Hunting the Wind - Question
06-20-2012, 04:41 AM
#11
Spike
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Addison Michigan
Posts: 11
If I am at a decent place, I do good on days when the wind is moving all over the place. I am usually hunting steep mountains with lots of gullys. Best time to walk up a deer is on a bad windy day. Most of the time the deer really sit tight. They are afraid to move because they can not hear or see well because everything is moving. A deer's sense of smell is highly overrated. There are very few days when they can use it to their full potential.
Most of the concern about scent has to do with hunting a particular location and having to get within 20-30 yards to shoot them with a sharp stick.
06-23-2012, 11:28 AM
#12
Spike
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 40
If I am at a decent place, I do good on days when the wind is moving all over the place. I am usually hunting steep mountains with lots of gullys. Best time to walk up a deer is on a bad windy day. Most of the time the deer really sit tight. They are afraid to move because they can not hear or see well because everything is moving. A deer's sense of smell is highly overrated. There are very few days when they can use it to their full potential.
Gunplummer wrote, "A deer's sense of smell is highly overrated." Nope. Wrong Answer. Just last season while eating lunch at the truck, the wind changed direction and 800+ yards away I was able to observe 14 does and fawns explode out of their beds, tails up and flee the country. I can provide a mountain of evidence for the power of a deer's nose.
NEVER, EVER disregard the direction of the wind while hunting anything.
Bronc
Last edited by Broncazonk; 06-23-2012 at 11:32 AM.
06-26-2012, 06:28 AM
#13
Typical Buck
Join Date: May 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 526
Bioactive
Anybody that has a web address to show how to bait deer is not going to tell me anything of value about deer hunting. The first time you bait deer you have already disrupted the natural habits of deer. What kind of sharp stick do you use. Spear?
Again, a deer's sense of smell is highly over rated. I don't smoke anymore, but have had numerous deer within 10 feet of me with a burning cigarette and a steaming cup of coffee sitting on the log. The slightest breeze is enough to remove your scent. The reason deer take off at 800 yards when they get a wiff of you is because deer can not determine how far away you are by your scent, another wild rumor. Once the leaves are down and the rifles come out, a deer's best defense is eyesight. On a windy day deer are just screwed. I hunted VW last year. First day hard rain-no movement. 2nd day-hard rain in the morning, bad wind in the afternoon but cleared up. I was sneaking down a deep ravine out of the wind and shot a buck in less than an hour of hunting. Did that many a time and others I hunt with do it also. 20-30 yards? Try 20 feet during rifle season.
Again, a deer's sense of smell is highly over rated. I don't smoke anymore, but have had numerous deer within 10 feet of me with a burning cigarette and a steaming cup of coffee sitting on the log. The slightest breeze is enough to remove your scent. The reason deer take off at 800 yards when they get a wiff of you is because deer can not determine how far away you are by your scent, another wild rumor. Once the leaves are down and the rifles come out, a deer's best defense is eyesight. On a windy day deer are just screwed. I hunted VW last year. First day hard rain-no movement. 2nd day-hard rain in the morning, bad wind in the afternoon but cleared up. I was sneaking down a deep ravine out of the wind and shot a buck in less than an hour of hunting. Did that many a time and others I hunt with do it also. 20-30 yards? Try 20 feet during rifle season.
06-26-2012, 04:34 PM
#14
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
I've hunted for 60 years and anybody that says a deer's sense of smell is overrated is plain full of chit!!! If they are down wind of you, then you will never see them to even know they were there to begin with or you will see a flag giving you the raspberries as he departs the scene, LOL! Using the wind whether on stand or still hunting properly is a whole different story. If you're sneaking up on deer frequently to within 20-30 feet, why aren't you the one using a spear or bow? Shame on you for using a rifle on those poor, defenseless deer, LOL!!!
Last edited by Topgun 3006; 06-26-2012 at 04:38 PM.
06-26-2012, 06:52 PM
#15
Spike
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 61
The wind is the most critical issue for big buck hunters but it all depends on what kind of hunting you do. Looks like gunplummer is from PA and they do a lot of stalk hunting in those big timber areas. If you walk around in big woods then all you need to worry about is the wind directly where you are at that moment. I would say most around the country are confined to smaller parcels of land and many hunt from stands. If you hunt from a stand you need to have the wind favorable or you won't consistently kill good bucks. I have lots of friends that give the "uncle smokes and killed big buck on stand B.s.". You can't do that consistenly. Sure you can kill 2yr old bucks that way. But you will rarely shoot mature bucks that way from a stand. Most fully mature bucks try to get the wind in their favor but they can't always do it and thus you need to try to hunt the areas that they can't have he advantage. Maybe a deep creek to your downwind side or a roadway or something. Try to get the wind favorable for the deer but more favorable for you and you will be successful.
06-26-2012, 07:06 PM
#16
Spike
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 61
The wind is the most critical issue for big buck hunters but it all depends on what kind of hunting you do. Looks like gunplummer is from PA and they do a lot of stalk hunting in those big timber areas. If you walk around in big woods then all you need to worry about is the wind directly where you are at that moment. I would say most around the country are confined to smaller parcels of land and many hunt from stands. If you hunt from a stand you need to have the wind favorable or you won't consistently kill good bucks. I have lots of friends that give the "uncle smokes and killed big buck on stand B.s.". You can't do that consistenly. Sure you can kill 2yr old bucks that way. But you will rarely shoot mature bucks that way from a stand. Most fully mature bucks try to get the wind in their favor but they can't always do it and thus you need to try to hunt the areas that they can't have he advantage. Maybe a deep creek to your downwind side or a roadway or something. Try to get the wind favorable for the deer but more favorable for you and you will be successful.
06-26-2012, 08:25 PM
#17
Spike
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Bradenton, Florida
Posts: 4
I agree that you need to use the wind to your advantage. I hunt with a oneida screaming Eagle. I have harvested over 30 deer since the early 1980's and have always tried to stay downwind from the deer. Deer can smell a tick fart a mile away and anybody that says their sense of smell is overrated is a rookie hunter. I think that the smell of b.s. is overrated. I am also from northwestern pa. i moved to florida for the sun and wild hogs
Last edited by HOG HUNTER 2175; 06-26-2012 at 08:27 PM. Reason: needed to add more
06-26-2012, 08:33 PM
#18
Spike
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Bradenton, Florida
Posts: 4
Wrong answer slick. stay down wind and you will find that you will harvest more deer. A deer has excellent eyesight, it's just that they are colorblind and only see in shades of gray. they can see movement very easily.
06-26-2012, 08:37 PM
#19
Spike
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Bradenton, Florida
Posts: 4
I'll follow that response up with the fact that they are more cautious looking where they are going than where they have come from, regardless of the wind, and many times they will have the wind at their back. The reason for that is that they can use their eyes for side and front vision while depending on their nose to detect danger coming from behind where they have already been. When a deer or elk lays down they normally lay with the wind coming over their back and watch downwind. In that way they are protected from danger coming from either direction.
06-27-2012, 07:06 PM
#20
Typical Buck
Join Date: May 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 526
I am really learning a lot here. 1. Topgunn has been hunting for 60 years and is senile. 2. If you can't cut it in Pa. move to Florida. 3. If you can't kill a buck during rifle season, take up bow hunting because it is easier to kill one then. You so called "Big buck hunters" would not stand a chance if bow hunting went back to pre-rut the way it used to be in Pa. I operated heavy equipment and had HUGE deer walked past my machine with there nose to the ground. I guess they could not smell the machine because of the noise. What nonsense. Deer are color blind? Another myth. People that pay attention figured out years ago that deer see some degree of color. The biologists are now starting to catch on. Yeah, hunting downwind is O.K. with half tame deer that move in the same areas every day. When the deer get pushed around and the wind is see sawing all over should I just go home?