Terrain effects on wind

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blizzardhunter
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Terrain effects on wind

Unread postby blizzardhunter » Fri Oct 13, 2017 9:24 am

I've been on this sight for about 4 years and must have missed something on thermals. That or I am slow to pick up on things. I watched a 2016 video of Midwest whitetail the other day and heard Aaron talk about an east wind for a spot they were hunting. His reason was with an east wind the thermal pull would take his scent over a finger they were on even though the light east wind went another way. It got me to thinking about using terrain. To hint place a that would let you cheat a bad wind. Almost create a just off wind. I went out last night and hunted a small wood lot. The wind was northwest which sucked down a narrow flat along a creek to bedding. I came in from the south on the ridgetop and slid just barely down a finger till I could shot the flat along the creek. The deer travel from bedding down that flat then feed in some big oaks until it gets dark and they move out to the crop fields. By staying up on that finger and having a small cut beside me the wind was sucking up the cut taking my wind behind me to the south. I dropped milkweed all night and the wind did just as planned. I only had a lone doe come by but I was still pretty pumped my plan worked. Has anybody else done this. I'm starting to reevaluate how I hunt some of my spots.
Image
Image

This is a couple pics of my setup. The green is my entry, brown is bedding, blue is wind, and red is my stand. On the topo you can tell the points and cuts are fairly small but big enough to pull the wind.


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<DK>
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Re: Terrain effects on wind

Unread postby <DK> » Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:44 am

Good post. What iv noticed in farm land or field areas, the transition to hardwoods is generally pretty thick along those edges. These can create transitional walls for wind which can deflect the direction, as your pic shows. With little amount of wooded areas they can create some crazy effects. Yours is very interesting and looks great!
One spot I have w this scenario allows me to setup UP WIND of a bedding area bc it rises up, over the transition and out into open air. Another tip I learned from Mainebowhunter is drastic temperature changes can result in a upward rise as well, especially flatter terrains. I think one good example of wind transition walls is a power/pipe line bc they can redirect/funnel wind w authority! Iv used them to cheat a few times.
blizzardhunter
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Re: Terrain effects on wind

Unread postby blizzardhunter » Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:56 am

I've always known how wind reacts to certain features but I can't believe I've just now thought about using that to my advantage. There is one spot in particular that is a killer public rut spot but any wind you get messes you up. Thinking about this i can come in from the south on a north wind and drop down the ridge to thick flat bucks cruise through. As long as I stay in or next to the cut my wind should blow right back up the ridge.
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<DK>
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Re: Terrain effects on wind

Unread postby <DK> » Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:58 am

Here is that setup I use.
Image
BLUE - WIND
WHITE - THERMAL DROP
ORANGE - BUCK BED/TRAVEL
RED - STAND
GREEN - HARD TRANSITION
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Boogieman1
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Re: Terrain effects on wind

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:08 am

Things will change a lot after leaf drop to make things easier. But there's all kinds of ways to cheat the wind, from hunting high, bank shots or slicing the pie it takes a little trial and error and still gets u busted sometimes but it gives u a shot when just flat playing the wind by direction would not.
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Southern Man
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Re: Terrain effects on wind

Unread postby Southern Man » Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:32 am

There are spots in LBL where a west wind will become a north wind, a south will become an east, etc. Terrain is the key and how the wind reacts to it. The terrain at LBL is quite a bit different than the spot you hunted but the principals are the same. The spots like this I've seen at LBL you can count on the wind doing this very thing.
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tbunao
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Re: Terrain effects on wind

Unread postby tbunao » Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:49 am

I've found in hill country that winds under 10 mph and those light wind days the thermals seem to overpower and works best for me. Steeper the cuts the stronger the pull from what I've observed and vice versa. Extremely steep stuff the thermals almost blow you out of the stand (exaggeration but you get it).
blizzardhunter
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Re: Terrain effects on wind

Unread postby blizzardhunter » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:53 pm

tbunao wrote:I've found in hill country that winds under 10 mph and those light wind days the thermals seem to overpower and works best for me. Steeper the cuts the stronger the pull from what I've observed and vice versa. Extremely steep stuff the thermals almost blow you out of the stand (exaggeration but you get it).

I agree and from my experience once the wind hits over 10 mph you start getting more swirling. Especially if it's not a sustained wind.


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