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NEVER hunt a south wind???

BackSpasm

BackSpasm

Well-Known Member
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Joined
Apr 10, 2019
Messages
1,652
Location
Tennessee
I’m finally reading through Dr. Sheppard’s book on whitetails as recommended by[mention]Nutterbuster [/mention] [mention]kyler1945 [/mention] and many others

He states that after over 1,000 deer killed personally and countless hunts, Dr. Sheppard will NOT hunt any south wind (S, SE, SW) I started thinking, knowing that south winds are usually associated with warmer weather/later movement. That I can’t think of a deer I’ve actually killed on a south wind, but this approach seems extreme.

What about you guys? Obviously the deer aren’t vanishing on those south wind days, but are they still worth your time? Please weigh in.
 
As a fellow Middle TN hunter, I can't imagine not hunting south winds since our prevailing wind is SW. I certainly prefer a cold north wind over a warm south wind, but still believe hunting is worthwhile in any wind direction. Sounds silly to say, but the deer eat, drink, sleep, and breed in every wind direction there is--we just need to figure out how to predict their behavior based on those conditions. Different weather conditions, including wind direction, merit different tactics, but there's no wind direction that forces me to use the sleep in/stay on the couch "tactic."
 
My two largest bucks were killed with south winds along with countless other big buck encounters over the years. I have a number of spots I get really excited to hunt when the wind switches south in early November. Can’t say I have seen that pattern at all.
 
I will hunt a south wind, but I do not hunt my known good spots. In Alabama at least, he's right about a south wind being bad for daytime movement.

Keep in mind all his data comes from around Tuscaloosa, so it's definitely location-dependent. Also keep in mind he's not just referencing personal hunts. He's referencing thousands of data points collected. The data he has backing his statement crushes the data backing, say, scentlok. If you're geographically close to him, I'd give it a season or two of doing it his way before you shrug him off
 
I have a tree about 400 yards from my front door that I have killed 11 deer from,mostly bucks. I only hunt it on a south wind. That being said, I would completely agree with old @Nutterbuster on this one. It's probably a regional thing. I also live right on the coast of Maine and a south wind comes off the ocean. If I was hunting inland, like I was while moose hunting last week, I would definitely want a nice Northwesterly wind with cold clear skies.
 
Here's my hypothesis in why Sheppard's observations, made across thousands of data points, jive with my own very limited ones.

I'm sitting in a tree now. 5:20 and it's 74 degrees. Temps will push 90s, and when you factor in the humidity it's gonna be a shorts kinda weekend. Deer have no sweat glands. They are also covered in hair, which grows thicker around October regardless of temps. If I am hot while hairless and sweating profusely, what are they in their winter coats?

I have had dogs my whole life. They do not generally enjoy going outside to do their business or to hang out around the BBQ in the summer. Neither do I, and I can sweat. Come cool weather, it's hard to get them back inside once you let them out. Hard to get me inside too.

Deer have excellent night vision. Deer's only remaining natural predator does not hunt at night. If they can move in cooler temps at dark, why not do so?

Contrast that with cold days. Deer are herbivores. Not exactly a high calorie diet. Studies show they have to consume about 4lbs of vegetation per 50lbs of body weight on overage. Theyre warm-blooded. To keep from freezing to death, they need to burn calories. Temps drop, they eat more. Can't eat sitting down.

North wind brings cool weather from up the east coast and the midwest. South wind brings ungodly heat and humidity from Cuba and Mexico.

I think it also helps that we don't get a lot of north winds until they're starting to ramp up rut activity. But even in early bow season, cold fronts seem to spike deer activity.

Got an east wind this morning. 50/50 odds, right? Agree even a south wind beats the odds of sitting on the couch.
 
I’m from Pa. Read the book as well on Nutterbuster’s recommendation. Had this very discussion with him through PM.

Dr Sheppard does mention later in the book that different terrain and or areas of the country maybe different as noted in above responses and results.

Agree on it being a regional thing.
 
mattfish said:
Dr Sheppard does mention later in the book that different terrain and or areas of the country maybe different as noted in above responses and results.

Agree on it being a regional thing.
Click to expand...
Sure - he flat out confirms that there's no independent effect of wind direction, barometer, etc. Just cold fronts which typically come from the North.
 
How does one go about killing over 1000 deer? Must of killed one every other sit...

South winds are great later in the year when the temps are really cold. Early bow season when it's already warm, even warmer temps are BAD!
 
The point of his information on wind direction is not that you shouldn’t hunt a south wind. He says he doesn’t because of his specific circumstances.

read the data for what it is. South winds mean warm temperatures. Deer move less in daylight in warm temperatures. All of this is relative. But it is stone cold can’t refute fact.

you get to decide what you do with that information. But how much warmer, and how much less movement, and how much it’s different from cooler weather and deer movement associated with it are the only things up for consideration. It is just fact they move during daylight less.

does that mean you shouldn’t hunt a trail between a bedding area and a food source? Maybe. Or maybe it means hunt 300 feet closer to the bedding area.

Talking about the one deer you seent on a south wind doesn’t change the facts. But the facts don’t equal success. They are just information. Use them to improve your odds as you see fit. Or don’t.

but if your response to “deer move less in daylight hours when the weather is warm” is “that’s not true, I killed deer in warm weather” , then I don’t think the information will be helpful to you.
 
kyler1945 said:
read the data for what it is. South winds mean warm temperatures. Deer move less in daylight in warm temperatures. All of this is relative. But it is stone cold can’t refute fact.
Click to expand...

If only you were stating facts. Deer move great when it warms slightly up north when it's been very cold. For you deep south guys its probably a fairly accurate statement.
 
BackSpasm said:
Dr. Sheppard will NOT hunt any south wind (S, SE, SW) I started thinking, knowing that south winds are usually associated with warmer weather/later movement.
Click to expand...

I don't know who this Doc Sheppard fella is but if I didn't hunt south winds (I'm in Michigan) then i'd effectively cut my season down to only a handful of days. Our prevailing windows are west/south-westerly. Northern and easterly winds are the exception up here, not the rule. That may be different the further north you go.
 
BackSpasm said:
I’m finally reading through Dr. Sheppard’s book on whitetails as recommended by[mention]Nutterbuster [/mention] [mention]kyler1945 [/mention] and many others

He states that after over 1,000 deer killed personally and countless hunts, Dr. Sheppard will NOT hunt any south wind (S, SE, SW) I started thinking, knowing that south winds are usually associated with warmer weather/later movement. That I can’t think of a deer I’ve actually killed on a south wind, but this approach seems extreme.

What about you guys? Obviously the deer aren’t vanishing on those south wind days, but are they still worth your time? Please weigh in.
Click to expand...

If it has to do with temperature, then he should state that and not the south wind (which is just correlated with the true cause). Wind patterns are also very region-specific. The dominant wind in my area is W to SW. Also, the predicted wind is obviously not the micro-wind (word?) as influenced by topography. In the hills, a south wind is extremely common and might be predicted or even measured (at some airport?) as a west or other wind. Basically, you've just talked me out of buying that book :)
 
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