Legend has it that Daniel Boone was a heckuva deer hunter. I don’t doubt that for a bit, but the best deer hunters who ever walked North America were undoubtedly American Indians.
Yes, the white settlers eventually learned to shoot lots of deer with their crude muzzleloaders, but for thousands of years, American Indians flourished in part because of their uncanny ability to put the sneak on unsuspecting big-game animals — including the white-tailed deer — and then kill them from the ground at close range with bows and arrows.
These people instinctively knew then what many hunters are still grappling with today: To get the drop on a wary whitetail, you have to know how to play the wind.
Indeed, nothing spooks a deer faster than a snoot full of human stench. Unfortunately, many modern hunters still don’t know how to take the wind into consideration when attempting to move about the forest undetected. Sometimes, all it takes is predicting wind currents in advance. At other times, it takes changing direction in order to take into account a subtle shift or an errant breeze. Either way, playing the wind correctly is paramount to success, and the most challenging aspect of deer hunting.
Predictable Winds
The easiest winds to play correctly are those that are predictable in nature, of which prevailing winds, steady winds and thermals are the most important. If you can depend on the direction of the wind being constant, then it is easier for you to formulate a deadly ambush.
In my neck of the woods, the prevailing winds come out of the southwest. Under normal conditions, I can count on the wind to be consistently blowing from the same direction at a constant velocity each day I’m afield. Thus, I can confidently park my pickup in the northeast quadrant of my hunting area and then work my way upwind, or I can zigzag my way to bedding and feeding areas.
This also means that the bucks will be more or less moving along the same routes as usual. For example, I can plan a still-hunting route ahead of time and then follow that route the next morning without having to change plans at the last minute to avoid spooking an otherwise relaxed deer.
This can be especially important if I want to sneak in and out of a buck’s bedroom, a hot strategy late in the pre-rut. A sudden shift in wind direction at any time during the hunt could easily send a bedded buck high-tailing it over the nearest ridge. Depending on the prevailing winds to remain on course without faltering, I manage each year to catch one or two bucks bedded by working my way slowly crosswind through thickets, brush lots and goldenrod fields during the middle of the day. This is always an exciting prospect. Most shot opportunities are less than 20 yards. Keep in mind that bucks often bed in the same area under prevailing winds, making it easier for a still-hunter to get the drop on them.
Likewise, prevailing winds also help tree-stand hunters. They can rest assured that their human odors will not blow into unwanted areas as they approach or exit their tree stand site, and that while aloft the wind will not suddenly blow their scent across trails, scrape lines and other ambush sites.
Prevailing winds are confidence builders!
Steady Winds
Steady winds usually blow from a different direction and at a greater velocity than prevailing winds, and are generally the result of a storm front moving through the area.
Steady winds of this nature allow still-hunters and treestand hunters the opportunity to hunt a different zone or stand site than usual.
A bedding area on one of the farms I hunt is difficult to get close to under a prevailing wind. I suppose that is one of the reasons deer choose this particular bailiwick, but when the winds swing and blow steady out of the northwest, I can still-hunt the edge of the bedding area with near impunity.
A few years back, I took advantage of a change in prevailing wind direction and got the drop on a wide-racked 140-class 10-pointer I had glassed all summer long. The first time I saw him after the season opened, he simply melted back into the brush without offering me a shot. I was frustrated because you don’t get too many chances at a buck like that. The good news, however, was that my airborne scent did not push him out of there, which kept open the opportunity of yet another close encounter.
The following week, the winds again were out of the northwest, giving me a second chance at that heavy-antlered buck. I’d like to tell you I nailed him, but this time he caught me flat-footed, snorted and then vamoosed in a flash.
Big bucks not only pick bedding areas that are hard to reach, they also seem to have a back-up plan in case you do manage to penetrate that stronghold. Indeed, we all know they don’t get big by being careless!
Both prevailing winds and steady winds offer hunters a great opportunity to sneak and peak through standing cornfields for racked bucks. Late morning and early afternoons are the best times to enter an uncut field. Why? For one, if there are bucks in the vicinity, they could very well have bedded somewhere in the field before first light.
Second, a modest wind should rustle the leaves loud enough to help you camouflage your forward progress. A hunter moving through a cornfield under calmer conditions will only telegraph his whereabouts throughout the field, giving bedded deer more than enough time to escape.
Don’t Ignore Thermals
Thermals are the third type of predictable wind pattern, and they are as easy to play to your advantage as prevailing winds and steady winds.
Generally speaking, as the sun rises in the morning it warms the night air that has settled in the valley. Because that air is now lighter and less dense than cold air, it rises uphill. Morning thermals continue racing uphill for the rest of the day until the sun sets. The air soon cools, causing it to flow back downhill to the valley. The easiest way to remember this pattern is to key in on the sun. That is, thermals rise uphill with the rising sun and then settle downhill with the setting sun.
How can you best benefit from this phenomenon? Let’s say you know a mature buck is bedding near the top of a hill. You set up a stand midway between his suspected bedding area and a rich alfalfa lot at the bottom of the hill. The basic strategy here then is to make sure you wait for the evening thermals to start flowing downhill before climbing on board, otherwise you risk alerting that buck to your presence by letting your scent flow up hill with the morning thermals to his bedding area.
The plan is similar for an early morning hunt. A rutting buck will probably dillydally around the alfalfa lot in the morning, trying to hook up with a hot doe. Then he will ride the thermals up the hill to his bedding grounds. Your stand is now upwind from the buck, offering you a perfect ambush opportunity.
Still-hunters have more leeway. They can start near the bedding area, and work their way downhill and into the wind toward the feeding area along a trail known to be used by does and fawns. If that buck does hook up with an estrous doe, you might just get a crack at him. Or, you can slowly work your way crosswind back and forth in front of the bedding area hoping to intercept that buck soon after daylight. Or, you can work your way uphill at a crosswind angle in an effort to catch the buck flat footed as he, too, travels slowly up the hill.
Moderate Winds & Storms
Hunting during predictable winds — be they prevailing, steady or thermal — is more a science than an art, but logic is not always so apparent when you are dealing with winds that are not predictable.
Take moderately windy days for example. Coupled with frigid temperatures, deer will not feed out in the wide-open spaces, but will rather be found in pockets shielded from the bone-chilling winds. Indeed, if you don’t see deer feeding out in the open on a cold, windy morning or evening, then look for them to be feeding out of the wind in abandoned apple orchards, or leeward ridges and steep ravines rich with acorns, beechnuts and hickory mast.
If the winds pick up, expect deer to bed in protected areas until the winds abate. They won’t be relaxing, mind you. Their eyes, ears and nose will be so overloaded with waving branches, crashing limbs and odors that come and go that it will be hard for them to lie still without feeling threatened. Your best hope of getting a shot is to be ready to hunt when the winds abate.
However, if the winds reach 30 or 40 mph, all bets are off. Many deer will remain bedded, but you are just as likely to see herds of deer out in the middle of open fields where their sensory organs are not as challenged. Indeed, I’ve seen as many as 20 deer run out into a large open pasture one after another in mid-afternoon in an apparent attempt to escape the sensory overload in the woods.
Big bucks traveling solo can also be found on the move during days of high winds, especially during the rut. They seem oblivious to the sensory overload, or maybe that’s how they react to all the stress. Whatever the case, you can often get away with making some mistakes when hunting in high winds. These big bucks don’t seem to be able to see, hear or smell as good as they can during normal conditions.
However, when threatened, bucks in high winds can still react amazingly fast.
This brings up another consideration: equipment performance during high winds. The air can push your projectile off target.
Hunker Down
Of course, major storms are another matter. It’s usually an exercise in futility to stick it out on stand near a feeding area or a scrape line during high winds. The deer just aren’t moving about much on such days. You could sneak through bedding areas, but the deer are so spooky even a crashing branch will send them on high alert.
Your best bet is to wait until the storm passes. Bucks will then resume activity, especially during the rut.
Without a doubt, days with variable winds pose the biggest challenge to hunting mature bucks. If you are still-hunting, the constant change in direction and velocity will make it all but impossible to keep the wind in your favor. All you will manage to do on days like this is jump deer from one protected pocket to another. You are much better off staying in camp, catching up on odd chores and lost sleep.
However, if you’re a treestand hunter, you have the option of climbing a bit higher up the tree where errant breezes will have less effect on incoming bucks. That doesn’t protect you from downdrafts and pockets of scent lingering at ground level. To better understand this phenomenon, try drifting a feather, leaf or milkweed seed on days of variable winds, and watch how these fickle currents can wreak havoc with scent control.
The Bottom Line
Before the Europeans invaded the continent, American Indians used sweat baths to purge their bodies of unwanted odors, and then smeared plant and animal juices on themselves before draping animal skins, sometimes green, over their shoulders to help keep their odors at bay.
Today, modern hunters rely on soaps and shampoos, scent-eliminator sprays and scent-absorbing clothing to minimize body odors. However, like early Americans, to be consistently successful, you still have to pay attention to the wind, and learn how to play it correctly.