eric1986 wrote:Divergent wrote: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.
This is a great post, and one I think most people dont consider as they should. I myself fall victim to this more often than I want to admit, especially looking for hot sign in new areas on 1st time sits. Thanks for starting this and getting so much intel to come in the following replies - its an overlook topic for most of the shows/podcasts.
I agree. You don’t hear about it nearly enough. There’s a podcast in the works though. We should be dropping it in about another week or so. My buddy’s MacBook but the dust, but he’s getting another one.