also, I read this on here but the acorn caps with notches in them is sign that deer have been eating them. Any droppings around means that they have been there at least 1 time! I hunted for 2 years before I even saw my first deer that wasn't running 300 MPH. Once I learned to pay attention to the wind and BE STILL I started seeing and killing deer! Keep your head up and just enjoy the outdoors first, learn as much as you can 2nd, then killing deer will be an easy 3rd! It will all come together.
One more thing. You don't NEED a tree stand for it to be a stand. Find a tree and some branches and build you a small blind on the ground. A few of these placed around will give a spot to go to that will hide you and you don't have to worry about carrying in a treestand every single day!

Little more info would help.

Type of terrain you're hunting?
Private/public land?
Type of food source, agriculture or big woods forage?
Do you hunt mornings or evenings?

A really good tool to use, since it's obvious you have internet access, google maps.

Just a quick little image of my favorite morning hunt property, the arrows are fixed position stands. The orange lines are main travel routes back to the bedding area.
This property is always a good pre/rut location, great pinch points.
I always have my climber handy for odd wind occasions, which is rare.

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Thanks everyone I really appreciate all the help!!It can be really frustrating sometimes being out in the woods for hours on end and never seeing a single deer. But no one ever said it would be easy, just got to learn the ropes. Thanks again everyone!!!
Onion721 I'm hunting public land its a mixture of both agriculture and a little big woods, right now i'm hunting evenings there is just a ton of acreage to cover the state park has about 4,000 acres of hunt able land

If the terrain allows you to see a good distance, setup on a good vantage point just to observe where deer are moving in the morning and evening. After a few long distance scouts, you can put a plan together to move in closer based on where you see them moving. And you can never go wrong on Public land by finding the heaviest cover or the hardest to access area to hunt. Try to find the area that may take extra effort to get to. This area will have the least pressure and most likely the best chance of seeing deer. Good luck, and don't give up!

Hunting/shooting a deer isn't rocket surgery. Sounds like you have a good place to hunt. Spend as much time as you can during the season in the woods and don't get caught up in the "trophy hunting" craze that a lot of people get in to. Have a good time, shoot a legal deer. If you have a couple of cheap trail cameras you need to have them out and see what is in the area and what time of day they are using in the area. Don't go to them all the time, let them sit for a couple of weeks without being disturbed. You might try a couple of sacks of shelled corn in front of them to get more pictures.

The first place I start on a big tract of land, creek beds.
Walk the entire creek looking for fresh tracks, find the most active crossing and work from there.

As mentioned earlier, inside corners of fields are good, also edges of different types of cover is good, old logging roads, fence crossings.
Where old growth meets new growth, logged out areas are hot spots when the rest of the woods are open.
If you know of any traditional scrape lines/areas, now would be a good time to sit downwind of them, bucks in my area are starting to scrape, I'm talking scrapes in cover, not field edge scrapes, most of those are hit in the dark.

Evening hunts should be closer to the food sources, after a couple weeks of season though in heavily pressured areas, you can pretty much rule out hunting closer to the food sources.
Deer will mainly be hitting these after shooting light, time to shift closer to the bedding areas.

Acorns are dropping hard here, I sat a white oak flat on the edge of CRP yesterday morning that the deer hit on the way to the bedding area, saw several does and 2 small bucks.

Come Nov. 1, be in the woods, be aggressive, the bucks will be cruising.
Find where the does bed, find a pinch point, there's always a spot that will funnel deer within range.

Oh and be prepared to sit all day.
My last 4 good bucks were all taken midmorn/day.

11/6/05 11:15am
11/2/07 1:13pm
11/22/07 10:22am
11/15/09 1:40pm