These tips on how to hunt the wind come from Kirt Connelly, a seven-year veteran of Redmond Hunt. Besides his family, the outdoors is Kirt's passion and what he loves and lives for. It led him into the outdoor industry early in his career where he worked as a hunting consultant. He also owned several companies before joining Redmond. Kirt brings the same passion to customers through Redmond’s quality deer mineral products and hunting services.
Wind is the four-letter word in hunting. It’s the invisible enemy that can ruin your day in the stand or even foil an entire whitetail season. Wind is fickle and contrary, and wise hunters learn to play by its rules or go home empty-handed, without the buck you’ve been banking on all summer.
You’ve probably had it hammered home to hunt with the wind in your face and stay downwind of your target. Sound advice. But simply hunting into the wind and hoping for the best is not enough. Success requires strategy, and here’s why.
Whitetails are extremely territorial. Deer also have an amazing sense of smell and can detect anything unusual on the wind. They know their area, its sights and smells inside and out, and can pick up scents a half a mile away or more in the right weather conditions. It’s epic sense of smell makes it a deer’s best survival tool and coolest superpower.
When deer come into a baiting or mineral site, they’re on high alert and usually only 10-20 yards from your tree stand. That’s close enough to sniff the ChapStick you put on that morning. If a wary buck gets even a subtle whiff of your scent and doesn’t like it, he’ll be gone, and there goes your chance to harvest—potentially for the season.
Once you learn to respect wind, you can outsmart it and your target—and even use wind to your advantage. Successful deer hunting in windy conditions really comes down to planning, preparation, and minimizing your scent. Check off the steps below to counter the wind before and during your hunt and you’ll be cranking.
This is the step to figure out before all others: where to put a tree stand. Set up your stands and baiting sites with wind in mind. Having at least two stands at your site will help accommodate for wind coming from different directions. When you’re ready to hunt, choose a stand that's downwind and works to your best advantage based on weather conditions.
If the wind throws a curve ball and comes in a direction that doesn’t suit either stand, a mobile climber stand can come in handy. Keep one stowed in the back of your truck for flexibility to change your hunting strategy on the fly. A climber stand will allow you to hike into another area more suitable to wind direction and saves money if you don’t want to spring for multiple stationary stands.
Technology can also help you prepare. Helpful weather and hunting apps (like AccuWeather or Weather.com) predict wind direction and provide accurate forecasts. Once you’re at your site and before you trek to your stand, make sure the wind is still moving the way it was forecasted and you planned for. If it has shifted, rethink your game plan and come at it from another angle.
You can never eliminate all your scent. It’s impossible, and anybody who says otherwise is lying. Your body is always producing scents from hot spots on your head, hands, feet, and armpits. Just breathing produces scent not normal to an area. You can, however, minimize your scent.
Here’s a checklist of things to do to reduce human odor before you head into the woods. I do every step before every hunt—no buts. Seem a bit OCD? Sure, but added together, each of these scent control hunting measures amounts to points in your favor for nabbing your target.
Let’s say you’re sitting in your tree stand and the wind shifts. What now? You can’t climb down and you can’t redirect the wind. This is a moment where a good cover scent in your hunting arsenal may make the difference in bagging your buck or being sniffed out.
Cover scents and attractants help you overcome a deer’s incredible sense of smell with a scent that masks your human one. Commercial scents come in smells deer are familiar with or peak curiosity, like deer urine, forest fragrances, or food-based aromas like acorns and apples.
Hunting field sprays can be used a couple different ways. When I’m within 50 yards of my stand, I begin spraying the product in my boot tracks to my cover scent. If I’m already in my stand and the wind shifts, I squirt it in the air to both mask smell and/or entice deer in.
There are arguments about whether this next scent management tool is legit, but at Redmond, we use and support it—and some of our Hunt team swear by it. I’m talking about a hunting ozone generator like these from Ozonics.
It’s an in-field device that attaches to the tree above your stand and breaks up scent molecules in the air. The science says it creates a stream of ozone above your head that destroys scent so deer and other animals can’t tell you’re there—regardless of wind direction. Is it worth the $300-$500 sticker price? Your call.
The last tactic for deer hunting in high winds may be the hardest for hunters to swallow—and follow. Know when to say no and take a day off. It takes control not to sit in your stand because of a swirling or high wind you can’t predict. But patience pays off and waiting often wins the day and your target. Remember, it’s better to ground yourself for a few hours than risk an erratic wind that blows out that big buck or becomes a danger to you (or your tree) in the stand.
So, how much wind is too much for deer hunting? A good 7-10 mph wind can work in your favor, since deer won't hear or catch your movements as easily. But anything over 20 mph is probably too much. Instead, opt for a spot-and-stalk hunting strategy on a very windy day and save the stand for when things calm down.
You’re now ready to play the wind! Just remember to respect and work with it by planning ahead and carefully managing your scent. Good luck and remember, in the case of deer and wind, it’s truly the sum of the parts that matter. Doing each of the steps discussed will help you hunt intelligently and may ultimately be the difference between a busted deer or tagging the buck of a lifetime.
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