wind direction hill country question

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Swedishbowhunter
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wind direction hill country question

Unread postby Swedishbowhunter » Tue Oct 22, 2019 2:10 am

I have hunted flat land my entire life, started hunting hills this year, also understanding thermals a bit better as well. Where I sat last night looked perfect for the sw wind we had, so I hike in and the wind is perfect, I set up thinking this is perfect, wind still good. wind was about 3mph, really low, I put my stand up and start tossing milkweed and it goes the opposite direction? So now a sw wind is now taking my sent like a ne wind would take it. 2 questions, is it the thermals causing this, if there were a stronger wind 10mph or more would it typically do this same thing or does that change it alot?


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JRM KY
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Re: wind direction hill country question

Unread postby JRM KY » Tue Oct 22, 2019 3:39 am

All that I have to hunt is hills and some big ones at that. I have experienced what you are explaining more times than you would read about. Nothing more frustrating than having the perfect quite entrance and wind and get setup and all of a sudden it goes to pits with the wind lol. This more than likely is thermals with the wind being as still as you explained. It also could be a swirl depending on what terrain feature you are hunting around. If I find a really good Buck Bedding area I find that they are setup to get wind from almost any direction do to what you are talking about. I keep mental notes on what the thermals or wind are doing with each setup and bounce around the bedding until I find a spot I think I can kill them in. YES I burn a lot of hunts to do this but you have to learn the spot to be in. At first it was discouraging but now that I understand what the wind will be doing at a spot regardless of wind direction at last light I've been more successful. In the hills its almost always the case that right at last light the thermals or wind will be coming from where it prevails. And for last question a higher wind with maybe a front moving in or something yes it can change but depending on what terrain your on it can make the swirl worse. It will take time but once you learn the wind in a spot in relation to terrain features they are pretty consistent in all hills.
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brancher147
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Re: wind direction hill country question

Unread postby brancher147 » Tue Oct 22, 2019 4:02 am

It depends on terrain, land cover, thermals, aspect. But any wind under 10 mph in hill country can switch pretty easy especially early season with leaves still on. As it gets closer to November we usually start having some stronger sustained winds that are more consistent and it swirls less once the leaves are off.
Some do. Some don't. I just might...
Swedishbowhunter
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Location: South East Wisconsin hunts SE,SW, & Northcentral wi
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Re: wind direction hill country question

Unread postby Swedishbowhunter » Tue Oct 22, 2019 1:57 pm

JRM KY wrote:All that I have to hunt is hills and some big ones at that. I have experienced what you are explaining more times than you would read about. Nothing more frustrating than having the perfect quite entrance and wind and get setup and all of a sudden it goes to pits with the wind lol. This more than likely is thermals with the wind being as still as you explained. It also could be a swirl depending on what terrain feature you are hunting around. If I find a really good Buck Bedding area I find that they are setup to get wind from almost any direction do to what you are talking about. I keep mental notes on what the thermals or wind are doing with each setup and bounce around the bedding until I find a spot I think I can kill them in. YES I burn a lot of hunts to do this but you have to learn the spot to be in. At first it was discouraging but now that I understand what the wind will be doing at a spot regardless of wind direction at last light I've been more successful. In the hills its almost always the case that right at last light the thermals or wind will be coming from where it prevails. And for last question a higher wind with maybe a front moving in or something yes it can change but depending on what terrain your on it can make the swirl worse. It will take time but once you learn the wind in a spot in relation to terrain features they are pretty consistent in all hills.

Thanks, I am going to have to keep a hunting journal.


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