Hunting the Falling Thermal

[Divergent]

Thermals...Do you really understand the importance? Over the past few years of ground hunting I’ve been trying to perfect my sets. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and boy have I made my fair share of mistakes. I’m starting this post because I feel like we need to expand on the thermal portion of the tactical thread. So, I’m hoping that this will be more of a conversation starter than anything. I will add some of my experiences as well.

I’m always reading about how to play the wind...hunting an off wind, wind in your face, wind just right for the buck etc. There are times when the wind plays an important role, but I strongly believe that a falling thermal is the single most important piece to a great setup.

How many times has a deer blown at you in late morning or early evening? I can only think of a couple of instances that I’ve been busted after the thermals were rising. I’ve seen them walk right by, never knowing I was in the area unless they crossed the path to my stand or natural blind.

Now, how many times has a doe or buck blown at you just at dark or at first light? I can name a million where I’ve been busted by a falling thermal. The air becomes more dense as the air temps cool and your scent becomes concentrated. This is especially important in the early season when you’ll see a huge swing in daytime highs and lows.

Your scent begins to pool up in certain topographical features once the sun starts to disappear behind the horizon. The greatest amount of deer movement comes around the rising and setting sun. Wind speeds will generally be lower at these times. This is why it’s so important to setup according to a falling thermal. Your setup for a 5-10mph NW wind during the day might be great for the three hours in early afternoon or late morning when the buck is in its bed. However, you might think otherwise when the thermals kick in and start pulling your scent back towards his exit trail at peak movement in evening or as he enters his bed on a j-hook trail in the morning.

The easiest way to understand a falling thermal is to follow the path from your location down to the lowest elevation. Imagine standing at your hunting spot, holding a water hose, and letting the water run for a solid hour. Where would it go? Is it going to cross a deer trail 20 yards away, leading from bed to food? Will it flow down a ditch, take a sharp right once it hits the main creek and flow down to a crossing 200 yards away?

When I setup on the ground I like to position myself below a trail or food source so my scent is pulled away from where I anticipate the deer to approach. I will also consider wind direction and where my scent might blow. This will help me decide which side of a draw I might setup on. I find that a perfect setup would be in a draw where the wind direction and the direction of draw both line up. This will keep the wind and thermals funneling up and down the draw.

There are certain times when I might tweak my sets. During the rut, I see a lot of early morning and then late morning movement. I typically see younger bucks move at daybreak trying to get first dibs on a doe. I would setup according to a falling thermal in these situations to avoid getting busted. Once the does make it back to bed I see more mature bucks start cruising for does. The does usually filter thru by 9-930am where I hunt. The thermals will have shifted by around this time. This is when I’ll move further up hill to catch him cruising. The other time is if it’s early season and I’m hunting a food source where a buck will drop down from his bed. On a calm day, you don’t want several hours of thermals to pull your scent up the hill to his bed. So, if there’s sufficient cover I’ll wait til a falling thermal and quickly setup for only the last hour or so of light to decrease my chances of him catching my scent.

In some cases your thermals might not matter very much at all. Thermals will have little effect with strong fronts with high winds.

I know there are far more knowledgeable hunters on here. So, please feel free to add anything to this thread.

[headgear]

You start to find some of the better bedding areas all have a thermal working in their favor, it is something I focus on when scouting.

[Divergent]

You start to find some of the better bedding areas all have a thermal working in their favor, it is something I focus on when scouting.

How do you find them using the thermals in those situations? And, what kind of topography?

[BA-IV]

Eye Opener for sure!

[whi52873]

Thermals...Do you really understand the importance? Over the past few years of ground hunting I’ve been trying to perfect my sets. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and boy have I made my fair share of mistakes. I’m starting this post because I feel like we need to expand on the thermal portion of the tactical thread. So, I’m hoping that this will be more of a conversation starter than anything. I will add some of my experiences as well.

I’m always reading about how to play the wind...hunting an off wind, wind in your face, wind just right for the buck etc. There are times when the wind plays an important role, but I strongly believe that a falling thermal is the single most important piece to a great setup.

How many times has a deer blown at you in late morning or early evening? I can only think of a couple of instances that I’ve been busted after the thermals were rising. I’ve seen them walk right by, never knowing I was in the area unless they crossed the path to my stand or natural blind.

Now, how many times has a doe or buck blown at you just at dark or at first light? I can name a million where I’ve been busted by a falling thermal. The air becomes more dense as the air temps cool and your scent becomes concentrated. This is especially important in the early season when you’ll see a huge swing in daytime highs and lows.

Your scent begins to pool up in certain topographical features once the sun starts to disappear behind the horizon. The greatest amount of deer movement comes around the rising and setting sun. Wind speeds will generally be lower at these times. This is why it’s so important to setup according to a falling thermal. Your setup for a 5-10mph NW wind during the day might be great for the three hours in early afternoon or late morning when the buck is in its bed. However, you might think otherwise when the thermals kick in and start pulling your scent back towards his exit trail at peak movement in evening or as he enters his bed on a j-hook trail in the morning.

The easiest way to understand a falling thermal is to follow the path from your location down to the lowest elevation. Imagine standing at your hunting spot, holding a water hose, and letting the water run for a solid hour. Where would it go? Is it going to cross a deer trail 20 yards away, leading from bed to food? Will it flow down a ditch, take a sharp right once it hits the main creek and flow down to a crossing 200 yards away?

When I setup on the ground I like to position myself below a trail or food source so my scent is pulled away from where I anticipate the deer to approach. I will also consider wind direction and where my scent might blow. This will help me decide which side of a draw I might setup on. I find that a perfect setup would be in a draw where the wind direction and the direction of draw both line up. This will keep the wind and thermals funneling up and down the draw.

There are certain times when I might tweak my sets. During the rut, I see a lot of early morning and then late morning movement. I typically see younger bucks move at daybreak trying to get first dibs on a doe. I would setup according to a falling thermal in these situations to avoid getting busted. Once the does make it back to bed I see more mature bucks start cruising for does. The does usually filter thru by 9-930am where I hunt. The thermals will have shifted by around this time. This is when I’ll move further up hill to catch him cruising. The other time is if it’s early season and I’m hunting a food source where a buck will drop down from his bed. On a calm day, you don’t want several hours of thermals to pull your scent up the hill to his bed. So, if there’s sufficient cover I’ll wait til a falling thermal and quickly setup for only the last hour or so of light to decrease my chances of him catching my scent.

In some cases your thermals might not matter very much at all. Thermals will have little effect with strong fronts with high winds.

I know there are far more knowledgeable hunters on here. So, please feel free to add anything to this thread.

In theory, this would make hunting a bowl one of your best options for falling thermals with little to no wind, right? I've hunted several bowls and have never seen a deer cross through one. Don't get me wrong, I've been winded hunting bowls but it was always downwind with a 5-10 mph wind and never early morning/late evening when the winds are dead. Any thoughts on this?

[Divergent]

Thermals...Do you really understand the importance? Over the past few years of ground hunting I’ve been trying to perfect my sets. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and boy have I made my fair share of mistakes. I’m starting this post because I feel like we need to expand on the thermal portion of the tactical thread. So, I’m hoping that this will be more of a conversation starter than anything. I will add some of my experiences as well.

I’m always reading about how to play the wind...hunting an off wind, wind in your face, wind just right for the buck etc. There are times when the wind plays an important role, but I strongly believe that a falling thermal is the single most important piece to a great setup.

How many times has a deer blown at you in late morning or early evening? I can only think of a couple of instances that I’ve been busted after the thermals were rising. I’ve seen them walk right by, never knowing I was in the area unless they crossed the path to my stand or natural blind.

Now, how many times has a doe or buck blown at you just at dark or at first light? I can name a million where I’ve been busted by a falling thermal. The air becomes more dense as the air temps cool and your scent becomes concentrated. This is especially important in the early season when you’ll see a huge swing in daytime highs and lows.

Your scent begins to pool up in certain topographical features once the sun starts to disappear behind the horizon. The greatest amount of deer movement comes around the rising and setting sun. Wind speeds will generally be lower at these times. This is why it’s so important to setup according to a falling thermal. Your setup for a 5-10mph NW wind during the day might be great for the three hours in early afternoon or late morning when the buck is in its bed. However, you might think otherwise when the thermals kick in and start pulling your scent back towards his exit trail at peak movement in evening or as he enters his bed on a j-hook trail in the morning.

The easiest way to understand a falling thermal is to follow the path from your location down to the lowest elevation. Imagine standing at your hunting spot, holding a water hose, and letting the water run for a solid hour. Where would it go? Is it going to cross a deer trail 20 yards away, leading from bed to food? Will it flow down a ditch, take a sharp right once it hits the main creek and flow down to a crossing 200 yards away?

When I setup on the ground I like to position myself below a trail or food source so my scent is pulled away from where I anticipate the deer to approach. I will also consider wind direction and where my scent might blow. This will help me decide which side of a draw I might setup on. I find that a perfect setup would be in a draw where the wind direction and the direction of draw both line up. This will keep the wind and thermals funneling up and down the draw.

There are certain times when I might tweak my sets. During the rut, I see a lot of early morning and then late morning movement. I typically see younger bucks move at daybreak trying to get first dibs on a doe. I would setup according to a falling thermal in these situations to avoid getting busted. Once the does make it back to bed I see more mature bucks start cruising for does. The does usually filter thru by 9-930am where I hunt. The thermals will have shifted by around this time. This is when I’ll move further up hill to catch him cruising. The other time is if it’s early season and I’m hunting a food source where a buck will drop down from his bed. On a calm day, you don’t want several hours of thermals to pull your scent up the hill to his bed. So, if there’s sufficient cover I’ll wait til a falling thermal and quickly setup for only the last hour or so of light to decrease my chances of him catching my scent.

In some cases your thermals might not matter very much at all. Thermals will have little effect with strong fronts with high winds.

I know there are far more knowledgeable hunters on here. So, please feel free to add anything to this thread.

In theory, this would make hunting a bowl one of your best options for falling thermals with little to no wind, right? I've hunted several bowls and have never seen a deer cross through one. Don't get me wrong, I've been winded hunting bowls but it was always downwind with a 5-10 mph wind and never early morning/late evening when the winds are dead. Any thoughts on this?

This post isn’t to show how the deer are using thermals, but instead how you should be using the thermals in choosing your setup location.

[whi52873]

Thermals...Do you really understand the importance? Over the past few years of ground hunting I’ve been trying to perfect my sets. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and boy have I made my fair share of mistakes. I’m starting this post because I feel like we need to expand on the thermal portion of the tactical thread. So, I’m hoping that this will be more of a conversation starter than anything. I will add some of my experiences as well.

I’m always reading about how to play the wind...hunting an off wind, wind in your face, wind just right for the buck etc. There are times when the wind plays an important role, but I strongly believe that a falling thermal is the single most important piece to a great setup.

How many times has a deer blown at you in late morning or early evening? I can only think of a couple of instances that I’ve been busted after the thermals were rising. I’ve seen them walk right by, never knowing I was in the area unless they crossed the path to my stand or natural blind.

Now, how many times has a doe or buck blown at you just at dark or at first light? I can name a million where I’ve been busted by a falling thermal. The air becomes more dense as the air temps cool and your scent becomes concentrated. This is especially important in the early season when you’ll see a huge swing in daytime highs and lows.

Your scent begins to pool up in certain topographical features once the sun starts to disappear behind the horizon. The greatest amount of deer movement comes around the rising and setting sun. Wind speeds will generally be lower at these times. This is why it’s so important to setup according to a falling thermal. Your setup for a 5-10mph NW wind during the day might be great for the three hours in early afternoon or late morning when the buck is in its bed. However, you might think otherwise when the thermals kick in and start pulling your scent back towards his exit trail at peak movement in evening or as he enters his bed on a j-hook trail in the morning.

The easiest way to understand a falling thermal is to follow the path from your location down to the lowest elevation. Imagine standing at your hunting spot, holding a water hose, and letting the water run for a solid hour. Where would it go? Is it going to cross a deer trail 20 yards away, leading from bed to food? Will it flow down a ditch, take a sharp right once it hits the main creek and flow down to a crossing 200 yards away?

When I setup on the ground I like to position myself below a trail or food source so my scent is pulled away from where I anticipate the deer to approach. I will also consider wind direction and where my scent might blow. This will help me decide which side of a draw I might setup on. I find that a perfect setup would be in a draw where the wind direction and the direction of draw both line up. This will keep the wind and thermals funneling up and down the draw.

There are certain times when I might tweak my sets. During the rut, I see a lot of early morning and then late morning movement. I typically see younger bucks move at daybreak trying to get first dibs on a doe. I would setup according to a falling thermal in these situations to avoid getting busted. Once the does make it back to bed I see more mature bucks start cruising for does. The does usually filter thru by 9-930am where I hunt. The thermals will have shifted by around this time. This is when I’ll move further up hill to catch him cruising. The other time is if it’s early season and I’m hunting a food source where a buck will drop down from his bed. On a calm day, you don’t want several hours of thermals to pull your scent up the hill to his bed. So, if there’s sufficient cover I’ll wait til a falling thermal and quickly setup for only the last hour or so of light to decrease my chances of him catching my scent.

In some cases your thermals might not matter very much at all. Thermals will have little effect with strong fronts with high winds.

I know there are far more knowledgeable hunters on here. So, please feel free to add anything to this thread.

In theory, this would make hunting a bowl one of your best options for falling thermals with little to no wind, right? I've hunted several bowls and have never seen a deer cross through one. Don't get me wrong, I've been winded hunting bowls but it was always downwind with a 5-10 mph wind and never early morning/late evening when the winds are dead. Any thoughts on this?

This post isn’t to show how the deer are using thermals, but instead how you should be using the thermals in choosing your setup location.

My question relates to how a hunter could use a bowl as his setup location and using the falling thermals to not get winded (Scent falling into the bowl). It wasn't related to how deer were using thermals....sorry for the confusion.

[headgear]

You start to find some of the better bedding areas all have a thermal working in their favor, it is something I focus on when scouting.

How do you find them using the thermals in those situations? And, what kind of topography?

I hunt mostly swamps so take that into consideration. Lets say I have a huge swamp transition that I can scout for a couple of miles and I see a bunch of small points, some islands and too many to count lone trees that could all work for bedding. Now you have to walk the entire transition anyway to cover all of this stuff so I am scouting the whole thing. However if there are 8-10 spots I am really keying in on and a couple of those have a nice ridge or V shaped valley nearby the bedding seems to be closer to those thermal areas because the bucks can stage up after dark and smell what is up on top of the hill or smell both sides of a valley as the thermals fall down into the swamp. Or on flatter land there might be a pond, lake or beaver dam out in the swamp that will have a thermal pull so they might prefer that area over a spot a half mile away that might look better but doens't have as good of thermals.

Edit: Sometimes these thermal terrain features can also cause some swirling winds too so another reason they seem to like them.

[Tennhunter3]

Last big buck I shot at was dropping into the bottom soon as thermal fall and eating acorns on side of the south facing ridge across the bottom 70 yards from bedding .
My setup was on the opposite ridgeside with the oaks slightly further down and just out of the bedding sight my thermal rise kept bucks from winding me early and being off slightly to the side on thermal drop my scent was blowing into the creek 60 yards east of trail bucks used. This setup worked like I hoped but I missed my shot last week. My entry was from the north wind blowing into face.


I think trick is being off to the side or having a ditch pulling your scent into it.

[Divergent]

Thermals...Do you really understand the importance? Over the past few years of ground hunting I’ve been trying to perfect my sets. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and boy have I made my fair share of mistakes. I’m starting this post because I feel like we need to expand on the thermal portion of the tactical thread. So, I’m hoping that this will be more of a conversation starter than anything. I will add some of my experiences as well.

I’m always reading about how to play the wind...hunting an off wind, wind in your face, wind just right for the buck etc. There are times when the wind plays an important role, but I strongly believe that a falling thermal is the single most important piece to a great setup.

How many times has a deer blown at you in late morning or early evening? I can only think of a couple of instances that I’ve been busted after the thermals were rising. I’ve seen them walk right by, never knowing I was in the area unless they crossed the path to my stand or natural blind.

Now, how many times has a doe or buck blown at you just at dark or at first light? I can name a million where I’ve been busted by a falling thermal. The air becomes more dense as the air temps cool and your scent becomes concentrated. This is especially important in the early season when you’ll see a huge swing in daytime highs and lows.

Your scent begins to pool up in certain topographical features once the sun starts to disappear behind the horizon. The greatest amount of deer movement comes around the rising and setting sun. Wind speeds will generally be lower at these times. This is why it’s so important to setup according to a falling thermal. Your setup for a 5-10mph NW wind during the day might be great for the three hours in early afternoon or late morning when the buck is in its bed. However, you might think otherwise when the thermals kick in and start pulling your scent back towards his exit trail at peak movement in evening or as he enters his bed on a j-hook trail in the morning.

The easiest way to understand a falling thermal is to follow the path from your location down to the lowest elevation. Imagine standing at your hunting spot, holding a water hose, and letting the water run for a solid hour. Where would it go? Is it going to cross a deer trail 20 yards away, leading from bed to food? Will it flow down a ditch, take a sharp right once it hits the main creek and flow down to a crossing 200 yards away?

When I setup on the ground I like to position myself below a trail or food source so my scent is pulled away from where I anticipate the deer to approach. I will also consider wind direction and where my scent might blow. This will help me decide which side of a draw I might setup on. I find that a perfect setup would be in a draw where the wind direction and the direction of draw both line up. This will keep the wind and thermals funneling up and down the draw.

There are certain times when I might tweak my sets. During the rut, I see a lot of early morning and then late morning movement. I typically see younger bucks move at daybreak trying to get first dibs on a doe. I would setup according to a falling thermal in these situations to avoid getting busted. Once the does make it back to bed I see more mature bucks start cruising for does. The does usually filter thru by 9-930am where I hunt. The thermals will have shifted by around this time. This is when I’ll move further up hill to catch him cruising. The other time is if it’s early season and I’m hunting a food source where a buck will drop down from his bed. On a calm day, you don’t want several hours of thermals to pull your scent up the hill to his bed. So, if there’s sufficient cover I’ll wait til a falling thermal and quickly setup for only the last hour or so of light to decrease my chances of him catching my scent.

In some cases your thermals might not matter very much at all. Thermals will have little effect with strong fronts with high winds.

I know there are far more knowledgeable hunters on here. So, please feel free to add anything to this thread.

In theory, this would make hunting a bowl one of your best options for falling thermals with little to no wind, right? I've hunted several bowls and have never seen a deer cross through one. Don't get me wrong, I've been winded hunting bowls but it was always downwind with a 5-10 mph wind and never early morning/late evening when the winds are dead. Any thoughts on this?

This post isn’t to show how the deer are using thermals, but instead how you should be using the thermals in choosing your setup location.

My question relates to how a hunter could use a bowl as his setup location and using the falling thermals to not get winded (Scent falling into the bowl). It wasn't related to how deer were using thermals....sorry for the confusion.

Could you post a pic? I can show you what I’d expect and how I would setup.

[Divergent]

You start to find some of the better bedding areas all have a thermal working in their favor, it is something I focus on when scouting.

How do you find them using the thermals in those situations? And, what kind of topography?

I hunt mostly swamps so take that into consideration. Lets say I have a huge swamp transition that I can scout for a couple of miles and I see a bunch of small points, some islands and too many to count lone trees that could all work for bedding. Now you have to walk the entire transition anyway to cover all of this stuff so I am scouting the whole thing. However if there are 8-10 spots I am really keying in on and a couple of those have a nice ridge or V shaped valley nearby the bedding seems to be closer to those thermal areas because the bucks can stage up after dark and smell what is up on top of the hill or smell both sides of a valley as the thermals fall down into the swamp. Or on flatter land there might be a pond, lake or beaver dam out in the swamp that will have a thermal pull so they might prefer that area over a spot a half mile away that might look better but doens't have as good of thermals.

Edit: Sometimes these thermal terrain features can also cause some swirling winds too so another reason they seem to like them.

That makes perfect sense and I actually see the same thing when it comes to fields on top of ridges. The deer gravitate to low spots in fields because of the falling thermal advantage in the evening.

[Divergent]

Last big buck I shot at was dropping into the bottom soon as thermal fall and eating acorns on side of the south facing ridge across the bottom 70 yards from bedding .
My setup was on the opposite ridgeside with the oaks slightly further down and just out of the bedding sight my thermal rise kept bucks from winding me early and being off slightly to the side on thermal drop my scent was blowing into the creek 60 yards east of trail bucks used. This setup worked like I hoped but I missed my shot last week. My entry was from the north wind blowing into face.


I think trick is being off to the side or having a ditch pulling your scent into it.

Excellent post. I’ll try to draw up a scenario like this and post pics. I think it’d be great for someone to see. This offered you both a rising and falling advantage. I often find that just ten yards from one side of a secondary ridge to the other can make or break you. Your scent is essentially making a 180* switch in direction by switching from one side to another.

[Tufrthnails]

It finally made sense to me on a Coyote hunt in Jan in KY. Temp was 9f that morning. Me and the cousin knew where a family pack was holed up. Snuck in down wind of them. wind in our face coming out of the north, but only 3-4mph and not steady. First yote came out to the call about 300 yards NNW. It came into around 150 yard hugging a transition line of a drainage with trees along it only maybe 20ft wide. Just as he got to the NW of us he froze. Yipped and hauled but back in to the woods. We were baffled as he never looked at us he was looking at the call in the brush across from us the whole time.

So the AH HA moment was....Tony fired up a cig, since we were busted. the smoke ran down to the ground and directly down the drainage. It was amazing to watch if smoke fall and crawl on the ground.

[Tufrthnails]

Another absolute money spot for us is a farm that has a ridge running through it and drains to the neighbors farm. I have to sneak part way in and sit and wait until the thermals start falling. I can then sneak into the drainage on almost any wind except dead east and the falling thermals pull directly to the neighbors property. Mornings absolutely suck for this farm as the thermals pull up and into the best bedding on the property.

[justdirtyfun]

I'm just talking out loud with this conversation.
On a point bed , a deer gets scent from below with rising thermals all day. At this point he assumes the coast is clear. During his rise and stage when the sun sets he often will walk downhill. Wind to back and watching in front. Which I consider normal behavior since feeding in open is also done wind to back and watching in front.

This same deer will blow like crazy if he spots you since you weren't supposed to be there. He had scented that area with thermals all day. Right?

This is the opportunity that is often talked about for falling thermals. Understanding gives us a chance to exploit the false sense of security.