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Wind in your nose

Nobody wants their scent blown toward where we think the big guy will come from. We set up so the wind is in our nose. The big guy sneaks up many times at a 45° angle.

Does anyone else set up this time of year a little risky, hoping the bucks with their nose after a hot doe will forgive a bit of human scent?

Yes, this is the time I think you can cheat a little with scent direction. Not always but more often than other times.

Have to say no, I always play the wind. i dont believe a mature buck gets to 6, 7 or older by putting up with a bit of human scent, especially if that bit of human scent is out in the woods.

I'd love to see a few fellows discuss this,....a deer stand surrounded by woods with security cover, feeding areas & crops, and bedding areas within a half mile 360 degrees around the stand and the deer approach the stand from almost any direction. With regard to scent discipline, how would you hunt this stand? (And yes, stands like this do exist. I have such a location/stand site in my hunting area.)

Bill, we both have stands such as this. My approach? For one, I only hunt each stand with the intent that I'm not going to do well behind me. That's where my wind blows. Secondly, I hunt these stands on the same wind, and my entry is always into the direct wind in a straight line to my stand. Yes, that means I blaze a trail parallel to the game trail I'm hunting. No game trail? Not worth my time. Thirdly, I'm hunting it as clean as humanly possible, because quite often I will be very close to bedded deer. I will wear the lightest clothes in, and dress in my stand as I cool down. I'm aware that you cannot fool a deer's nose, but I believe you can prolong their flight, and you can keep them from running to the next county, flag up, blowing. Ask me why I rarely ever get blown at? I don't know, but I'm doing something right. Perhaps my body chemistry? Fourth, I hunt any one of these stands sparingly. Sometimes never in a single season. I mow trails, and groom my approaches, so my approach is slow and quiet. Lastly, I will always do a couple light deer vocalizations if there is nothing seen, and there's only 15 minutes of light left. I rarely hunt these stands in the morning. In my opinion, there's a far greater chance getting a deer in the morning, by hunting a trail leading to their bedding. Oh, and luck. A lot of luck!

I have had it happen several times where a deer will cross the trail I walked in on, some stop, stick their nose in the air and continue on like it's nothing, and some times it's like they ran into a brick wall turn around and head back the direction they came from.

I do what I can to use the wind. Being as clean as possible and during the rut, use estrous scent. I place the scent upwind from my stand with one hanging left and right from my stand. That appears like a "V" with me at the base if you understand my description. I have many times turned bucks using this method. He will turn into the student before getting my scent. Only use a quality scent that you trust, not the garbage hanging on the store shelf.

I think the best chance you have at killing a big buck is when the wind is almost wrong but not quite. They move thinking they have a wind advantage but the wind is just so there not catching your scent if that makes any sense....

Wind is tough!!! Always seems to switch or come out of a different direction depending where you are. Stalking? Tried it many times, sometimes the wind stays true where you are and it works. Most times you go good then it switches and hits your back just enough to let everything know in front of you, you are there. Cross winds to me are the best. Deer tend to watch downwind and keep the wind at there back. If your coming into an area where you think or know they are, come in cross wind if you can and if it stays good. Again, most times it switches from hills, trees, streams, valley's, on and on. Wonder how you can get a shot off, but sometimes!!!!

Retro , it makes total sense. Did it tonight.

You tag Ruger?

No Live , ran out of time . I could hear them in the Tag Alders . They are so nocturnal. There's a mature Buck & an old Doe that keeps them in the swamp .

The camera 50 yards away shows them moving around about 1 hour after sunset .

Yes, for some reason they are real nocturnal in WI.

I wonder what the reason is why there so nocturnal? In many areas especially public.

I try to keep the wind wholly in my favor and avoid having my scent blow into areas that may hold bedding deer. A piece of public land I hunt abuts a highway along its southern border. I hunt it on winds of northerly variation and skirt the road in my approach and departure. Tough to find spots that provide these conditions, but I continually scout for them.

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