Wind
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: steff
30-Oct-19
So you've watched the weather app and you have the perfect wind and ideal conditions for the first sit of your best stand. You've got limited time to hunt. You double check when you leave your rig, and wind is still good. You hike in 40 minutes and get settled in well before daylight. Right at gray light, the wind shifts. It's marginal at best. You recheck your app and it still calls for good wind. What do you do? Stay and hope, or leave and come back another day?
From: Lost Arra
30-Oct-19
Good question! My nephew and I had a good wind switch to a poor wind blowing towards the beds so we just left a little early. He's a new hunter but wants to learn and I figured hunting with a tailwind was no way to teach him. Of course we did have a headwind hiking back to the truck.
From: Woods Walker
30-Oct-19
What I would do........
Get rid of batteries and microchips, get on the ground and HUNT!
But then again, I'm just a crabby old man who's been killing deer for 50+ years. What do I know?
Seriously....you rely on your PHONE to tell you which way the winds blowing?????
From: Bou'bound
30-Oct-19
Hunt. Wind is always shifting. This is just another day in the woods
From: South Farm
30-Oct-19
I'd hunt! Paid off the other day, windy as heck Saturday morning but I filled my first buck tag. They were moving good all day despite the wind! When it's time it's time, we wait all year for this so why let a silly weather app keep you in bed?
From: FORESTBOWS
30-Oct-19
40 min walk in..... that's like 2 miles. I would stay.
From: Grubby
30-Oct-19
Depends..... now if that wind is dumping directly into a bedding area I’m out of there. If it’s compromising a trail I’ll probably push it
From: Franklin
30-Oct-19
The only way I would turn back is if I was hunting a specific buck and knew his patterns. By sitting in that stand you KNEW he would bust you, then no...otherwise hunt.
From: Paul@thefort
30-Oct-19
if you are hunting from a tree stand and the deer will be coming from a predictable direction and the wind is wrong, LEAVE. An good option is adjust to the wind and to a different location and hunt off the ground in a natural blind. The beauty of hunting on the ground is that you can adjust quickly if or as the wind changes.
From: spike78
30-Oct-19
They hardly ever come in the direction you think they will so you never know.
From: steff
31-Oct-19
So much for an attempt at sarcasm.
From: Franklin
31-Oct-19
You need to work on your "sarcasm attempt"....if that is all you got it`s very weak. This was too close to "real" questions frequently asked on this site.
From: Woods Walker
31-Oct-19
LOL! You got me steff.....hook line and sinker! But as Franklin said, it was low hanging fruit.
From: APauls
31-Oct-19
I face this situation all the time and it’s real! Lol after being screwed by the forecast several times, I made a promise to myself always to hunt the current wind. But I also hang and hunt every time, so it’s easy to adjust
From: Busta'Ribs
31-Oct-19
I guess I don’t get your joke. Where is the sarcasm in hunting a stand with the wrong wind? Obviously, if you get in a stand based on an expected wind (and I don’t really give an eff where you got your expectation) and the wind switches and compromises your set up, you bail. If you don’t, there are really only two explanations. One - you don’t really know your set up and “the deer can come from anywhere”. Two - you think the buck you’re after won’t smell you when he shows up like he’s supposed to, good luck with that one because you will probably never even know if he did.
From: steff
31-Oct-19
My point was that more seem to rely on technology than experience (and conditions). Didn't mean to offend anyone and certainly didn't expect some of the responses.
From: LINK
31-Oct-19
I only hunt when my deer cast says conditions are perfect so that scenario would never happen. ;)
From: Busta'Ribs
31-Oct-19
Oh, I get it now. Dumb joke, but actually, a thought provoking question. The right answer is bail. But I bet the overwhelming majority of guys would not do that. I've bailed out of many, many stands due to unexpected wind shifts. The hard part is knowing when to trust that the shift is going to hold and wreck your sit so you are not bailing for no reason. The funny part of your joke is that you asked a really good question without even realizing it.
From: Rgiesey
31-Oct-19
I’ve really become reliant on the wind direction forecast on the scoutlook app. I would normally reset downwind but lately I’ve screwed up by waiting for the wind to “correct” itself.
From: Shawn
01-Nov-19
This time of the year I hunt. Bucks are out looking for those first does. If it was earlier and I was hunting to or from bed or food I would move, this time of year(Halloween or later) I hunt! Shawn
From: RIT
01-Nov-19
Move... I moved last year at 9 am when the wind was hitting me in the back of the neck to a stand with a good wind. 11:30 killed the buck I was after. No issues how you get your wind forcast but you have to look 6 hours before and 6 hours after you plan to be on stand. If a wind is changing from say a NW to a SW you are going to get some of both winds during your sit regardless of what the app says.
From: drycreek
01-Nov-19
I can see not believing a wind app in the moment, if personal observations contradict it, but I rely on them for planning tomorrow, or the day after. I’ve noticed that they are more reliable in the fall, than in the spring, at least in my area. Then......when you start taking terrain into account........
