deer travel question?
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deer travel question?
Last Friday mid afternoon I killed a nice state land 7pt. My 2nd biggest buck and first semi beast style buck. He came from a big marsh to the west of me. The wind was directly out of the west that day about 10-15 mph. He was walking south west towards me when I shot him. My question is, was he walking with the wind at his back scent checking? and scanning out in front of him? it was fairly open timber.
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Re: deer travel question?
It's a possibility, he could have also been walking perpendicular to the doe trails scent checking them as he crossed their trails. I shot my buck this year doing exactly that.
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Re: deer travel question?
I had to reread and rethink that. He was walking south east toward me, not south west.
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Re: deer travel question?
Killed a lot of bucks with the wind at their backs. It is hard for a hunter to set up otherwise.
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: deer travel question?
It has never made sense to me that conventional wisdom says deer prefer to travel with their nose into the wind. By doing this, they leave their backside completely exposed.
A deer traveling with the wind at their backs can smell behind them, see in front of them, and hear anything making noise to either side.
I will agree that deer will move downwind almost 100% of the time when spooked. They like to put some distance between themselves and a possible threat before confirming what it is with their nose from a distance. The only exception would be if there was impenetrable cover/terrain nearby and downwind offered no protection.
If deer always moved into the wind you'd never be able to set up on them leaving a bed.
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A deer traveling with the wind at their backs can smell behind them, see in front of them, and hear anything making noise to either side.
I will agree that deer will move downwind almost 100% of the time when spooked. They like to put some distance between themselves and a possible threat before confirming what it is with their nose from a distance. The only exception would be if there was impenetrable cover/terrain nearby and downwind offered no protection.
If deer always moved into the wind you'd never be able to set up on them leaving a bed.
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Re: deer travel question?
Thanks for all the good answers guys. I just started hunting beast style and paying attention to the wind. I used to be a bait hunter. I have a lot learn. Good luck to all the beasts out there.
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