Sunday, May 28, 2006
How Much Wind Is Too Much?
The first thing that hunters should learn is this basic fact of life as it pertains to hunting. The wind is your enemy.
Anything that we hunt, with the except of birds and fish, depend on their nose to keep them out of danger. They often have well developed senses of hearing and sight, but their sniffer is what allows hunters to be winded.
Many hunters, including some that should know better, complain about cigarette smoke. I no longer smoke, and quit years ago, but I can’t remember how many times I put down a lit cigarette to shoot a buck.
Think of it this way. It wasn’t the cigarette smoke that spooks the deer. It was one of two other things: hand movement of lifting a smoke to mouth or back down, or the deer picks up your scent. Deer smell smoke often during fall and winter months as people stoke up their fireplaces or burn leaves and brush.
Smoke is a common odor in the woods. Does anyone honestly believe a deer can tell the difference between cigarette smoke, wood smoke, or the smoke from burning leaves?
My buddy, outdoor writer Dave Richey < [url=http://www.daverichey.com]http://www.daverichey.com[/url] > used to hunt bears every year. He also used to smoke but has given up the habit as well. He told me once that he was in the process of taking a drag when a bear would walk within range of his bow, muzzleloader and centerfire rifle, and he set the cigarette aside to shoot the animal.
This is not, I repeat, is not an endorsement for smoking. It is a nasty habit, and one worth quitting. But between Dave and I, on bears and deer, we killed a good many animals while smoking.
The wind is the hunters worst enemy. It can cause all sorts of things to happen, but hunters who don’t pay attention to the wind, are not going to shoot very much game.
The wind can swirl, changes directions, flow in the direct opposite direction if it encounters a solid wood line. It can bend back on itself, and carry your scent to an animal supposedly directly upwind.
Too much wind is never a good thing. Deer are, by their very nature, timid and easily scared animals. They operate on the cutting edge of near-hysteria at all times, and seem to be wired whenever moving. A bird flying overhead has often sent a buck into startled flight.
So, how much wind is too much wind? It’s a good question, and certainly most difficult to answer because so many variables exist while bow hunting.
A strong breeze gusting to 20 miles-per-hour is too much. A breeze that swirls and gusts from 15-20 miles-per-hours while changing directions is too much wind. Obvious, a wind that blows so hard that it makes the tree sway, and the hunter fear for his safety even while wearing a safety harness, is far too much wind.
Personally, I like a soft breeze. Certainly a breeze of five miles-per-hour is very huntable, and a 10 miles-per-hour breeze is pushing the envelop a bit.
Here is what I like. A soft and gentle breeze that ebbs and flows a bit rather than a continual breeze. Enough wind to lightly ruffle the leaves on a tree or to make marsh grass move a bit is just fine. The deer, if they are nose-into-the-wind can scent anything upwind of them.
The soft breeze causes leaves and weeds to move slightly. A deer, moving slowly, can cope with the soft whispers of wind. Deer seem comfortable working the wind for sign of danger, and they can stop and go and check ahead for danger.
The option that I dislike is the absolutely still evenings when no breeze can be felt. If the woods are dry, and it sounds like deer walking on dried-out corn flakes, it usually isn’t a good hunting night.
Some hunters hunt when they can while others only hunt when the conditions are perfect. For most of us, a perfect night might be after a soft rain and with a soft whisper of wind. Deer seem to move well on such nights, and I never miss one.
I don’t miss them because I hunt every night, with a bad or a good wind. Matching wits with deer is what I do, and there are times when the odds are in the deer’s favor and nights when they are in mine. But, given the opportunity, I’d rather hunt with a soft breeze than none at all. â??â?? The Whitetail Wizard