All the deer have disappeared.
 

Sandy has decided it would be funny to send 20-25 mph winds to my area since Thursday with gusts up to 40 mph. Even with the high winds its a full moon weekend and with the rut going strong I figured the deer would still be walking around and bucks would still be seeking out does and you cant kill anything from your sofa.

I have hunted 10 hours every day since Thursday and havent seen or spooked anything and Im not hearing anyone else around me shoot either. I even called the local processing plant that gets a ton of deer each season and they said the numbers being brought in have dropped drastically.

I have tried 5 different stands in various locations always hunting each one at a different time the following day so not to try and let them figure out a pattern of when Im there. Also Im going through tons of scent away because of the strong winds but the wind is blowing in a way that Im always down wind from where the food and areas they usually appear from anyways. The deer arent eating my corn piles and arent on my cameras. Even hunting stands that I thought would be good in high winds because they offer good shelter close by as well as food and water and still nothing.

We dont get a lot of high winds here so have all the deer just gone into hiding? With the rut going I figured bucks would still be chasing does but thats just not the case cause like I said no one else is shooting and very few deer are being brought in to be processed.

Am I just wasting my time and just getting my scent everywhere each time I go out to a stand? The wind is supposed to die down Tuesday or Wednesday. If I stop hunting and just wait until then to hunt again will the deer just be everywhere because they have been laid up for so long? We have just never had this much high wind and definitely not for 4-5 straight days during deer season so I dont know what to do.

it is hunting. and it is never a waste of time to be out in the woods waiting on a deer. the winds are no doubt to blame but if you aint there you aint gonna kill one anyway. it only takes "the one" to show up and you will forget all about the hard hunting.

In real nasty weather the deer are bedded down in the thickest cover that they can find. They are like people. They don't like to be out in the open in it either. Spot and stalk in the heavy cover, and you will find them.

Forgot I moved one of my cameras and just checked it and had two 4 pointers beating each others asses this morning from 4:33-5:05am non stop. Wish I had it set to video but its a crappy camera so the pics were cool enough cause I didnt think the deer where I live were big enough to fight. I just didnt think two little deer would go at it like that. At least I know where they are now. Also was back in the woods where it isnt as windy. I hope theres something worth shooting around there cause if they were fighting obviously there must be does near by.



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Nothing moving here in So. Il either. And it was like this before the wind!!!!! Got no answer. I have hunted 17 times so far and have nothing to shoot except a LITTLE one openeing day and 2 does walking the inside edge of the corn field.

seems the front is lifting cause it supposed to be in the 40s tomorrow morning and now more wind. Got a feeling tomorrow they will be all over the place.

Yeah, they sent us your wind!!! LOL!!! They say our wind is supposed to kick up to 15-30mph. Nice!!!!!

Yeah we got some good weather here too. I live at about 4800 feet and we are supposed to have hurricane force gusts (around 80) and we could get 16 inches out of this system. Not too crazy for the winter up here but it's usually February not October when we get it.

I'm having terrible luck. I got one as the season opened and have only seen one other deer. Wednesday is supposed to be less wind and snow and a few degrees warmer so hopefully that's my day!

redgreen is right on! Heavy wind is your friend!

It couldn't be any simpler......get out of your stand & get on the ground! It's time to hunt. That's the best time to test your stalking skills if you have any...really is! When things get slow I pray for this kind of weather.