Deer vs wind...

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Your last kill - wind direction vs deer travel direction

deer traveled wind to back
31
29%
deer traveled wind to face
12
11%
deer traveled with wind blowing to its side
65
60%
 
Total votes: 108
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jmaas07
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby jmaas07 » Tue Jun 09, 2015 1:00 pm

I killed two bucks last year wind to side to some degree. I said to some degree because one was traveling wind to side along a transition and then turned wind to face up another transition when I shot him, the two transitions meet and create a 90, when he was traveling wind to face it was straight out to cut corn

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Ghost Hunter
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby Ghost Hunter » Tue Jun 09, 2015 1:07 pm

The buck that I shot on Oct.25 last year. He was traveling with the wind blowing out of the north. I was expecting him to come out of the cutover going to the bed in the a.m. But he came down the draw with the wind to his right side. He turned an looked upwind at me. But I think he was scent checking the cutover for early season does. After hunting that area an seeing the pattern. I need to put my stand on the other side of the draw.
I'm reason they call it hunting and not shooting.
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:34 am

This years buck was wind blowing from his back. I shot him in his bed. He was bedded almost on a crosswind but slightly now that I think of it.

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Kraftd
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby Kraftd » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:59 am

I'd be very interested to see how many people shot deer traveling with an anticipated wind. The two I got last year were both on a cross wind. One I believe was coming back to some bedding after breeding a doe in the morning working a transition between tall marsh grass and a wood edge. Wind was blowing from the marsh grass to the wooded area (west to east), which has substantially higher visibility than the marsh (for me and the deer). The second was actually a little further up the same transition but inside the wood line downwind of a doe that was working the transition. Wind again was from the marsh (west). In both cases, this was what I anticipated and set-up accordingly, though one buck was traveling south and the other north, which is consistent with past observations in this area.

I believe bucks will travel with, against and across the wind, but how they are traveling at the shot in an undisturbed situation is very dependent upon set-up. less and less, as I really learn to be a better hunter, do I get surprised by deer anymore.
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby Ruger » Wed Jun 10, 2015 4:16 am

My last kill the wind was on his side (actually quartering a little to him from behind) , but I think he approached the oak tree that way mostly due to his travel path to the food source. I was lucky enough to be hunting unpressured deer where they hadn't been hunted in a few years and he was just taking the shortest route to the food. He was a 2 year old and was not a mature buck so that may have had something to do with it too.
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby BHC » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:21 am

With out question to some degree into the wind. Now many instances I know they had walk a crosswind before being able to approach me downwind.. So something to do w the way I'm setting up...

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rutnbuck
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby rutnbuck » Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:10 pm

Both bucks I shot last year came in wind to back and looking back they all have if that says anything. That goes for those that didn't make it another day.

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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby stash59 » Thu Jun 11, 2015 7:20 am

During my early gun seasons it seemed like every other year an honest to goodness mature buck would be spotted running wind to tail across a large open field. Most of the time out of range. Sometimes we'd hop in a vehicle and try to get in front of it. most of the time we'd never catch up but would locate his tracks crossing the road into the next wide open field. This sometimes went on for miles.

Other times when they were in range they always seemed to pop out just as we cased our guns to put in the car to go to the next drive. So by the time we got our guns back out he was almost out of range and in our haste and confusion of course missed him.

When we didn't just jump in the car to follow we often heard him go through another "party" of hunters because of the barrage of shots that followed. Many times more than once. We'd go check to see if any of the other groups had got him. They'd all have similar stories of being caught off guard in some way.

I used to consider this luck on the bucks part. But now I'm not so sure.
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby dan » Mon Mar 18, 2024 1:28 am

bump
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PoppaOtt84
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby PoppaOtt84 » Tue Mar 19, 2024 1:03 am

The buck i shot last year was traveling with the wind at his side. He was intercepting 2 does that were traveling with the wind at their backs.

The previous years buck was traveling wind at his side also. I believe that buck was scent checking his bedding area before entering in the AM.
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby Bush whacker » Fri Mar 22, 2024 1:18 am

My last buck came in on a side wind, but he was coming in to check out another buck that was up wind/scent checking. It was a cool hunt. A buck answered my grunt, got aggressive grunting and thrashing brush but kept out of sight over a hump of land. After awhile a young doe came right under my stand fed and kept looking at the commotion. She turned and left the way she came. A few minutes later I thought she was coming back and it was a buck.
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby Hawthorne » Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:04 am

Shot him walking a crosswind in the afternoon. Saw him in the early morning go into his bedding wind to nose. He came out about 11am wind to back and bedded down again 100yds closer to me. He came out the last half hour of daylight walking a crosswind when I shot him. His movement right out of his bed was wind to back then he turned and headed my direction
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby HuntingHamrick » Sat Mar 23, 2024 1:58 pm

First buck was working a leeward bench with wind coming from the top of the ridge. He eventually turned nose into the wind, but I think it had more to do with hearing other deer that he couldn’t see on top. Second buck was bedded with wind over his back when I shot him in his bed.
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Re: Deer vs wind...

Unread postby Bush whacker » Sun Mar 24, 2024 1:21 am

JoeRE wrote:I think it might be pretty complicated to determine a trend. If we are talking deer taken during non-forced movement, the vast majority of set ups will naturally be be in funnels and such with the wind blowing across the way deer move, not lengthwise down the deer trails as that would mean more animals will detect the hunter, and therefore less hunters would chance those wind conditions...i.e. most deer would end up being shot traveling across the wind just because that is the way most people will hunt.

If we are talking forced movement, gun hunting around here is pretty much exclusively deer drives. Due to that, mature deer, both bucks and does, learn to run into the wind (quite a few other factors at play too though) when they are jumped since that way they have a chance of detecting standers before getting shot at. A lot of average joe hunters get frustrated with this. With a little creativity however, this predictability can lead to some really effective forced movement strategies I have found. One of the many reasons I love late season :D

We could definitely add calling into the mix.


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