Tree stand Height- wind blowing over the top of deer

[1simplemann]

Can you get high enough for your scent to blow over top of deer that are close and down wind? The reason I ask is I found a spot that has a junction of Multiple trails coming together downwind of a major doe bedding area. There's also a really nice scrape. There's also a great tree downwind 18 yds away. Perfect right? Here's the catch, there is also a trail that parallels the river. At one point it is 10 yards down wind of the ONLY tree that will work. It doesn't go the scrape. It's just a travel trail but I've seen deer just traveling the river many times. Normally I would just get downwind of all of them and not worry about it. I can't in this situation. My plan is to get 25" up and see what happens.

 

[rhagenw]

Yes, Mr. E does this and I believe it very effective. The only downside is possible extreme shot angle at close distances with archery tackle.

 

[MattMan81]

Thermals rising or dropping? Light a smoke bomb in the off season and see how the smoke goes. Or just buy $300 in scentlok, wake up 2 hours earlier than normal to shower, and de contaminate your self before the hunt.

 

[Arrowsquirrel]

I've had good luck with this strategy but the kicker is sometimes it doesn't matter how high you get if the wind is swirling the wrong way. I've done it in thick cover with good results. I tried it this year on a field edge and the wind was coming over the top of the trees and creating a vertical swirl on the tree field transition. Really hard to know what it's going to do without doing some wind scouting.

 

[elk yinzer]

Yeah, there are some places when conditions are right its practically impossible to get winded.

Can't really put a height on it, but I never hunt over 20 feet and there are spots I set up for this to happen. I usually like to be within 15 yards of the X, inside 10 even better. I think a lot of guys set up for shots too far and that doesn't help with wind either.

 

[1simplemann]

Thermals rising or dropping? Light a smoke bomb in the off season and see how the smoke goes. Or just buy $300 in scentlok, wake up 2 hours earlier than normal to shower, and de contaminate your self before the hunt.

I'm guessing down. River is 50 yds away. Cold water they say will pull your wind down.

I will be wearing my Scent Lok. I got it on an after season sale %50 off. Basically for less than if you buying regular Realtree or Mossy Oak. I'm not getting up at 3AM. I'm too old for that crap. I need my sleep. JE's scent control IS extreme but he's killed a Lot of big bucks and he does put in the effort though so more power to him. I just don't have the time to follow his steps.

I'm just trying to figure out if deer are really close AND downwind if any of you guys had any success of getting your scent stream to blow over the deer.. I've been a 20-22" high type hunter for most of my years. I'll go higher if I thought it would work. I found this spot years ago but there was no way to put a stand in the tree because it's that big. It lays out perfect for a saddle though. That one trail concerns me though cause if they come though on it and start blowing they will clear the whole bedding area.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

I'm guessing down. River is 50 yds away. Cold water they say will pull your wind down.

I will be wearing my Scent Lok. I got it on an after season sale %50 off. Basically for less than if you buying regular Realtree or Mossy Oak. I'm not getting up at 3AM. I'm too old for that crap. I need my sleep. JE's scent control IS extreme but he's killed a Lot of big bucks and he does put in the effort though so more power to him. I just don't have the time to follow his steps.

I'm just trying to figure out if deer are really close AND downwind if any of you guys had any success of getting your scent stream to blow over the deer.. I've been a 20-22" high type hunter for most of my years. I'll go higher if I thought it would work. I found this spot years ago but there was no way to put a stand in the tree because it's that big. It lays out perfect for a saddle though. That one trail concerns me though cause if they come though on it and start blowing they will clear the whole bedding area.

Try to put the tree trunk between you and the deer wind-wise. Not perfect but it can block and parry a stream to some benefit.

 

[GeoFish]

For what it's worth. The biggest deer I ever shot was directly down wind of me. I was about 18 feet high. The deer traveled a trail from my 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock. He got directly down wind, put his noise in the air and looked my direction. Yes he got my scent but he thought I was farther away then i was. He is on the wall.

Edit the deer was 20 yards away.

 

[1simplemann]

Try to put the tree trunk between you and the deer wind-wise. Not perfect but it can block and parry a stream to some benefit.

The trunk is going to be between me and the intersection of trails and that scrape in front of me. I hope all of the action will be there. I'm down wind of that intersection. However, I have a sneaky suspicion he's gonna come in from behind me on a trail that is downwind of that tree. Either him or some does. Him I 'll kill before he hit's my scent stream.. It's the does that I'm worried about. If they start blowing, the main bedding for that area is only 40-50 yds away. Not good! If I'm 16-18' high, they'll get me every time. I'm going high and try to be as clean as possible.

 

[BTaylor]

The trunk is going to be between me and the intersection of trails and that scrape in front of me. I hope all of the action will be there. I'm down wind of that intersection. However, I have a sneaky suspicion he's gonna come in from behind me on a trail that is downwind of that tree. Either him or some does. Him I 'll kill before he hit's my scent stream.. It's the does that I'm worried about. If they start blowing, the main bedding for that area is only 40-50 yds away. Not good! If I'm 16-18' high, they'll get me every time. I'm going high and try to be as clean as possible.

Why not shoot a doe on that same trail?

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Maybe you could block the trail you are concerned about with a deadfall and push the deer where you want them. To my way of thinking, the biggest advantage to being up high is you can get away with more movement when you get out of their peripheral vision.

 

[1simplemann]

Why not shoot a doe on that same trail?

I can kill a doe at many other locations. This is a tight area. I can't be tromping around tracking a doe. I'll blow the bedding area out as soon as I descend the tree. All day sit type spot. Get there before them and leave after they leave.

 

[1simplemann]

Maybe you could block the trail you are concerned about with a deadfall and push the deer where you want them. To my way of thinking, the biggest advantage to being up high is you can get away with more movement when you get out of their peripheral vision.

Thought about it. Not a a lot to work with right there. I do use that tactic in other locations. I agree that getting above their line of sight is huge. I may just go all in on JE's tactics on this one. I know for fact that big bucks use that trail. 2 years ago, 150 yds away on that same trail, My hunting partner had a 9x6 ghost him on a windy day. He was looking at other deer to his left and He looked down to his right and there he was 12 yds away. The buck was on his weakside and he didn't have his bow in his hand. Needless to say, the buck got away. He came directly from the location I'm thinking about setting up. I may set two trees. One on that trail and hunt it 1st as an observation tree. I'll still a have decent chance of killing one on it plus I think I can see the scrape. Then dive right in to the main tree based on what I see.

 

[BTaylor]

I can kill a doe at many other locations. This is a tight area. I can't be tromping around tracking a doe. I'll blow the bedding area out as soon as I descend the tree. All day sit type spot. Get there before them and leave after they leave.

Asked that thinking it might be better to whack a doe before she gets your wind goes all mouthy Karen and blows up the whole spot. The risk is once shot she doesnt go back the way she came. I like the observation tactic in your other post as well and use it fairly regular.

 

[cjr4497]

Can you get high enough for your scent to blow over top of deer that are close and down wind? The reason I ask is I found a spot that has a junction of Multiple trails coming together downwind of a major doe bedding area. There's also a really nice scrape. There's also a great tree downwind 18 yds away. Perfect right? Here's the catch, there is also a trail that parallels the river. At one point it is 10 yards down wind of the ONLY tree that will work. It doesn't go the scrape. It's just a travel trail but I've seen deer just traveling the river many times. Normally I would just get downwind of all of them and not worry about it. I can't in this situation. My plan is to get 25" up and see what happens.

Yes you most certainly can. 30' and up is where the real magic happens. That is whole point of emissions stacks. We use 30' at a minimum at my facility to lift odors up into the atmosphere so as not to stink up the surrounding area. That said, when the atmosphere is heavy due to fog or rain, the odor molecules get forced back to the ground.

When hunting, you still need to have proper scent control though so the deer won't smell your trail in. All last week I had to walk through where the deer were feeding on acorns and hunt upwind of them. I had deer 360 degrees around me, 3 days in a row and none spooked. My feet were 25' up. With a bow I don't like my feet to be more than 25' due to the severe angles. With a gun I don't stop going up until I have to. When 30+ I have never been blown at. All of my clothes are scent lock, I wear only rubber boots, I use ozone in the truck to decontaminate my pack and saddle gear, and take other measures to control my scent. Every little bit helps.

I started hunting high in the early 90's ish after watching the tree lounge video where they were hunting Moonshine Island in Mississippi. They didn't start seeing deer until they started going 35-45' up!

 

[colin.704]

Can you get high enough for your scent to blow over top of deer that are close and down wind? The reason I ask is I found a spot that has a junction of Multiple trails coming together downwind of a major doe bedding area. There's also a really nice scrape. There's also a great tree downwind 18 yds away. Perfect right? Here's the catch, there is also a trail that parallels the river. At one point it is 10 yards down wind of the ONLY tree that will work. It doesn't go the scrape. It's just a travel trail but I've seen deer just traveling the river many times. Normally I would just get downwind of all of them and not worry about it. I can't in this situation. My plan is to get 25" up and see what happens.

I hunt as high as I can late season, sometimes 32ft platform height. I get away with a lot that high, and the deer leak better. my profile pic was at that height

 

[Alec]

Can you get high enough for your scent to blow over top of deer that are close and down wind? The reason I ask is I found a spot that has a junction of Multiple trails coming together downwind of a major doe bedding area. There's also a really nice scrape. There's also a great tree downwind 18 yds away. Perfect right? Here's the catch, there is also a trail that parallels the river. At one point it is 10 yards down wind of the ONLY tree that will work. It doesn't go the scrape. It's just a travel trail but I've seen deer just traveling the river many times. Normally I would just get downwind of all of them and not worry about it. I can't in this situation. My plan is to get 25" up and see what happens.

I’ll hunt with my head at about 27’ when hunting sika deer in swamps, where the top of the grass is about 12’. It gives some dramatic shot angles when close, but I’ve often gone unnoticed by deer passing in front of me on my downwind side. Being skylined is another story.

 

[1simplemann]

Yes you most certainly can. 30' and up is where the real magic happens. That is whole point of emissions stacks. We use 30' at a minimum at my facility to lift odors up into the atmosphere so as not to stink up the surrounding area. That said, when the atmosphere is heavy due to fog or rain, the odor molecules get forced back to the ground.

When hunting, you still need to have proper scent control though so the deer won't smell your trail in. All last week I had to walk through where the deer were feeding on acorns and hunt upwind of them. I had deer 360 degrees around me, 3 days in a row and none spooked. My feet were 25' up. With a bow I don't like my feet to be more than 25' due to the severe angles. With a gun I don't stop going up until I have to. When 30+ I have never been blown at. All of my clothes are scent lock, I wear only rubber boots, I use ozone in the truck to decontaminate my pack and saddle gear, and take other measures to control my scent. Every little bit helps.

I started hunting high in the early 90's ish after watching the tree lounge video where they were hunting Moonshine Island in Mississippi. They didn't start seeding deer until they started going 35-45' up!

This is an old one. I had Forgotten about it. Anyway, Thanks for bringing it back up. Exactly the response I was hoping for. This specific tree is a no go. I went to set it up this past fall and it was Hollow and rotten. I'm a little leary of sitting in it even though it's in the "spot". I don't trust the tree or the steps that I planned on putting in it. However I did locate another tree 30 yds away w/ great cover that's down wind of all the trails and scrapes except one. That one is less than 10 yds away. My feet will be 25-26'. I think my wind will blow right over them. 20 yds from the river so I'll clear a path so I don't leave any ground scent... The bitch of it is that area got hit hard w/ EHD this year. It's gonna be a while before that spot is good again. Great spot though. It has a lot of potential to kill a big one!

 

[OSUTodd]

I rarely hunt higher than 15', just due to the shape and density of the trees where I hunt. I agree that higher is better to keep your scent over top of deer, but if you're just going in without any scent control, they will still wind you at some distance. It might be 200 yards out, but your scent will reach the ground somewhere.

I've also dropped milkweed in a steady breeze and watched it head toward the ground 15 yards away. For whatever reason, where I was the wind was skimming the treetops and then sucking down toward the ground. In that spot, they would probably be in my scent stream regardless of how high I was.

 

[neonomad]

I’ve hunted a river a lot lately, but with my back to it, in most situations it’s pulling the air down. I’ve also been trying Scentlok for two seasons, and this season I had many deer dead down wind that did not bust. I’ve been pretty aggressive about putting it through a dryer cycle before my hunts, based on data so far I’m gonna keep using it. If it were me I’d either try that tree in Scentlok or see if there were a spot for a downwind ground set, but I know in that case you lose the other trails, so sounds like go for it. Maybe the most important thing is trying some arrows from height so the first steep angle shot you take isn’t on a deer… or maybe just don’t hunt crazy high, it still might work. I think I’d hunt high if I had practiced some shots high, or just hunt regular height if I hadn’t tested the shot.

Edit: bring milkweed.