Scent Control/Playing the Wind

[Whitetailaddict]

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.

[JJWI]

Do a search on Scent control and Playing the wind on this forum. Been discussed many times and has a lot of good points in all the discussions.

[Southern Man]

Do a search on Scent control

Yea it's been talked a little bit.

[Jackson Marsh]

I'll save you 10 pages of bickering, about half or more of the guys on here do nothing other than playing the wind and being careful with entrance and exit routes from the stand. They kill bucks.

About half or so of mostly silent scent control guys do take scent precautions and they too kill bucks. They believe they can get an extra hunt or two out of a stand if they are clean. They still play the wind, they do not hunt sloppy.

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[BigHunt]

I'll save you 10 pages of bickering, about half or more of the guys on here do nothing other than playing the wind and being careful with entrance and exit routes from the stand. They kill bucks.

About half or so of mostly silent scent control guys do take scent precautions and they too kill bucks. They believe they can get an extra hunt or two out of a stand if they are clean. They still play the wind, they do not hunt sloppy.

[ Post made via Android ]

x2 well said Neil

[BassBoysLLP]

I'll save you 10 pages of bickering, about half or more of the guys on here do nothing other than playing the wind and being careful with entrance and exit routes from the stand. They kill bucks.

About half or so of mostly silent scent control guys do take scent precautions and they too kill bucks. They believe they can get an extra hunt or two out of a stand if they are clean. They still play the wind, they do not hunt sloppy.

[ Post made via Android ]

That sums it up. Thanks for stopping the war and saving thousands of lives.

[mheichelbech]

I didn't really take his questions as being as much about scent control but more about strategy for the wind and is in the videos and how that compares to the strategies espoused by Bill Vale. Based on what I have seen, an almost wrong wind is the best wind because how would we ever see bucks if they only went with the wind in their face and and we only hunted downwind...

[dirt nap giver]

I'll save you 10 pages of bickering, about half or more of the guys on here do nothing other than playing the wind and being careful with entrance and exit routes from the stand. They kill bucks.

About half or so of mostly silent scent control guys do take scent precautions and they too kill bucks. They believe they can get an extra hunt or two out of a stand if they are clean. They still play the wind, they do not hunt sloppy.

[ Post made via Android ]

That sums it up. Thanks for stopping the war and saving thousands of lives.

Amen! I read this earlier and thought to myself, "oh this pour soul has no clue what he has just stepped into."

Way to save him gracefully guys!

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Whitetailaddict]

As mheichelbech said the question has nothing to do with scentlok or scentblocker or any other scent products. I dont believe you can eliminate all your scent regardless of how cautious you are because you are no match to a deer's nose. Go back and read the questions again. They are essentially about how to use wind to trick the buck into thinking he's safe and people's experiences on how wind will factor into where a buck will end up after feeding at night. Again please read the questions as they're more about strategies and personal experiences

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[gjs4]

Based on what I have seen, an almost wrong wind is the best wind because how would we ever see bucks if they only went with the wind in their face and and we only hunted downwind...

+1

As for the scent distance and how it exposes you- search "wind mapping" or "milk weed" on here

There is no right way and no wrong way. Deer are different based on their areas/exposures so everything should come with a grain of salt.

[PK_]

These are a few good reads on related topics:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24459&hilit=wind+based

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17139&hilit=wind+based

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18359&hilit=wind+based

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12118&hilit=wind+based

Your questions are good loaded questions but unfortunately answers to them are very ambiguous. What I can tell you is that there is an eclectic group of extraordinary hunters on this site and as for the more experienced guys with walls full of big bucks, I think it's hard to find 2 or 3 who hunt very similarly. They all basically follow the same principles but the way they go about getting the job done can be the difference of night and day.

You can kill bucks from 0-30' high and catch them moving head wind, tail wind, cross wind and everything between. Provided you find the right setup in the right area and hunt it under the right conditions. But on the other hand you may have to hunt a specific buck or a specific spot only at a specific time and under specific circumstances for it to work.

Vale preaches Nose to wind and it works for him. Read Jim Roy's book, he has killed a slough of big bucks as well and he hunts bucks moving wind to back.

[dan]

I see nothing wrong with the questions as presented...

I strongly disagree with Vales comments on bedding based on wind... In hill country as you stated the mature bucks tend to bed at the ends of points and on the Leeward side of the hills, in farm country flat ground I still see the opposite of his view... Most of the bucks bed in bedding areas that have no wind / scent baring on the food source and more wind/scent baring on safety for that exact spot... The ones that do bed in relation to a field edge tend to bed on the up wind side of the field. They bed on the edge of the field wind to back so they can smell the woods behind them, and see the field in front of them. Seen that scenario hundreds of times but can't ever recall seeing a buck bedded on the down wind side of a field specifically to wind the food source...

As far as Vales comments about stand height and getting your scent above the deer, I agree, I do think that is a valid statement, I agree with you though, that it does have a greater risk of a bad hit.

As far as question #3, when bucks rise from there bed I don't see them travel in specific directions because of the wind direction. There are some unique situations, but for the most part they bed in a certain spot cause of wind direction, but that seems to have little to do with direction of travel. Sometimes you gotta set up with a just off wind, but sometimes wind to face is ok... One of the exceptions would be deer entering a field with a low spot in the evening where after the thermal switch all the scent from the field flows... Another would be deer entering a food source, editing a show about this right now, contrary to what most preach, I see bucks often circle to the UPWIND side of the food plot, field, or food source, and then feed with wind to back so they can look down wind and cover predators from all angles.

[Whitetailaddict]

Dan and palmetto thanks for the response. Thats more of what I was looking for. Dan, when you say if deer bed on field edges looking towards the field with the wind at their back wouldn't that be in line with what vale would say in that the deer walk into the wind to the field edge and then bed on that side? I don't think I'm likely to see this on public land but I was just curious. I will be hunting some new public ground this year due to moving and I'm trying to get an idea of what side of food sources to target bucks on based on preferred bedding. I also have thought about doing some ground sits with a ghillie and was wondering if guys on here thought scent would be dispersed further in a stand or on the ground or maybe there's no difference. Also, Dan do you believe some deer circle upwind of food plots because they smell any danger in the woods and use their view of the field to protect them from what they can't see?

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[Whitetailaddict]

I meant can't smell not see

[ Post made via Android ]

[Ridgerunner7]

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 a wind switch by the evening of that day it often gives you a big advantage. 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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