Hunting light winds in hill country

[fishlips]

I am a novice hill hunter and will be hitting the hills this weekend. It's looking like we'll have pretty light winds here in southern WI this weekend. How do you guys that hunt hills a lot adjust? From my experience light means light and variable. Does this mean that thermals are going to have a greater affect on how you plan to set up?

[Stanley]

Great question for sure. The hills in my opinion are the easiest to get on bucks, but the hardest to set up and kill on. The wind effects being the reason.

[cedarsavage]

Hills are something I'm struggling with. Thermals don't always seem to take over here; is this normal when there is a canopy from evergreens?

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[<DK>]

The winds get shifty in low mph conditions there is no question about that. How i imagine it the thermals working best is around 10mph and sunny, the thermals and wind working in sync and thermal tunnel is where it you expect it. When the mph drops to low mph the thermals are working hard when that wind dies. Obviously higher winds, overcast and the forest canopy can affect them as well. I really don't know what the thermals are doing till I sit it and check it. I usually base it off the deer trails on the upper part of the ridges, then get above that.
What I have found works best for me is taking into account what the wind shifts can be for that sit. So if its a N wind morning and a E wind evening - Im picking set spots to expect both to happen regardless what the news or hunting app says. The extra thing I like to do is check what the wind will be through out the night or for the next morning bc I have gotten 1-2 random gusts from those directions while sitting and it busted my hunt.
Creek / valley bottoms, power lines, clear cuts and transitions changes the game. There have been a few times this season where I set up in a creek bottom had a N wind I the AM but the milkweed was going south w like a vacuum effect. Once mid morning came it started going N as well, but still went south the other times. My last adventure I setup below a buck bed, where a creek meets a power line. I sweated that morning and figured my scent would blow w the power line. I had a N wind to start, but that power line and creek intersection was a vacuum and was E went right to him while he was coming in.

[Matty]

Excellent post Darkknight54!

I never thought there was any rhyme or reason to those odd gusts that come out of nowhere, but now I'll start considering future wind directions to see if I can anticipate those oddball gusts.

One thing I've always seen, even in flatter areas (nothing is really flat around me).....I always seem to get 180 degree switches every once in a while. Like the wind is blowing the way it's supposed to for a while, and then suddenly you get a quick gust back the other way. I could understand if it was eddying off a hillside, but when you're near the top it makes no sense to me. Because of that I always try to take that possibility into consideration. So I almost never use a wind blowing directly away from where I expect deer. I usually use more of angled crosswinds.

Wind has always fascinated me and its something I'm sure I'll be learning about until the day I can't hunt anymore.
Heck, just the other day I was blowing bubbles with my 2 year old nephew in the back yard and we were both having fun. Him, because he likes to try and catch bubbles....me because I was watching how different surfaces and objects affected where the wind carries them.

[cbay]

I always seem to get 180 degree switches every once in a while. Like the wind is blowing the way it's supposed to for a while, and then suddenly you get a quick gust back the other way. I could understand if it was eddying off a hillside, but when you're near the top it makes no sense to me.

Happened this evening for me. With teen to 20 mph winds, near top. Had me scratching my head for sure.
Checked every forecast when i got back and all showed a s-sw wind. Saw more e/se than anything.
Dad went below the house and said he had the same thing - e-se.

Went in to this hunt feeling confident, a solid bed and planned on pushing it close. As soon as i broke the crest of the ridge the east gusts had me. Went ahead and moved in thinking it may just be canopy here and there and be ok as i get closer.... no go.
I have to believe my approach was solid IF the wind were consistent as forecasted.

Be interested in hearing some of the seasoned hill country beasts discuss how they deal with some of these variables....

[October's Assassin]

Around my parts ( eastern middle Tn ) these mountains have the wind doing all kinds of crazy stuff. And it does it all the time, I literally can't recall the last time I had a solid wind from any direction. The terrain, foliage, trees, etc all can mess with the wind.

Not to mention transition lines, like hardwoods turning into cedar thicket, pines, mountain laurel, and the list goes on. And then like mentioned above the vacuum effect, where the wind will come from the N then basically stop and then come dead from the S pulling back.

So basically with all that said here is what I have been doing. I will check the forecasted wind for the day I'm gonna hunt. I'll go in setup and start tossing milk weed like crazy. Check the wind constantly. And see what it's doing compared to the forecasted wind and write that in your notes. (If your area is like mine the wind is gonna swirl mostly but you will have some consistency kinda). Because odds are next time you get that same forecasted wind it will do the same thing in that spot again. Example: forecasted wind for the day is S, you go to your spot and have a fairly consistent W or westerly wind. You can almost bet the next forecasted S wind it's gonna be W in that spot. Does that make sense? Sorry to be so long winded but man the wind in the hills and mountains is a giant learning curve.

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[justdirtyfun]

I agree with last post. Compare on stand wind with forecast wind.

My hills run n-s and have shown me the different effects of wind. On NW winds I hunted two different hillsides and both pulled milkweed northward.

Going forward I am aware that NW will NOT be the best wind to hunt. Or try to go in very late when thermals are falling and moving same direction as forecast winds.

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[fishlips]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Didn't have time to respond on saturday but the spot i sat had essentially no wind until 9 am. Was dropping milkweed a lot. Basically 2/3s of the area i was looking over had my scent blown at it at some point. Once the breeze picked up it was pretty consistent and my scent was blowing where i wanted it to.

After sitting that spot i think it was a mistake. I should have sat back in a less impactful spot and waited for better conditions. The small amount of breeze and thermal activity was just too inconsistent.

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