Ground pounders and swirling winds

[swampdrummer]

Hints and tips on how to hunt from the ground when the wind never seems to come from one direction?

The small piece of woods I hunt seems to never have constant breezes. I'd love to be able to set up a few ground blinds but it seems kinda useless when the winds shift 180 degrees every few minutes.

Any help?

Thanks!
Brad

[Montanawidower]

That makes it nearly impossible in my opinion.  In the mountains there are periods of thermal shifts that really are unstable.  I have found its nearly useless to approach animals in that situation.  You may want to watch the weather to see if there's a pattern.  Sometimes strong winds will overcome a thermal tendency, etc.  You need to find a time,or weather pattern, when the wind is more consistent to be successful on the ground. My two cents.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

If I had the winds that occur in the south of my country up here, I would have four times as many kills as I do.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

You've just got to play the game and expect to be busted more often than you win.

[highpoint forge]

Last buck I was 20 feet from on the ground, the wind was swirling like crazy, and he never saw me. Now, he thought saw my arrow fly by and hit behind him, but he just walked off after a little jump......seriously I thought there was no way he wasn't gonna bust me. But he didn't.

[Stumpkiller]

One thing to remember is he's as frustrated as you.  With the wind changing the scents are confused.  If you have been working in one direction with the wind in your nose (or angled into the wind) and it suddenly shifts to behind you - try taking a 90° turn and working across the wind.  You'll still be moving into clear areas.

[koger]

Well heres my experiences. I hunt mostly from bushed in pop ups,and spray the inside and myself with a scent killer. I hunt on ridges and field edges, ridge tops that run out to or into lake cumberland,where we have constantly swirling winds coming up the hollers, only predictable in very early morning and at late evening, and that is if no front is moving through. I feel/know that pop up blinds act as a scent well, and keep a lot of your scent from getting out and about. I had a doe stick her head into a open blind window once and about turned inside out snorting and carrying on afteward. I had a doe walk up within 10feet of my blind this year, and wind was swirling lightly, cool, about35 degrees and she walked right by I shot her at 10 yards quartering away and had a 40yd recovery.

[FerretWYO]

For what it is worth you are not the only one with those issues.

The winds in the mountians here and every where can be as inconsistent as any where.

Something that can work for me is that I dont hunt try to always hunt with the wind on my face. There are many times that I hunt with a wind blow from my side as I approach game. That allows for a little bit of that 180 shift. Other than that it take a little luck.

[swampdrummer]

Good stuff guys. Keep them coming! Part of my frustration is that I haven't figured out just how long and how far my scent is going to travel when the wind or breeze swings?
I had a sit tonight where the wind was exactly right for where the hogs were coming from.. Had the wind switch 180 degrees for 5 minutes then switch back around. The wind was right when the hog showed up but he still smelled me before he got downwind of me with the wind at that moment....

Seemed like a gust from the North(to the south) hit the tall pines behind me and swirled back to the North at ground level.

Gonna take some time to figure this out!

[Hopewell Tom]

A swirling wind. What a feeling, especially if things have been right - up to that point. I agree with Ben, you just keep playing the game.
Brad Herndon's book Mapping Trophy Bucks has an excellent chapter on Mastering the Wind. However you'll never master the swirling wind. From Mr. Herndon, it's about understanding the topography and how the wind is acting in relation to it.
Mr. Gene Wensel in Buckskin and Bone has a great quote from a landowner and he puts the wind as the most important and problematic issue we face as hunters.
 Pretty hard to argue with that!

[Ray Hammond]

We'd never hunt if we waited for 'just the right wind' at HH

It's flat as a pancake and the wind swirls- fact of life

Carry a puffer if you're ground hunting and USE it a lot

I like moving crosswind because more often than not the wind moves in opposing directions- it switches 180 and back again so if you move across that you have to change direction less frequently when still hunting

[wollelybugger]

I know a lot of hunters set up by food plots and along fields where the wind plays a real important role. I hunt in the woods and usually a good stand will have deer come from all directions if you pick a place where trails intersect. If the wind blows there are always three other directions they can come from.

[bobman]

sit still with your silhouette  broken by a big tree learn to shoot sitting down so you dont have to move and dont wory about it. You can't kill one sitting at home

[ti-guy]

Deer are more nervous on swirling wind,but still have to feed etc.there's no miracle  we have to deal with it.

[Covey]

I feel your pain, as I think alot of guy's on here do. I live in southern IN. and the farm I hunt never has a steady wind. I try to hunt prevailing winds, usually out of the west. There are certain areas on this place I tend to see more deer. differant terran features make the wind do funny things. Get you some milkweed pods and float'em in differant areas to see how they carry. sometimes they'll come right back to ya! I would go to brothers of the bow and get Buckskin and Bone. Gene talk about wind extensively in this book. Excellant read! Just my two cents! Jason

[Bonebuster]

Swirling winds are proof that LUCK sometimes must be added into the equation. If you are real good all year long, "he" or "she" or SOMEBODY is watching, and will help you out when needed.

Or, you are real good all year, and they choose to see you suffer.

Hunt hard, do your best, and learn to shoot, so when you DO get a shot, you are able to seal the deal!

[centaur]

Yep, you are going to get busted; it's just part of the game, and it makes things more interesting.

[huskyarcher]

My youth pastor hunts in ground blinds only and i asked him the same question, so we hopped on the ranger and he showed me.
 He digs in, meaning he makes sort of a crater for the blind. take all that excess dirt, leaves, and pile them around the bottom so it is air tight. Then he would take a pipe, like a drainpipe without the little holes, and stick it through the top of the blind and run it up a nearby tree with duck tape.
 And when hunting only open the hole he needs. we have watched deer in the baitpile while he smokes a ciggarette.
 crazy but it sure does work!

[Mojostick]

It doesn't necassrily have to be a big part of the game. While variable winds are always a problem, there are steps to lower the risks with variable winds.

This advice may only to apply to my area of Michigan, where we don't have true big "bottoms" carved out by major river floods like much of the Midwest, as much as we have "bowls" or deep depressions in the landscape.

A key is, stay out of "bowls" and "bottoms" when variable winds are an issue. Simply don't hunt them on such days.

This is counter-intuitive for many guys, because many hunters often make the mistake of thinking a bowl/bottom will offer some shelter from variable winds. Often, with swirling winds, it's the last place one should decide to hunt. It's just the opposite.

While bottoms have a great lure for hunting, because that's where the deer often are, they can lead to endless problems on days with such winds.

You're better off to set up accordingly on the ridge tops on such days. If you're anywhere below the lip of "the bowl" on variable wind days, your scent will swirl and fill the entire bowl, or bottom, especially with evening thermals added to variable winds.

Granted, being on the top has it's problems with evening thermals, but if set up a ways from the lip of the bowl, and more on the center of a larger ridge top, you can mitigate the entire bowl/bottom from being loaded with your scent.

Basically, it reduces your overall "scent footprint".

I don't know if you can visualize what I'm saying, but I've found this approach to be much better on variable wind days.

Also, with thermals, there are some bowl/bottom/ridgeline area's that are virtually unhuntable because all you'll end up doing is spooking deer. With some bowl/bottoms, they're so conducive to swirling, you're better to completely stay out of them and make your "ambush plan" based on when the deer come out of that bowl/bottom.

Hope this makes sense.

[RC]

Hunting down here is exactly what Ray Hammond said.The wind will move constantly. On a day with no fronts coming or going you may have a little more of a stable wind but not more than ten minutes. I`ve told people several times that down here when you get on pigs every minute that goes by once your inside 50 yards your chances lesson on killing one.
  If I have a honey hole I want to hunt that I know pigs will be in at dark like a good feed tree or maybe a gum swamp they are wearing out I will wait till the sun drops past the trees. The wind will turn in a bottom toward the sun as it sets on a frontless day then do a 180 once it goes below the trees.Head in the sweet spot when it turns and you`ll have about a 30 minute perfect wind. sounds crazy but I know it works.RC