Do bucks travel wind to back to food?

[3531usmc]

Outside of the rut in hill country. Will bucks travel wind to back to food sources ?

[Swamp Beast]

I can't speak specifically for hill country, but I often see deer circle downwind from a food source before coming to it.

[greenhorndave]

In my limited data sample size in personal observation and on trail cams, I would say they generally travel with wind to back on the way to food and then enter the destination food area (fields, acorn trees, etc.) with wind/thermal to nose to scent check for safety. But they’re all individuals and will do odd stuff.

[Tim H]

In my opinion, when a deer leaves it's bed and heads to food, it's not paying specific attention to wind direction. It's A to B regardless of the wind direction. On the way, a deer will use the wind when it senses danger. That is what my observations have been.

[seazofcheeze]

In my opinion, when a deer leaves it's bed and heads to food, it's not paying specific attention to wind direction. It's A to B regardless of the wind direction. On the way, a deer will use the wind when it senses danger. That is what my observations have been.

x2. If deer only traveled wind to back, there'd be deer stacked up a mile high on the east coast

[MichiganMike]

In my opinion, when a deer leaves it's bed and heads to food, it's not paying specific attention to wind direction. It's A to B regardless of the wind direction. On the way, a deer will use the wind when it senses danger. That is what my observations have been.

My thoughts exactly.

[MichiganMike]

In my opinion, when a deer leaves it's bed and heads to food, it's not paying specific attention to wind direction. It's A to B regardless of the wind direction. On the way, a deer will use the wind when it senses danger. That is what my observations have been.

My thoughts exactly. They go where they need to go regardless. Once they see, hear, or smell something not right, they’ll stop on a dime. Whatever sense gets triggered, they’ll use the other sense or senses to confirm

[Andr3wxmma]

I’ve seen deer purposely swing down wind of a heavily used tree stand on their way to feed too.

[Grizzlyadam]

I look at it this way;. In my geographically limited experience the areas I hunt which is new england hill country mixed with some farm country and a little bit of swamp mixed in. Generally for unpressured deer on a bed to feed pattern I find more often than not the deer are bedding in a manner in which they have wind to back and they are watching where they will be feeding once they get up. When they get up they travel to the feeding location with wind to back or quartering to their back while their eyes and ears cover their front. They do the opposite in the morning heading into bedding. This is what I see the overwhelming majority of the time hunting, glassing, observing, and what I see on trail cams. It just makes sense to me to set up for that type of movement and I'm usually not surprised when deer walk into my setups. Bucks during the rut all that goes out the window and I generally just focus on getting as close to bedding as I can without my scent blowing into it and make an educated guess as to where they will likely want to go once they get up.

[Ol Split ( ) Toes]

In my opinion, when a deer leaves it's bed and heads to food, it's not paying specific attention to wind direction. It's A to B regardless of the wind direction. On the way, a deer will use the wind when it senses danger. That is what my observations have been.

x2. If deer only traveled wind to back, there'd be deer stacked up a mile high on the east coast

Yes the only reason why we see wind to back is because we put are self in that situation. If it's a big enough food source there will bee deer coming from all directions

[greenhorndave]

In my opinion, when a deer leaves it's bed and heads to food, it's not paying specific attention to wind direction. It's A to B regardless of the wind direction. On the way, a deer will use the wind when it senses danger. That is what my observations have been.

x2. If deer only traveled wind to back, there'd be deer stacked up a mile high on the east coast

Yes the only reason why we see wind to back is because we put are self in that situation. If it's a big enough food source there will bee deer coming from all directions

That’s an interesting point. Makes a bunch of sense.

[Grizzlyadam]

In my opinion, when a deer leaves it's bed and heads to food, it's not paying specific attention to wind direction. It's A to B regardless of the wind direction. On the way, a deer will use the wind when it senses danger. That is what my observations have been.

x2. If deer only traveled wind to back, there'd be deer stacked up a mile high on the east coast

Yes the only reason why we see wind to back is because we put are self in that situation. If it's a big enough food source there will bee deer coming from all directions

That’s an interesting point. Makes a bunch of sense.

I think there are so many different variables at play and so many different habitat types that there is no cookie cutter answer that applies to everyone everywhere. I have heard it said before that for people who hunt with the expectation of deer either traveling with the wind or into the wind that if that's the way they set up then that's what they see the deer do most of the time. I agree with that to some degree. But I also think that some places set up for deer to travel in to the wind and some set up for deer traveling wind to back.

Strictly talking about deer going to food in the evening. Take a situation on a hill or ridge with a crop field on top. Deer bedding on the leeward side wind to back then getting up and walking into the wind to feed on top would be a pretty common thing. Put that crop field on the bottom of the leeward side and they head down wind to back.

Take a big food source and a high deer population they won't/cant all bed in the same place so you will get them coming in from different bedding areas in different directions regardless of wind direction.

One of the most consistent things deer will likely do in many habitat types (especially hill country) is bed wind to back. Many bedding areas only get used if the wind is right for it or if they can shift around in it for different winds.

So many different variables are at play once they get up that there is no right or wrong answer. Scouting, hunting, observing, trail cams, etc are your best bet to give the most likely answers as to how deer behave in any given specific situation imo..

[Dewey]

In my opinion, when a deer leaves it's bed and heads to food, it's not paying specific attention to wind direction. It's A to B regardless of the wind direction. On the way, a deer will use the wind when it senses danger. That is what my observations have been.

x2. If deer only traveled wind to back, there'd be deer stacked up a mile high on the east coast

Yup

[Mgaspari]

In my opinion, when a deer leaves it's bed and heads to food, it's not paying specific attention to wind direction. It's A to B regardless of the wind direction. On the way, a deer will use the wind when it senses danger. That is what my observations have been.

My thoughts exactly. They go where they need to go regardless. Once they see, hear, or smell something not right, they’ll stop on a dime. Whatever sense gets triggered, they’ll use the other sense or senses to confirm

Agree except once they get to field or food source they will normally try to enter either down wind or a low point so they can catch the dropping thermals in evening to scent check the field

[szwampdonkey]

They 100% travel with the wind to their back, all the time.

It’s a huge myth that mature bucks ALWAYS travel with the wind in their face. With the marshes i hunt having such a consistent West to NW wind those Bucks would never get where they wanted to go when they got up from their beds seeing as most of the food sources are dead South of the good bedding. They would end up in the subdivisions and then the towns North of these marshes if they got up and only traveled with the wind in their face.