How Often Do You See Mature Bucks Moving With the Wind to Their Backs

[The Silence]

I read one of the Wensel brother's books where he spoke of seeing mature bucks many times moving with the wind toward their backs or quartering to their backs
because one of their main concerns being their back trails. I pulled a trail cam 2 months ago on a new area and was excited to find that on the last 3 days before
I pulled the camera I had the same mature animal show up in shooting light 3 days in a row. One of the pics was at 12:45 in the afternoon, in broad daylight. I must
have been smack dab in the middle of his core area. I believe he had just moved there since beans were dying out and corn was becoming the preferred food source
at that time.

Anyway, the interesting thing about the pics that were taken showed the buck moving with the wind to his back several times as well as checking his back trail but
not alarmed in any way. Here is the basic set up of the bedding area: next to no human contact, there is a straight river running N/S on the west side with steep banks,
and a standing corn field on the east side. Basically, you have a strip (20-30 yards wide) of fairly mature trees with good visibility and a little CRP thrown in. It seems like
he can tell if anything is coming from the east or west with the river and standing corn. The main travel corridor is north/south, so he basically keeps an
eye on what's in front of him since visibility is good and keeps the wind to his back just like he would do for his bedding but in this case it's when he is traveling as well. It seems like this
is the most secure way he can travel in this particular area.

Have you guys seen situations like this when bucks tend to move with the wind to their backs, similar to how they bed?

[Stanley]

The majority of the bucks I have killed had the wind at their back. Much easier to set up on a buck that way.

[The Silence]

Stanley, were they bedding or traveling? If they were traveling, were there special circumstances that caused them to do that?

[Dewey]

The majority of the bucks I have killed had the wind at their back. Much easier to set up on a buck that way.

Same here.

[Brick1083]

I just listened to a Wired2Hunt podcast last night that touched on this topic in a roundabout way last night.

In deciding where to hunt in the evening, the guest considers what direction the wind was in the AM when the buck likely chose his bed, not just the forecast wind direction for the coming evening. He believes that if the wind changes direction during the day, then in the evening the buck may be leaving a bed that doesn't necessarily make sense for the current conditions and may be forced to walk with the wind at his back in order to get to his desired food source. Note: this was a discussion about why bucks are sometimes bedded in areas that do not make sense. It was not intended to be the sole explanation for why sometimes bucks travel with the wind at their backs.

[Shadman]

Interesting topic for sure.. Most of my kills have been when the deer are traveling at a quartering angle or directly downwind of me. I think when you see deer traveling with then wind at there back it's because of a wind change while they are bedded. They get "trapped" in that bed and get up to move into a better position.. Good information to take into consider as you may be able to position yourself and take advantage of this shift.

[Wall hanger]

Most of mature bucks i see are traveling with wind to back.

[magicman54494]

most of my tracking is done during the rut so most of my observations are rut movement.

bucks move every direction on any given wind. if there is a pattern it is they seem to decide where they want to goand go there independant of wind direction. if wind is a factor then why do i see different bucks heading different directions on the same day? also, the same buck will change direction many times along his travels. what if 5 different hunters witness the same buck at different times along his travels? they may each report a different finding.
stand hunters get a very brief snapshot of the entire route a buck travels. they make huge assumptions based on very limited data.
i have followed probably more than 100 mature bucks for miles. i have never been able to see a travel direction vs wind direction pattern.

[Stanley]

Stanley, were they bedding or traveling? If they were traveling, were there special circumstances that caused them to do that?

Traveling from bedding area to food source or doe bedding.

[Ragingun]

most of my tracking is done during the rut so most of my observations are rut movement.

bucks move every direction on any given wind. if there is a pattern it is they seem to decide where they want to goand go there independant of wind direction. if wind is a factor then why do i see different bucks heading different directions on the same day? also, the same buck will change direction many times along his travels. what if 5 different hunters witness the same buck at different times along his travels? they may each report a different finding.
stand hunters get a very brief snapshot of the entire route a buck travels. they make huge assumptions based on very limited data.
i have followed probably more than 100 mature bucks for miles. i have never been able to see a travel direction vs wind direction pattern.

Yup.....bucks/deer will travel where they need to go regardless of wind however they will only bed on certain beds based on wind. If a NW wind is present for example, the deer gets up from its bed and travels to a food source and the wind is at his back. Come pre-dawn the wind remains the same so the buck will likely use the same bed. Ain't no way of getting there without walking the same wind but now it's at his front side. He doesn't care which way the wind is at least not enough to deter him from returning.

If deer always walked with the wind at there back or seriously preferred it that way there would eventually be a bunch of deer in one corner of North America since the prevailing winds would not allow equal travel. I know where my stand would be if that were the case....

[littlewolf]

The last big buck my wife killed was walking a creek bottom around 11 a.m. with the wind directly at his back. We were sitting further up the hillside on a little point with a crosswind. I then wasn't expecting him to come from that direction but it worked out perfect.

[BigHunt]

Every mature buck I've killed and even the 2 yo and 3 yo I've killed with the wind to there backs

[Stanley]

most of my tracking is done during the rut so most of my observations are rut movement.

bucks move every direction on any given wind. if there is a pattern it is they seem to decide where they want to goand go there independant of wind direction. if wind is a factor then why do i see different bucks heading different directions on the same day? also, the same buck will change direction many times along his travels. what if 5 different hunters witness the same buck at different times along his travels? they may each report a different finding.
stand hunters get a very brief snapshot of the entire route a buck travels. they make huge assumptions based on very limited data.
i have followed probably more than 100 mature bucks for miles. i have never been able to see a travel direction vs wind direction pattern.

Good post. The thing I have pointed out if you only take one thing from all the things you learn on the Beast. It starts with the bed. That is the constant hunters have a hard time wrapping their head around. Stand hunters are successful because bucks take many routes through out their travels. The squirrel analogy is a great one. The squirrel will take different limbs to get to a food source. The squirrel most always ends up back at his den/bed, no matter what limbs he takes.

[Tennhunter3]

I can't remember ever seeing one wind to back but I never setup to see one that way either. I know they wind to back while eating at preferred food source but I never hunt feeding areas.

Mine have been cross wind or quartering into wind. In a thermal tunnel scenario they walk crosswind.

In Am I've seen them walk into the wind to bed a lot.

In a wind to back scenario if they bedded on point that would mean they drop down into bottom in evening and hunting bottoms in evening gets me busted.

[<DK>]

most of my tracking is done during the rut so most of my observations are rut movement.

bucks move every direction on any given wind. if there is a pattern it is they seem to decide where they want to goand go there independant of wind direction. if wind is a factor then why do i see different bucks heading different directions on the same day? also, the same buck will change direction many times along his travels. what if 5 different hunters witness the same buck at different times along his travels? they may each report a different finding.
stand hunters get a very brief snapshot of the entire route a buck travels. they make huge assumptions based on very limited data.
i have followed probably more than 100 mature bucks for miles. i have never been able to see a travel direction vs wind direction pattern.

Good post. The thing I have pointed out if you only take one thing from all the things you learn on the Beast. It starts with the bed. That is the constant hunters have a hard time wrapping their head around. Stand hunters are successful because bucks take many routes through out their travels. The squirrel analogy is a great one. The squirrel will take different limbs to get to a food source. The squirrel most always ends up back at his den/bed, no matter what limbs he takes.

Easy w the name calling fellas.

The number 1 thing I can say about this subject is that it's based on certain experiences and regional. I believe pressure and predators have the most to do w these observations. Could also be deer specific but too many guys have asked about it. Based on Dans observations, even on preasure public ground he only sees it so much. It could be a case of the older bucks have some things figured out. One question I have is are dropping thermals in HC part of this question? Bucks can wait until primetime and drop off of a point w only dropping thermals working - which would be to their backs. That goes back to people's experiences though bc maybe due to set locations so comes people's observations? It seems like certain set locations it would be easy setup and others might be tougher. I guess majority of all my experiences have been wind to nose or side winds. They do however seem to change that on food sources or when they will be exposed to danger and their guards will be let down.