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High wind

Root

Root

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
620
As I'm sitting here looking over my journals and maps I have yet to successfully pick a good windy day spot. I know typically deer don't move as much in the wind but they have to still move. These days I can only hunt weekends so regardless of weather I want to be out there. So where do you guys go when it's windy? What are you specifically looking for to pick the spot? Anyone have success hunting on windy days?

Out of my properties I can hunt I don't have a deep ravine or windless side of a hill to go.
 
What do you consider high wind? It was blowing 12 mph today in Tn and deer were doing what deer do. Is the ground completely flat? Is there a dip that only changes a foot or two could be the honey hole you always wanted. Sometimes you just hunt what you have. One spot I hunt the field runs down hill to the creek. When it’s windy the deer are down there close to the creek in the field.


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A lot of folks don't like hunting in the wind but my experience is bucks move during the wind. I don't know if they move more in the wind but I know that I see a higher percentage of bucks during windy days. Here in Michigan really windy days are not real common but where I hunt in PA on top of a mountain, days without high winds are rare. I would suggest hunting later into the mid-day if its windy in areas with heavier cover. As a saddle hunter we have one advantage over our fixed stand brothers. While they are hanging on for dear life we just swing and sway and enjoy the ride. Today was windy here today and I wanted to get out but the constant rain we've received this weekend has kept me out of the woods.
 
24+ below 20 I usually hit the normal spots.
 
Some of the biggest bucks I have seen were in 20+ winds. They were all on edge. It seems they stop every time a pine cone or limb falls. I always felt like it just took them longer to get to bed when they had to stop every time they heard a noise. Most of them were 10 or later. That's about the only time we have a steady wind.
 
We can get pretty brutal winds at times. This afternoon was one of them. Usually it doesn't keep me out of the woods but there was a lightening warning and heavy rain. Lightening is just about the only thing that keeps me on the couch. Which is what led me to raking back through my journals to check deer sightings vs locations. There were some sightings but mostly all were does with fawns. So I'm trying to unravel the mystery of what am I missing. I hunted in the planted pines this morning thinking maybe they would use them for cover but I saw nothing. Not that deer are present on every hunt. My gut is telling me I'm over looking something.
 
I have also seen many of my largest bucks in steady winds at least 20mph and gusts up to 40mph. Seems crazy but it's a pattern that keeps me out on days guys say "it's too windy to hunt".
 
Oh I want to hunt it. I'm trying to scramble on where the best chances are.
 
If you know where they are bedding get into the downwind side of it. Plenty of wind to cover your noise. Once up the tree there is no telling how far your scent will travel before it gets low enough for them to smell you. I don't hunt heavy rain and thunderstorms but anytime it rains and stops before dark I want to be there when it stops.
 
High wind=less hunters in the woods=bucks more comfortable. Just a theory.
 
Good points so far. I like the bedding area idea along with a isolated food source near by. Looking at my maps I have a very small ditch / stream running through the hardwoods from a bedding area leading to a small apple tree patch 1/4 mile away. I've scouted it but I never saw enough sign to warrant a hunt, maybe the traffic picks up a bit on it in the wind?
 
redsquirrel said:
High wind=less hunters in the woods=bucks more comfortable. Just a theory.
Click to expand...
I agree. I don't think it's necessarily the wind that's affecting the deer. I think the wind affects the hunters (who stay home), which affects the deer. Deer deal with high winds year round. I think it's normal for them. If they didn't move every time it was windy, they wouldn't eat.

Sent from my Galaxy S8.
 
Root said:
As I'm sitting here looking over my journals and maps I have yet to successfully pick a good windy day spot. I know typically deer don't move as much in the wind but they have to still move. These days I can only hunt weekends so regardless of weather I want to be out there. So where do you guys go when it's windy? What are you specifically looking for to pick the spot? Anyone have success hunting on windy days?

Out of my properties I can hunt I don't have a deep ravine or windless side of a hill to go.
Click to expand...
I hunt the inside edges of cutover next to a food source....deer seem to get up and move out for food then duck back into cover..like grabbing a midnight snack from the fridge.
 
work up this morning to a "killin rain" had deer moving in my location right at daylight.
 
Hunted this afternoon with high winds, gusts over 20. Hunted a skinny tree and was just along for the ride.. didn't see a single deer.


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ricky racer said:
A lot of folks don't like hunting in the wind but my experience is bucks move during the wind. I don't know if they move more in the wind but I know that I see a higher percentage of bucks during windy days. Here in Michigan really windy days are not real common but where I hunt in PA on top of a mountain, days without high winds are rare. I would suggest hunting later into the mid-day if its windy in areas with heavier cover. As a saddle hunter we have one advantage over our fixed stand brothers. While they are hanging on for dear life we just swing and sway and enjoy the ride. Today was windy here today and I wanted to get out but the constant rain we've received this weekend has kept me out of the woods.
Click to expand...
Windy and days after full moon nights seems to make the big older boys move better.
 
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