buck movement and wind

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magicman54494
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buck movement and wind

Unread postby magicman54494 » Thu Dec 13, 2012 10:00 am

Before I headed out hunting there was a thread about how bucks use the wind in their movements. I said I would try to pay closer attention this season while tracking.
I have seen bucks travel in every direction on any given wind. In other words I really didn't see a pattern between wind direction and what way a buck will travel. I believe that they go where they want to go despite wind direction. These observations are from bucks during the rut. They may do things differently at different times of the year.
pressured deer:
I kicked up a big buck in Wi. who ran with the wind (the lay of the land and my approach really didn't give him much other choice). he traveled about 300 yds. before bedding next to a blowdown. I believe he could smell me coming and was gone before I got there. He then opted to circle and head back the way he came from so now he was traveling into the wind. Knowing the area a bit and where hunters had baits and a major road nearby I believe he was using his knowledge of the land to get somewhere safe in the safest route. This seems to be the norm from what I have seen in the past.
my thoughts on how deer do use wind:
I think deer use the wind all the time. They are always testing the wind for danger. I have seen them scent check an area before entering. I believe they will shift over to use the wind when traveling thru an area but would go thru that area regardless of direction. A good example of this is Dan using wind direction to decide what side of a ridge to sit on. Maybe another or better way to say it would be deer use the wind to their advantage whenever they can as they travel to where they want to go.
Thoughts?


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HuntMeister
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Re: buck movement and wind

Unread postby HuntMeister » Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:43 am

Great subject and looking forward to what others think!
At this point in my hunting career, I agree with your final statement and would only add a couple of words to it. Deer use the wind to their advantage whenever and however they can as they travel to where they want to go.

In the early years of my hunting I was a big woods hunter and never paid any attention to wind, I simply sat where I thought I might see something. Most of my hunting the last +10 years has been in farm country and during this period of time I have tried to put more effort into learning the hows and whys, to pay more attention to why deer do what they do.
In my situation, food in the form of grain from AG fields is readily available to them in just about any compass heading they choose and normally less than a 1/2 mile in any direction. The vast majority of time I will see deer traveling either with the wind or some sort of cross-wind. I rarely see deer traveling into the wind. These observation are based on what I would say were deer going about their normal routines. If it was apparent that the deer was pushed by humans or coyotes and such then direction of movement could be any direction.

Another interesting thing I was fortunate to experience this summer was to be involved in depredation hunts on a very large farm. I purposely spent as much time in one bean field just so I could try to maybe see some patterns from un-pressured deer. This particular field was typically 200-400 yards wide and ran length wise from SE to NW for about 1-1/4 miles. Adjacent to this field and on the south side of this field is a nature preserve around 600 acres in area. I had a spot about 3/4 of the way to the West end of this field that I sat because it had the highest elevation affording me a view of over 600 yards to the west and 300-400 yards to the East. The prevailing wind for this place is West. As long as the wind was out of the prevailing direction, SSW to NNW and anything in between I could always count on seeing deer. Whenever the wind prevailed from the East my sightings went way down. At first I wrote the poor East wind sightings to the fact that I was accessing my spot from the East and therefore the Deer were winding me but after comparing notes with two others who were involved in the hunts it became apparent that it wasn't because they were simply winding us as the other hunters had spots that they were able to "hunt the wind" and stay downwind of deer but their sightings were just as poor as mine.
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magicman54494
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Re: buck movement and wind

Unread postby magicman54494 » Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:12 pm

HuntMeister wrote:Great subject and looking forward to what others think!
At this point in my hunting career, I agree with your final statement and would only add a couple of words to it. Deer use the wind to their advantage whenever and however they can as they travel to where they want to go.

In the early years of my hunting I was a big woods hunter and never paid any attention to wind, I simply sat where I thought I might see something. Most of my hunting the last +10 years has been in farm country and during this period of time I have tried to put more effort into learning the hows and whys, to pay more attention to why deer do what they do.
In my situation, food in the form of grain from AG fields is readily available to them in just about any compass heading they choose and normally less than a 1/2 mile in any direction. The vast majority of time I will see deer traveling either with the wind or some sort of cross-wind. I rarely see deer traveling into the wind. These observation are based on what I would say were deer going about their normal routines. If it was apparent that the deer was pushed by humans or coyotes and such then direction of movement could be any direction.
if deer could go in any direction to get to crops did you ever notice specific deer choosing the fields that allowed them to travel with the wind? If given an equal choice will a deer select the choice that also affords them the wind they prefer?

Another interesting thing I was fortunate to experience this summer was to be involved in depredation hunts on a very large farm. I purposely spent as much time in one bean field just so I could try to maybe see some patterns from un-pressured deer. This particular field was typically 200-400 yards wide and ran length wise from SE to NW for about 1-1/4 miles. Adjacent to this field and on the south side of this field is a nature preserve around 600 acres in area. I had a spot about 3/4 of the way to the West end of this field that I sat because it had the highest elevation affording me a view of over 600 yards to the west and 300-400 yards to the East. The prevailing wind for this place is West. As long as the wind was out of the prevailing direction, SSW to NNW and anything in between I could always count on seeing deer. Whenever the wind prevailed from the East my sightings went way down. At first I wrote the poor East wind sightings to the fact that I was accessing my spot from the East and therefore the Deer were winding me but after comparing notes with two others who were involved in the hunts it became apparent that it wasn't because they were simply winding us as the other hunters had spots that they were able to "hunt the wind" and stay downwind of deer but their sightings were just as poor as mine.

I'm trying to picture your setup. Are you saying that on days when the deer could not travel with the wind they were less likely to come to the field?
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HuntMeister
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Re: buck movement and wind

Unread postby HuntMeister » Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:24 pm

magicman54494 wrote:
HuntMeister wrote:Great subject and looking forward to what others think!
At this point in my hunting career, I agree with your final statement and would only add a couple of words to it. Deer use the wind to their advantage whenever and however they can as they travel to where they want to go.

In the early years of my hunting I was a big woods hunter and never paid any attention to wind, I simply sat where I thought I might see something. Most of my hunting the last +10 years has been in farm country and during this period of time I have tried to put more effort into learning the hows and whys, to pay more attention to why deer do what they do.
In my situation, food in the form of grain from AG fields is readily available to them in just about any compass heading they choose and normally less than a 1/2 mile in any direction. The vast majority of time I will see deer traveling either with the wind or some sort of cross-wind. I rarely see deer traveling into the wind. These observation are based on what I would say were deer going about their normal routines. If it was apparent that the deer was pushed by humans or coyotes and such then direction of movement could be any direction.
if deer could go in any direction to get to crops did you ever notice specific deer choosing the fields that allowed them to travel with the wind? If given an equal choice will a deer select the choice that also affords them the wind they prefer?

Another interesting thing I was fortunate to experience this summer was to be involved in depredation hunts on a very large farm. I purposely spent as much time in one bean field just so I could try to maybe see some patterns from un-pressured deer. This particular field was typically 200-400 yards wide and ran length wise from SE to NW for about 1-1/4 miles. Adjacent to this field and on the south side of this field is a nature preserve around 600 acres in area. I had a spot about 3/4 of the way to the West end of this field that I sat because it had the highest elevation affording me a view of over 600 yards to the west and 300-400 yards to the East. The prevailing wind for this place is West. As long as the wind was out of the prevailing direction, SSW to NNW and anything in between I could always count on seeing deer. Whenever the wind prevailed from the East my sightings went way down. At first I wrote the poor East wind sightings to the fact that I was accessing my spot from the East and therefore the Deer were winding me but after comparing notes with two others who were involved in the hunts it became apparent that it wasn't because they were simply winding us as the other hunters had spots that they were able to "hunt the wind" and stay downwind of deer but their sightings were just as poor as mine.

I'm trying to picture your setup. Are you saying that on days when the deer could not travel with the wind they were less likely to come to the field?


No. During West winds the deer would show up from all different directions not just from the West but during a East wind they apparently avoided the field. Maybe they didn't show up until well after dark? I thought it interesting that I got to the point that I could call the deer activity by the wind direction that day. (I just realized you asked 2 questions, this answer is to the second)

Regarding your 1st question - Not sure about specific deer but it always seemed to me that they traveled in the evenings with purpose to food with the wind or a crosswind. Mornings seem to be more casual type travel, maybe bedding awhile and then up and moving some until mid morning. These observations are primarily of Doe groups and young bucks, not the mature big boys.


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