Hunting in the wind

[KHickam]

Just curious as to your experience. I have never had much luck hunting deer in 15+ mph winds, in fact I don't think I have ever shot one - and can probably count on one hand the number of white tails I have seen in 15+ mph wind.

What is your experience in this matter? :hmm:

 

[paulvallandigham]

When the winds are that strong, it robs them of both their senses of smell, and hearing, so they go to their beds, down out of the wind( windchill) to stay warm, and wait it out. If you want to hunt them, you need to know where they are bedding, and jump them in those beds. Come at them down wind, and slow, and LOW. :thumbsup:

 

[Brent]

In the right places, it can be awesome. If there is snow in the air, so much the better, but it is hard weather.

Brent

 

[BrownBear]

I think it depends a lot on how "wind" is defined and the normal local wind pattern. The weather service up here reports moving air 93% of the time with an average speed right at 10mph. We truly don't even think of it as "wind." To qualify and become a consideration for deer hunts, it needs to top 20 or 25. And of course, in order to average 10mph, we see lots of the bigger stuff.

Since the deer are so used to it and it's such a common factor, their response is fortunately pretty predictable. In fact several of the places I hunt are at their very best with strong winds.

Regardless of the actual MPH, the bigger consideration is what your deer are used to. If it's stronger than they like, they're heading for cover. The type of cover your deer use depends on what's available. Around here it's thick, brush or brushy draws in the lee, or in timber, the downwind half of smaller groves, or at least 1/4-mile into large the upwind side of larger stands. Downwind edges of any timber, whether groves or large expanses, are hot spots. Deep brushy draws work best when hunted from the top down.

Brush on lee sides of mountains and hills usually holds them a little in from the top, and hunting is usually best if you sneak along within the brush line and watch downhill. Nothing on the first pass? Drop down 100 feet or so and make another pass in the reverse direction, "stair stepping" down the hillside in an organized fashion. Yeah, there might be a little breeze ahead of you, but that actually helps move them and give you glimpses. If you have hunting pards, positioning one on each side of the brush field and one at the bottom can really pay dividends. Just make sure everyone can see each other before you start, and rigidly define shooting directions and lanes. You should recognize that this strategy varies with the size and layout of the brush field. Of course safety is at the top of our list, and most of my "brush fields" are over 1/2-mile in extent.

Oh yeah. Around here the bears don't like strong winds any more than deer, and you're as likely to encounter bears as deer in the lee brush fields.

 

[Greenmtnboy]

Just curious as to your experience. I have never had much luck hunting deer in 15+ mph winds, in fact I don't think I have ever shot one - and can probably count on one hand the number of white tails I have seen in 15+ mph wind.

What is your experience in this matter? :hmm:

I love hunting windy days, the deer are spooky and are up and moving around alot. If you are slow and glass a bunch you should see them first.
My wife shot this three point in heavy wind when the woods were pop corn fart dry and (very crunchy) we stalked in to 20 yrds and she nailed him front neck.
down it went

 

[KHickam]

I am surprised a bit. In Washington sometimes we would still hunt the draws and creeks out of the wind and occasionally jumped deer

Here in TX - it is mostly a waiting game - not enough country to still hunt

 

[MDK_WV]

Mature Doe (approx. 110#)
December 21, 2002
Harvested in Taylor County, WV

This doe was taken with a .50 cal. CVA Percussion Hawken Muzzleloader using .495 round ball and .015 patch with 80 grains of Pyrodex powder at 60 yards. The wind was blowing 20 to 25mph and six does bedded down in an open field shielded from the wind. I could see them from my house about 3/4 mile away. The only stalk was upwind. I loaded up and skirted about a mile to come in above them in the open field using a fence row for my only shield. All of the does were facing down wind with their backs to me. I crawled along the fence for about 75 yards. The shot was placed at the left-side of the backbone and exited through the bottom of the ribs just behind the left front shoulder. The deer was lying down in the field in the background on the right hand side of the photo. Also note the flag blowing in the photo as well. The shot through the back allowed a follow up shot through the head and she never got up.

This is just one experience of hunting in the wind. YMMV

 

[Britsmoothy]

Just curious as to your experience. I have never had much luck hunting deer in 15+ mph winds, in fact I don't think I have ever shot one - and can probably count on one hand the number of white tails I have seen in 15+ mph wind.

What is your experience in this matter? :hmm:

I love hunting windy days, the deer are spooky and are up and moving around alot. If you are slow and glass a bunch you should see them first.
My wife shot this three point in heavy wind when the woods were pop corn fart dry and (very crunchy) we stalked in to 20 yrds and she nailed him front neck.
down it went

That is one hell of a nice photo :hatsoff:

B.

 

[luieb45]

I either stalk into bedding areas that have a hill or two to block the wind or sit in the low spot. Once in bow season this year I hunted during a wind advisory of 40 mph winds! :shocked2: Everybody thought I was crazy but I saw a good amount of deer. Of course I almost got sea sick from the swaying tree stand.

 

[Dave K]

I agree with some of the others. I have had great success and of course like any hunting day, I have had no success. It just depends where you are in this wind. If I can hunt, I will go. You can't do any good hunting in front of the TV.

 

[hoochiepapa]

Amen, Dave!
We have had the best encounters on very windy days by hunting the black timber. The elk and deer are trying to get out of the wind also, and it impedes their hearing, and all the trees are moving in the wind.

 

[Vaino]

During the week when there are few hunters in the woods, snow cover and a fairly brisk wind are to me, ideal hunting conditions. Working into the wind very, very slowly and looking more than moving and w/ the sun to your back if possible, will get you close to deer. Have shot a few this way and it is a whole lot more satisfying than sitting. My Dad and I work together about 300 yds apart using a compass and it's surprising how many deer we see...sometimes one can't help but spook a deer and we both have shot deer that the other had spooked. Exciting hunting....Fred

 

[longcruise]

I like some wind to cover my movements and noises when still hunting deer or elk. I have seen mule deer and elk going about their daily business in some pretty hefty winds, say 25 to 45 mph.

You can hunt antelope in the wind no matter how hard it blows. Does not seem to bother them much. A hard rain or sleet mixed in will have them laying down in cover though. A sage flat can be loaded with antelope but if they lay down tight they are just not visible in standard height sagebrush.

Whitetails always seemed more skittish in the wind, at least to me. I think they are just inately way more cautious than mulies or elk.

 

[rkmeyer]

I agree with Paul, I have not had any luck with deer on real windy days either. I also have found on heavy snow days the same holds true. :surrender:
Dusty :wink:

 

[Little Wattsy]

When the winds are that strong, it robs them of both their senses of smell, and hearing, so they go to their beds, down out of the wind( windchill) to stay warm, and wait it out. If you want to hunt them, you need to know where they are bedding, and jump them in those beds. Come at them down wind, and slow, and LOW. :thumbsup:

Exactly!! It can be good hunting but hunting "normaly" will typically produce poor results.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The only other thing I can tell you about where deer choose to bed down when its windy, at least down here on the flats, where there simply are not many places to get out of the wind, IS, that I find them bedding in the same places regardless of the season of the year, or the temperature, if it gets them out of the wind, and gives them a wide expanse to watch visually.

Over on the rivers, where there is MUCH up and down country, Its next to impossible to find the Fall and Winter bedding areas, unless you follow tracks. I have spooked up deer laying on the side of a ravine in oak leaves, going into a stand in the dark, when I could hear the deer get up and run off, but could not see a thing. There was nothing about that particular spot that was any different from any other. In fact, I spooked either the same deer, or another from a similar location but about 50 yards away from the first site, and on the other side of the L-shaped ravine. The wind was out of the same direction and about the same speed on both days.

Go figure.

Its called, "Hunting", not "gettin'". :hatsoff: