Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Choosing East Wind Stands to be ready for Opening Day
It’s human nature. Many hunters fall in love with their opening-day ground blind or tree stand because we’ve thought about it for months on end.
Does this mean this so-called hotspot will be hot on opening day? Perhaps it will and maybe it won’t. It all depends on wind and weather conditions, and sadly many people don’t play the wind properly.
One major problem hunters face is setting all of their stands for the prevailing wind direction. During Michigan’s bow and firearm deer seasons, the prevailing direction is south and southwest in October, west to northwest in November and northwest and north in December.
So here is this hotspot stand set up for opening day. It has the stand downwind for a south or southwest breeze. Good thinking! Come Oct. 1, Joe Hunter has been thinking about it for weeks and plans to sit in the stand and shoot a deer that he has patterned.
However, if you’ve followed wind patterns the past several years as I have, you’ll remember that nearly half of our October days featured an east or southeast wind. An east wind, unless stands are specifically placed for such wind currents, makes other stand locations nearly impossible to hunt without being detected by approaching deer.
It’s easy to advocate having stands in key hunting locations for an east wind, but it’s sometimes quite difficult to find good spots where it will work.
Most bow hunters, like me, prefer hunting out of a tree. One way to get around this problem is to hunt from an elevated coop. Keep the windows closed until it’s time to take a shot. It’s certainly not like being out in the breeze, and feeling the wind on your nose or cheek, but it allows a hunter to effectively hunt when bad winds blow.
A choice can be made. Hunt from an enclosed coop or don’t hunt. To hunt out in the open when the wind is wrong simply courts trouble.
The best way is to look at how deer travel, especially on an east wind, and locate that one key spot where whitetails filter through. Try to be downwind of the whitetail traffic, and don’t move.
Fishermen have long known that angling success often takes a nose dive on an east wind, and deer hunters - especially bow hunters - know the same holds true for them when hunting on an east wind.
I’ve long known that an open tree stand may cause your scent to drift to the deer when the wind huffs from the east. An enclosed and elevated wooden blind with shooting windows can save the day.
One thing is certain. The hunter who deliberately puts himself upwind of deer on an east wind will probably ruin that hunting spot for the rest of the season unless he can prevent deer from smelling him. A simple V-shaped wooden structure, and forced down between two limbs with just enough room to shoot, gives the hunter something to stand on. It can work if a box-type blind is not available.
Just try to stay downwind or at least crosswind whenever possible. Hunting on an east requires some checking around, some good luck, and the ability to pick the ideal tree. It’s not easy, but good thinking and proper placement, can make the hunt work.
If an east wind blows on the opener, and your stand is not placed properly for that wind, it’s better to sit out the day than to risk spooking all the deer from that location. Once deer are spooked from your hotspot stand, the odds are that they either won’t roam past that site or will approach it with a great deal of caution.
So try to be a savvy hunter. Play the wind like a fine violin, and never discount the ability of a whitetail deer to catch your scent. - The Whitetail Wizard