leeward side bucks questions

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mheichelbech
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leeward side bucks questions

Unread postby mheichelbech » Sun Jan 01, 2017 9:13 am

What percentage of bucks do you see on the leeward side of a hill versus the windward side?

How much of a wind does it take to push them to the leeward side? 2 mph? 10?

Do you see any difference with respect to thermals? For example, the side pointing to the sun would heat up first and have rising thermals first...would they migrate to the sunward side in the mornings until the wind gets up?


"One of the chief attractions of the life of the wilderness is its rugged and stalwart democracy; there every man stands for what he actually is and can show himself to be." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1893
n.sampey
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Re: leeward side bucks questions

Unread postby n.sampey » Sun Jan 01, 2017 7:21 pm

Every buck I see is on the leeward side, i can think of a few on the windward but it was for a reason such as a hot doe, or swirling wind.... and as far as thermals go its not really as big a factor here in Louisiana, I only really see it if it is dead calm, which it rarely is but i still setup for it.
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flinginairos
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Re: leeward side bucks questions

Unread postby flinginairos » Mon Jan 02, 2017 4:14 am

The main area I hunt has two ridges that run NE to SW and they basically lay like this // on the map. The bottom ridge is pretty much where all the action and bedding is because we normally have a S-SW wind. We have killed bucks on the windward side of the top ridge but I would say our kills are 10-1. The leeward side of the bottom ridge has produced most of the bucks on my wall. I never even thought about it before joining the beast but now it all makes perfect sense why they prefer that side. There is also less hunting/human pressure on that side as well which helps!
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Re: leeward side bucks questions

Unread postby Rich M » Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:57 am

A farm I hunted in CT... dominant buck and 18-20 does would pile up at the top of an L-shaped ridge system and wait for the thermals to rise before proceeding - does went first, buck trailed behind. I watched him do it a couple times before moving in on him and blowing it with some noise from my stand. He took the larger ridge down into a swamp for bedding - crossing into the wind. The other ridge was his escape route - he ran down it at the 1/3 level.
mheichelbech
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Re: leeward side bucks questions

Unread postby mheichelbech » Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:21 am

Was helping my brother get a stand out where he hunts and we did some poking around. Prevalent wind is south/southwest/west. We walked across both sides of a valley just to see and sure enough, the vast majority of rubs, scrapes and beds were on the lee side.
"One of the chief attractions of the life of the wilderness is its rugged and stalwart democracy; there every man stands for what he actually is and can show himself to be." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1893
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Re: leeward side bucks questions

Unread postby jbone23 » Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:08 pm

Did a hunt in VA this year on two parallel ridges in farmland hill country. One ridge all hardwood and the other ridge half hardwoods and half pasture. The pasture side of the other ridge being the leeward side for the duration of my hunt. Bucks definetly used the leeward side of the wooded ridge. Heavier winds 10 to 15mph plus they were traveling the mid to lower portion of the leeward side of the wooded ridge. When winds were under 10mph to light and variable there was very random movement all over. But they seemed to prefer the top of the wooded ridge in light wind conditions.


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