Beating the Wind in a Crow's Foot

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Trout
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Beating the Wind in a Crow's Foot

Unread postby Trout » Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:59 am

Had a successful hunt the other night that resulted in me passing a shot up on non-target buck in a public hillcountry spot I've had a hard time figuring the ideal stand placement out. See picture below.

crows foot.JPG


Prevailing wind is out of the NW. Green arrows are the path the prevailing wind was actually following, red arrows are the direction the wind was going once the evening thermals started to fall about 30min before dark. The yellow star is where I suspected a buck to be bedding, and the red star is where I found a place to beat the swirling wind in the little crows foot there. This crow's foot has a community scrape that is maintained by the deer year round. Over the last week, a few new scrapes have popped up in and around the community scrape, as they did last season. I hunted this spot last year unsuccessfully, getting busted each of the three times I hunted it due to what I blamed on unpredictable swirling wind in the crows foot.

Saturday morning I hunted a few hundred yards east of this crow's foot on a NW wind and hiked out through it so I could check for scrape activity. I noticed that the NW wind was shooting up the valley a certain way which might allow me to set off to the north side and out of the swirling part of the crow's foot shown with the red star. Hopefully this is making sense. :lol:

From spring scouting, I knew that any deer bedding on the ridge would be in the vicinity of that all yellow star. And from a buck's behavior I saw the night before at a different spot, I expected this area of scrapes to be visited as soon as the buck got out of its bed- if it was actually bedding where I thought it was.

Long story short, I got in, climbed a tree shown with the red star, had my scent blowing up the valley away from the scrapes and buck bedding until the thermals started to pull down. Shortly after they started to fall, the buck appeared coming down the ridge. He worked all of the scrapes, coming as close as about 8yds, and never knew I was there.

This was one of the "a ha" hunts for me and I think I can use this tactic on future crow's foot hunts in the future, hopefully it can help some of you out, too.
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csoult
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Re: Beating the Wind in a Crow's Foot

Unread postby csoult » Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:28 am

I have a very similar spot I was checking today. Wind was complete opposite of what I thought it would be. I have never hunted it but I will check the validity of that information for my spot. I hope it works, there are scrapes everywhere in there. Thanks for the info!
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Re: Beating the Wind in a Crow's Foot

Unread postby A5BLASTER » Wed Oct 20, 2021 12:22 pm

I did it Saturday evening.

Only reason I tryed it was because a coldfront had just came in and we had very consistent 12 mh winds out the north.

And the primary buck bedding was to the north as well as the secondary buck bedding and the doe bedding was north and northwest.

That's the only times I try those kinds of spots. During coldfront winds.
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Re: Beating the Wind in a Crow's Foot

Unread postby westmichigander » Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:29 am

Really a great breakdown and illustration. Not to sound cliché but the more you see and hear of stuff like this, the more you understand the actual term of "play the wind". Good stuff
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Re: Beating the Wind in a Crow's Foot

Unread postby SEMObowhunter » Thu Oct 21, 2021 1:19 am

I have had great hunts in similar scenarios. I try to find high wind days, with it blowing down a valley away from where I anticipate the deer to come from. I hunt these during the rut when they are necessarily going to be bedded there to prevent the swirl from eventually getting to them. Have had great results.
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Re: Beating the Wind in a Crow's Foot

Unread postby justdirtyfun » Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:40 am

Great breakdown and hunt.
My hunt last night had a push/pull like your diagram.
Having that predictable air movement and knowing where they should be is how Beast tactics are doctorate level knowledge.
You don't have to be the best, just do your best.
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Re: Beating the Wind in a Crow's Foot

Unread postby Mopar400 » Mon Oct 25, 2021 2:01 pm

Great map! We have an area behind our house with a crows foot that has been difficult to hunt. I just joined the beast forum looking for info just like this! Thanks for the post.
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Re: Beating the Wind in a Crow's Foot

Unread postby KRONIIK » Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:17 pm

That is some serious, next-level wind analysis, Trout!
It got me to thinking about how air moves through Nikolai Tesla's remarkable valve invention , or "Valvular Conduit" as he called it in his Patent application.
Twenty seconds into this video you might start seeing some similarities to what might be happening to the wind in those valleys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suIAo0EYwOE


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