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Frustration

tyson12590

tyson12590

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2019
Messages
289
Location
Coldwater, Michigan
I would like to take a minute and vent about something. I enjoy watching a lot of the good hunting content on YouTube like THP and the hunting beast. These show spend a ton of time talking about playing the wind. I hunt in South Carolina and of the 6 times I've hunted so far this year not one time has the wind been consistent. I'm dropping milk weed and it's changing directions every 5 minutes. I've hunted high ground, low ground, morning and evening and the only consistent thing is swirling winds. I never remember it being this bad when I grew up hunting michigan so maybe it's a southern thing. Either way it is very frustrating watching milkweed float towards the bedding. It's just hard when your trying to hunt the wind and you feel like your blowing your spots. Ok, I feel better. Thanks for listening lol.
 
I live in Mississippi, and one thing I’ve noticed the wind always doing, is switching ha. We have a south wind coming off the gulf 95% of the time. Even if we have a north wind, as soon as the wind dies down, the gulf wind takes over again and comes from the south. It’s hard to hunt certain terrain because the north wind may do one thing in certain terrain features, then when it comes from the south again, does something totally different... it’s definitely tricky, and I haven’t completely found the answer yet.


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I gave up a long time ago with thinking about the wind direction in a general sense. It’s fairly pointless for bow hunting. High level, knowing prevailing winds, and terrain helps give a small sense of what’s going on. But when it’s time to set up for a hunt I have noticed two things that are fairly consistent:

- The wind in the exact spot I want to hunt is almost never blowing the direction of the forecast. And if it is, it’s not consistent.

- Almost all of the deer I’ve killed I either was hunting the wrong way according to wind direction and deer travel direction. Or, I was hunting with my wind just barely off from the direction of deer travel.

I’ve pretty much given up on even looking at wind direction. I have a general sense, and recognize that what matters in bow hunting is the micro - what the wind is doing in the exact spot I’m hunting.

As a last note - the property I typically hunt has incredibly inconsistent wind. It frustrates many hunters, and leaves the woods less crowded. Figure it out and use it to your advantage!
 
ImThere said:
These are the times when you hunt high and try to be as scent free as possible.
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I used to hunt 25 plus feet but I am hunting with a longbow now and I need better shot angles so I'm limited to about 18. Your right though, I think hunting high helps a lot. I also have a scent regiment but I can't afford carbon cloths. I'll just keep trying to find set ups that have more consistent winds or thermals.
 
tyson12590 said:
I would like to take a minute and vent about something. I enjoy watching a lot of the good hunting content on YouTube like THP and the hunting beast. These show spend a ton of time talking about playing the wind. I hunt in South Carolina and of the 6 times I've hunted so far this year not one time has the wind been consistent. I'm dropping milk weed and it's changing directions every 5 minutes. I've hunted high ground, low ground, morning and evening and the only consistent thing is swirling winds. I never remember it being this bad when I grew up hunting michigan so maybe it's a southern thing. Either way it is very frustrating watching milkweed float towards the bedding. It's just hard when your trying to hunt the wind and you feel like your blowing your spots. Ok, I feel better. Thanks for listening lol.
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It is not just you my friend, I had a few hunts this past week where it could not make up its mind! It is pretty common for thermals and swirls on our mountain ground. I just started using milkweed last year and it has been an eye opener. One of those deals that i cant believe it took me this long to get onto! I just keep the ozonics on the swivel and rely on the rest of my scent control measures. If it is one of my really good spots I will just get out of there though and wait for a better wind.
 
In Alabama I have learned the combination, Very cool to cold morning, calm wind and clear. The thermals will get you bout 2 hrs and then the swirls began when the sun tops the trees.
 
This used to kill me. Where I hunt this happens EVERY SINGLE TIME. In my opinion, being a southern hunter it's virtually impossible to have any sort of a scent control regimen worth talking about until November hits. It's almost always too hot to wear scentlok without sweating through it if it even really works at all and washing your clothes in scent free detergent doesn't really matter when you sweat through it 5 mins into your walk. So for these reasons a few seasons ago I started scouting and looking for spots with multiple opposite avenues that deer could approach from so that way if the wind is supposed to be blowing SW-NE but it's doing the opposite I am still in the game. This has worked for me multiple times and in my opinion is the only way to hunt in hill country. Wind swirls, thermals, and the forecast will get you everytime if you don't have a back up plan.
 
Murph4028 said:
This used to kill me. Where I hunt this happens EVERY SINGLE TIME. In my opinion, being a southern hunter it's virtually impossible to have any sort of a scent control regimen worth talking about until November hits. It's almost always too hot to wear scentlok without sweating through it if it even really works at all and washing your clothes in scent free detergent doesn't really matter when you sweat through it 5 mins into your walk. So for these reasons a few seasons ago I started scouting and looking for spots with multiple opposite avenues that deer could approach from so that way if the wind is supposed to be blowing SW-NE but it's doing the opposite I am still in the game. This has worked for me multiple times and in my opinion is the only way to hunt in hill country. Wind swirls, thermals, and the forecast will get you everytime if you don't have a back up plan.
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yea i don't envy you southern guys hunting in that heat!
 
I'm also from Alabama & agree with gumby. Morning hunting is usually more consistent with cooler temps and rising thermals. In the afternoon, it's normally middle of November before winds get consistent coming out of the North. I've found early season south & easterly winds are a bugger to hunt. I try to stay as scent free as I can without getting fanatical about it & hope for the best with a little luck. If you wait for perfect conditions down here you won't be hunting much
 
Hot weather and foliage on the trees makes it worse I think. I’ve had some tough winds this year but also some pretty good ones. Last night I hunted a hardwood point facing NE with a draw going to the south and a draw going to the west and a creek down below. Hunt a southwest wind in the afternoon so it’s already blowing down the point, and as the sun sets the thermals go straight down to the creek, no swirling. It can be hard to find a good wind here in the south but I’ve had a few good sits with a perfect wind. It will get better with cool weather and leaves falling off the trees.


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Yeah it can be hard to relate to how people are hunting on YouTube, podcasts, or TV if you are hunting in SC.
When people are talking about glassing a big buck and then going after them, yeah that isn’t happening here. You have to hunt for that 5 second window of opportunity and if you miss it then you could be done for the year.
You can’t get away with the movement or wearing a trendy white hat or anything that some of the Western and Midwestern hunters do either. And the list goes on.
 
Man the wind yesterday was killing me. I literally stood there, just shaking my head in the woods trying to pick a tree, as the wind completely shifted 180 and gust up to 20 mph in the wrong direction.....well now what? then it would switch another 180 and gust haha. So I just scouted all day. Found what I thought was pretty good sign but as soon as I tried to lay out a plan wind completely swirled around and fill up what I assume is the bedding area. So packed out early and went to scout some beer bottles.
 
kyler1945 said:
I’ve pretty much given up on even looking at wind direction. I have a general sense, and recognize that what matters in bow hunting is the micro - what the wind is doing in the exact spot I’m hunting.
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I agree with your entire post. But this is the ticket. What the wind is doing directly where you are is what matters. Openings will get folks busted every time because of the swirl.
 
I stopped worrying about wind a few seasons ago. It was getting to the point where hunting was more work than fun and I didnt really want to do it any more. The whole saddle thing is what brought me back.


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Think about it like water. If you stand by a river and watch, you know the current is going one direction. That’s like your forecasted wind direction. You can see Eddy’s where it hits obstruction, downed trees, rocks, etc. also going to see rips where depths change and the contour of the bottom makes an abrupt turn. Wind does the same thing when it hits an opening in the woods, hillsides, edges of thick cover, transitions, thick foliage.

Yes your milkweed May head towards the bedding but that doesn’t necessarily mean your scent stream stays that consistent for that far of a distance.
One day when I was first experimenting with milkweed I was walking across an open field with the wind blowing real hard straight at my back. As I got to within 30 yards of the edge of the woods I let out some milkweed and it blew straight over to the edge and when it got close to the tree line it shot straight up in the air and just kept going until I lost sight of it. That updraft was so strong I feel pretty confident my scent never went in that woods.

There are tons of factors but I think over time you can learn to read it pretty well. Usually now when I see it doing something I wasn’t expecting I can figure out why it’s doing what it’s doing. Eventually you learn where is a safe setup and where isn’t.
That being said, you will still mess up. Late season when the leaves are off it gets much easier.
 
Aeds151 said:
I stopped worrying about wind a few seasons ago. It was getting to the point where hunting was more work than fun and I didnt really want to do it any more. The whole saddle thing is what brought me back.


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How do you mean you dont pay attention to the wind? Like not at all or just do your best and if it swirls no big deal?
 
I used to at least check my scent cone on app before I left and pick spots based on that but now that scoutlook app went straight to hell I stopped that. I still will use my windicator powder more out of habit but its almost out and I dont plan on replacing. The wind just does what it wants to in the South. I just want to get somewhere quiet and be at peace. I dont kill big bucks and never will so take it with a grain of salt.


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