Windy Conditions
Whitetail Deer
What is everyone's experience/opinion on hunting in windy conditions? It's suppose to be about 15-20 degrees cooling tomorrow morning and it's Halloween morning,However 20 mile per hour winds!
20 mph winds are average here in Nebraska. We have 30+ forecasted for Saturday and I'll still be in the stand. I shot my best buck to date on one of those 30 mph gusty days a few years back. I would take the wind over those absolutely calm, no wind kind of days.
I hunt Ne as well, 20 mph isn't a big deal out there. I shot a nice buck in 09 on a windy evening. I had to time the gust that blew a limb around.
+3
I'm in Nebraska as well. In November those bucks do a lot of cruising on the windy days. Hunt the downwind side of bedding areas, gullys etc...
One interesting phenomenon...property I hunt is the North side of the River and with a strong south wind those bucks seem to push all the does right to the edge of the river so i hunt as close to the river bank on heavy travel corridors. So technically in that situation I'm hunting the upwind side of the entire property but I set up downwind of the main riverbank trail and there's a lot of movement on that trail when there's a heavy south wind.
I stillhunt and I lOVE windy days! REAL windy days...the kind where the average treestand hunter will roll over and go back to sleep.
1. My motion/sound is better covered.
2. The deer will seek out the wind sheltered areas, thereby reducing considerably the potential area where they may be found on that day.
This is both a blessing and a curse, because when you do find the deer you've most likely found ALL of them! Many times I will stillhunt in an area like this and then plunk myself down on a log and not move at all. This is where the ghillie suit I wear really can be a big asset, as I literally am wearing my "blind".
Being from Kansas I often hunt in 20+ mile per hour wind. I do believe deer are more nervous in the wind as they cannot detect danger as easily and may move less. I have killed deer when the wind was over 30 MPH. Keep in mind safety during windy conditions as limbs or whole trees may fall and simply sitting a stand in a swaying tree can be dangerous. With that said winds are over 20 MPH today and I am going hunting as soon as I get off work in about 30 minutes.
I've found the wind to only be bothersome to me as I get sea sick in the tree. I see just as many deer on 15-20 mph days as calm days. Definitely agree that windy days make approaching a stand site a whole lot safer than listening to the echoing crunch of leaves on a calm day. Anyway, they gotta eat and when nature calls...they'll be looking for love regardless of wind speed.
My take. Here in East Texas, deer don't move much in high winds, the reason, I think, is because we don't have much wind. Never bothered them too much where I hunted in Central Texas, because, again, I think, the wind blows out there often. So IMO, if they are born and raised in windy coditions, it doesn't bother them as much.
Well the alarm is set, besides I would rather sit in a tree then behind the desk!
Try sitting on a log OUT of the wind instead of the tree. That's what the deer will be doing (not the tree...out of the wind!!!)
I just shot a deer on 10/25 with 15-20mph sustained winds with gusts up to 30. I shot my deer in broad daylight. 5 minutes before sunset. Deer definitely don't like to move when it's that windy, but that doesn't mean that they won't. Especially this time of year. Bucks are chasing does and does are trying to put on weight for winter.
Here in the Dakotas if I didn't hunt in the wind I'd never be able to hunt! Hunted yesterday winds at 35 and saw my best buck of the year. Get out there and get after them!
The deer here crawl into holes when its windy. Sitting in a treestand is usually unproductive. However, as some have already said, if you can get permission to hunt standing corn, a windy day is the best time to do it.
I would hunt the standing corn, however my neighbor is the only farmer around that plants corn on 19 inch rows.
If I stayed home when there was 20 mph winds blowing in southeast Iowa, I would be watching football all day every weekend of the season.
I killed a doe one night with 38 mph winds gusting to 63! Saw over 25 deer that night including a really fine 5 x 5. Rare to have a day that is not windy in KS.
They still move. I live in Ks and see lots of deer on windy days.
Like Brotsky, if I didn't hunt wind I wouldn't get out much.
Hardest part is picking the right tree. I don't like trees at the edge or too small. Pretty tough to hold on the critter when tree is a rockin'. I prefer hunting thick stuff during a blow. Alluded to above, I think WT do some milling about in the thick stuff. But won't cover a ton of ground, (Unless they break from cover and then they go for long distances.)
Had a muley come in on Friday AM. Wind was 30 gusting to 40 MPH. He passed through too quick to get a shot off. I don't think he was too comfortable in cover.
Im in Nebraska and just the other day I hunted in a 20 mph SE wind. My stand is in a transition area at the top of a big ridge. I have alot of huge mature Oaks around me but my problem wasn't how windy it was but rather how inconsistent the wind actually was in the spot I hunted. milk weed seeds were swirling so much I couldn't decide if I should even try to sit my stand any longer. Turned out the currents were actually reverse of what I expected for the wind I was hunting...what the heck do you do then!? This spot is right behind my house on a 5 acre spot of ground so my choices are few. I guess just hunt and hope all goes well....
EE Andy- Tough. The strong the wind, the more erratic your scent plume (In terrain, in my experience)
Think of your scent like water. In a slow moving stream, do you ever see eddies? Undertow? etc. Generally no, it just goes downstream. In rapid rivers, you see all of the previously mentioned. Sharper the contour cuts, the greater the action. Same with air/wind. The stronger the wind, the greater the direction change possibilities.
Hunting ridge tops, you can hope the scent sails above there heads. If wind dies down in an evening, you scent will plummet straight down and you could be in trouble.
Hunting draws, many times you scent is pulled in a 180 as the wind deflects of the side hill and is pulled back. When gusts ebb, scent goes where you think it should. Next gust, screwed. Makes some spots unhuntable in strong wind.
Like you, I use milkweed. Powder just doesn't cut it. Nothing sucks more than watching your milkweed head 50-60 yards yards downwind, then watching it come back to you.
When it blows...hunt the drainages or thickets. Just like us, deer are not comfortable in the wind.
Windy yesterday. Deer moved in the thicket at the back of my farm all day. 3 buck that have never showed on camera in daylight made diurnal debuts. Lots of chasing. One decent 10 pt came in for the second time around 5 pm with me on the stand.
Learned the "wind" lesson the hard way 5 years ago. got on the stand and sat for 45 minutes in a swaying tree to the point of convincing myself there was no way a good deer would move in this mess. After checking my camera the next time out, I was shocked to see pics of a great buck Id been after (prob mid 140s) right there 10 yrds under my stand that same morning. Worst of it... I hadn't been down less than 10 minutes when he came through. Never got him.
Go hunt when it blows. It can be VERY rewarding.
