Ridgerunner7 wrote:Whitetailaddict wrote:I'm new to the Beast but love reading all the posts and have learned a lot from watching Dan's videos but after doing some more research I wanted to throw out a few questions to see what folks on here believe.
1. While on stand will your scent tend to travel further if you are sitting on the ground or higher up in a tree (say 20-30 feet)? I realize this will depend on wind speed and terrain but I was curious if higher elevations will allow your scent to be carried further downwind before reaching the ground and therefore have a larger range of scent dispersion or if it will be similar.
2. I recently read a book by William Vale who hunts in Michigan. He believes big bucks will always attempt to use their nose (even at night) in deciding where they will bed. So for example with a steady west wind he believes bucks will end up bedding on the west side of a food source which I feel contradicts what Dan says in his Hill Country video where deer will bed on points on the downwind side of the field or in this case on the east/southeast side. Both Dan and William have been successful in taking nice bucks so what are your experiences in these situations. Does this depend on terrain (hill country vs farmland) or amount of pressure or is it safe to say it varies by geographic location or worse yet is unpredictable at best?
3. Finally I often hear hunters wanting the wind in "their" favor and not the bucks which makes sense but I've heard many successful hunters say that a buck will usually move with the wind either in their face or slightly quartering into their face so would you agree that if you know where a buck is bedded you want the wind blowing slightly at him in order for him to predictably move in your direction? If this is correct how do those who've been successful on here go about putting the wind in your favor and avoid being smelled all while giving the buck the illusion that he has the wind in his favor? Mr. Vale often believes that a wind blowing mainly at the deer with a high tree stand placement (30 ft or higher) helps avoid being scented but I don't know if I believe a higher stand will avoid being detected plus the poorer shot angles it provides.
I know this is a lot of info/questions and it's probably enough for multiple threads but I know some of you on here will have answers to these so your help is appreciated in advance.
1. Yes, being higher in the tree will have your scent travel further down wind then if you were set up a shorter height in that same tree. I think hunting the wind is much trickier the lower you are in elevation whether you're hunting Hillcountry or flat farmland, but sometimes being low can still be the best option or the only option. I have a set up in which I'm 27 feet up blowing right at the trail I'm hunting, but just on the opposite side of the trail is a pond that the deer cannot cross. My sent simply blows right over the top of them into the pond.
2. I also read Bill Vale's book and can't quite remember all the details, but I can tell you the pre dawn wind can definitely impact where the deer are going to bed for the day. I almost always check what the predawn wind was when determining where and what beds I'm going to hunt I given day. Often if the predawn wind was a certain direction and then there's [glow=red]a wind switch by the evening of that day it often gives you a big advantage.[/glow]Sometimes though if the cover and terrain allow it the buck will switch bedding.
What Bill may have been talking about was bedding in farmland where the buck beds on the field edge just like Dan explained. This is pretty common in my hunting area and Bill's hunting area. If I see a buck walking, cut a fresh track, or get a picture of him moving into the wind towards a wood lot or bedding area In the morning through a food source that tells me that he will be bedding on the edge watching the food source most likely. This behavior in farm country is one of the biggest reasons why guys struggle to kill mature deer in my opinion out side of the rut, because the buck is simply watching the down wind food source just inside the cover and seeing the hunters access through the fields. In open farm country the buck uses his vision a lot. I made this mistake for years and years.
(Sorry, that's a little off topic.)
3. I hunt the just off wind quite a bit and the majority of my (non rut ) kills have been with it. My area is ultra pressured... And I've just had more consistent bow range encounters with giving that buck the false sense if security in the just off wind. I just seem to see more movement from them in the high pressure setting giving him that advantage. I would also say I sometimes get busted more by gambling this way. I still hunt wind to face a lot but it really depends on the set up and scenario. I have one spot in particular where I'm hunting a water hole close to buck bedding. I set up about 40 yards down wind in my face and the deer will nearly always circle down wind ending up at 20 yards or less. So it's really setup specific.
Please note... I'm speaking of non rut hunting here.. Not rut hunts.
Just my opinion on all of this .
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