downwind side of the woods

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rochester coops
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downwind side of the woods

Unread postby rochester coops » Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:48 pm

Has anyone noticed that sometimes, maybe only on days with a strong wind?, the wind comes over the trees and when it hits the back side of the woods it can crest or roll and blow back in? How can you predict this? Yesterday I set up on the downwind side of a woods that was probably 100-150 yds wide, and saw this happen. Does it occur more when the leaves are still on the trees? Does anyone avoid setting up on the downwind side when the wind is directly perpendicular to the woods? Does the effect typically cancel out if you are further in than just on the edge?


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Stanley
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Re: downwind side of the woods

Unread postby Stanley » Mon Oct 06, 2014 2:55 pm

If there is a hill, ditch, berm, in the woods yes this can happen and have seen it. On just flat woods have not seen this on windy days.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: downwind side of the woods

Unread postby dan » Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:09 pm

I see that all the time... Its just like the eddy system on hills. I try to get higher and let the wind blow my scent over the turbulence. Using milkweed over time will teach you how to predict this. In a lot of cases strong winds cause back winds and swirls. You have the same thing in openings in the woods. I have learned to sit in the woods to the side where I can shoot into the opening.

That back draft might be part of the reason bucks prefer to bed on the down wind edge of woodlots in farm country.
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Re: downwind side of the woods

Unread postby whitetail_addict » Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:43 pm

I think Dan pretty much covered what you wanted to know, but I will add one thing. I had a similar question on here along with an aerial I posted earlier this year and Dan's advice was to sit the spot on an off-wind, meaning sit there on a NW or NE and off to the side of where I would expect the deer to come through instead of a straight north wind. While I didn't see any deer in that spot the first time in this year the wind seemed to cooperate for me by using that advice.

I actually just hunted from the ground tonight on the down wind side of a flat farm country woodlot and had several deer come out into the strip of beans between the woods and myself. It was pretty breezy all evening and I could feel the wind coming from my left, right, and behind quite a bit. When the deer would step into the field it was obvious they could smell my presence even though they were 50+ yards upwind on most occasions. So yes, it does swirl. I've been using the milkweed seeds a lot this year and learning the winds as I go. It's been a lot of trial and error but the great thing about those seeds is they give you a good visual of exactly what's going on. I'm learning as I go and hopefully eventually I reach the point where I can better predict these little nuances in the wind before going in and learning the hard way every time.

Good luck!


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