Forest Huntin' on Windy Days

[jdixon]

O.K. - our second gun season starts tomorrow. The forecast for the next 5 days are winds gusting to 25 mph every day. These half gales ruin hunting success for me every time. The deer go to ground in the wind around here. You can't buy an animal it seems. Question - What tips do any of you have for hunting heavy eastern hardwood forests on windy days - hint - the right answer is not staying home and drinking beer - not an option! :nono:

 

[mikee51848]

Well I hate hunting in wind so here goes. Try to be out at daybreak and the last hour. Usually the wind dies down around then. Try your stalking skills also, during the mid-day. Remember, deer gotta eat sometime. Good luck.

 

[Stumpkiller]

You've lost the "motionless" advantage as you won't hear the deer coming, and the deer are skittery and holed up because they can't hear rustling either, so sitting can be limited to dawn & dusk (always the best times to sit, anyways). Hunting up a leeward slope or down a windward one will hide your scent (facing into the wind). Move slow and scan often, looking for any little deer pieces (tail, leg, the horizontal line of a back). Move slow through thick stuff and be ready at all times should you jump a bedded deer.

Good luck. Hunting in high winds is tough.

 

[CrackStock]

I try to find wind breaks caused by terrain blocking the wind. There is a curved waterway where I hunt that creates calm spots along its banks with almost any wind direction. This often gives me an opportunity to pop some squirrels. Sometimes it works and other times it does not. However, it always gives me an excuse to take a nice walk in the woods! :thumbsup:

CS

 

[nchawkeye]

Hunt closer to the bedding area...so if they do move you will see them...I have an oak flat that is between two cutovers...I setup about 75 yards away from one of these cutovers...windy here yesterday but I saw 7 deer...Good Luck

 

[roundball]

J.R., generally speaking deer are more skittish on windy days for sure, but they do move some.
To us, particularly if sitting up in a treestand, we may think it's as windy as all get out with the tops of the trees moving but it's usually much better back down on the ground.

Yesterday we had a front move through with 10-15 mph winds and gusts to 25, my tree was swaying so much I climbed down and sat at the base of it...leaves were showering down out of the trees creating a lot of movement in the woods, but had a doe, and later a spike wander through.

No question some days are better than others, even moon phases play a part in deer movement...but for me it comes down to the fact that I KNOW I can't get them sitting in my den, but I MIGHT get one if I go to the woods.

So I just go and go and go every chance I can, particularly during the rut time of year...they don't follow their natural instincts anyway and are liable to do anything at any time.

So...go huntin' !!
:g

 

[mikelange]

I'm up in SE Indiana and coping with the same thing -- wind blowing and deer gone all weird from the rut. Fresh trails crisscross the area I hunt, so the critters are there. Just when is the problem. I've gotten conditioned to hunting (and fishing) near dawn and dusk, but it looks like I need to break out of that mentality and see what's up during the middle of the day. More time in the woods -- what a burden.

 

[tankdog78]

here is what works for me and my buddy. first thing if its windy and blowin up a stink you are not very likely to see em in your regular tree stand they like to stay beded up in the thick stuff. this past wensday it was raining and windy I went to one of my spots that has a strip of thick thicket slash woods about 100 yrds across and 1000 yrds long wind was blowing across the thicket on one side it is a feild and the other wide open marsh. I set my buddy up about half way to down the thicket and at the nearest set of trees about 300 yrds across the feild from the thicket. I walked the down wind side on the marsh and walked I jumped 15 doe and a buck (6point and small) I shot 1 doe and my buddy shot 2 doe. The hunt took about 20 min. YOU NEED TO WEAR ORANGE, KEEP IN MIND TO NOT SHOOT AT RUNNING DEER AND SHOOT IN A SAFE DIRECTION. my buddy in the feild got the deer to stop moving by waving at them with his hand like and a little wistle. we were shoting inlines bud your traditional guns will work also.

with a little thought of your woods you have to hunt you could come up with some kind of drive like that and get some deer in the fridge.

dont't rule on out the man drive all you need to do is walk slow and not make a bunch of noise and they wont run like they are on fire.

hope it helps. I love hunting em from a tree but I will drive em if its blowing

 

[gmww]

Articals I've read and my personal experience also shows that the deer in my parts move more on windy days. One reason given was the noise from the wind masks any warning sounds that deer rely on. Also it blows the scent all over the place and disperses it making it hard for deer to key on.

I find a well used deer trail and sit with the wind at my face. :v

 

[KyFlintlock]

I have seen em' hunker down on windy days and I've also seen em running all over the place.

My buddy arrowed one of his nicer deer at 12:30pm on a VERY windy day. He was in his stand and got nervous that he was gonna blow out, so he lowered his stand. As soon as he got to the ground he looked up and here the buck came...with the wind the deer evidently didn't hear him messing around and he was able to pick up his bow, knock an arrow and the rest is history.

Good luck!

 

[Mad Professor]

Realize you have two things going for you on windy days: 1) your scent is only going one direction (most of the time) 2) It lessens the deers advantage in another sense, hearing. Think about this if you were a deer.......

I've seen bucks bedded on windy days looking directly downwind and relying on scent for anything that comes up behind them.

Found one like that on the crest of a ridge with the wind blowing up behind the buck from the bottom of the ridge. He figgered anything coming up his backside he would smell and anything coming into the wind he would see. What he didn't count on was anything coming perpendicular to the wind e.g I was coming along the ridgeline. Of course this was a Sunday and in mASSachusetts its your day off from hunting......stalked within feet of the buck, close enough to brain him with a stick. Wind changed and he LEAPED out of his bed looking down the ridge. When he couldn't scent me again as the strong wind righted itself he got VERY nervous; I was only feet away, motionless. He nerviously walked WITH the wind while looking behind and left/right to see where this VERY strong scent had came from but then disappered. Obviuosly he knew I was close and behind or left/right, just not exactly where.

It was a fun day in the woods and I learned a lot! Don't let the weather deter you from hunting! Learn from your experiences and use them to YOUR advantage the next time around.

happy hunting!

P.S. still trying to touch a deer, Indians did this early on in their hunting training.

 

[Mad Professor]

Whoops, MISTAKE on my last post. In my prevoius post the Buck walked WITH the wind so he could scent me again. He knew I was somewhere upwind and VERY close, just not where.

Guess the lesson is they trust their nose even if they can't see you.

Fixed my prevoius post, sorry.

 

[Stumpkiller]

It's been my experience many times that a deer will look at you and try and figure you out, even spend time trying to get you to move by stomping or head bobbing, but once they scent you it's high gear.