{"id":1238,"date":"2023-07-10T16:24:23","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T16:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=1238"},"modified":"2023-07-10T16:24:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T16:24:23","slug":"how-to-hunt-the-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=1238","title":{"rendered":"How to Hunt the Wind"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By Wayne van Zwoll<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: When hunting, knowing how to use the wind can make a difference between putting a mature buck in the freezer or a season of only quiet quiet walks through the woods. Paying attention to the wind isn\u2019t just for deer hunting, either. A plan for success should use wind to your advantage be it for bear, deer or elk. In today\u2019s article, veteran hunter Wayne van Zwoll teaches us how to hunt the wind to improve our odds for a successful hunting adventure.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Learning how to hunt the wind can help put you in the right position to make your\u00a0shot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

N<\/span>o, wind isn\u2019t our quarry; but until the shot, it holds our focus. Success hinges on how well we read it.<\/p>\n

The bear came to me a week ago at this writing. Dusk\u2019s orange light, strained by black conifers shadowing black mud, lit the russet of his head. A mighty big pumpkin! He was shuffling through wind-savaged spruce, headed my way. A stone\u2019s toss off, he paused among blow-downs. One eye was visible between standing boles. It was fixed on me. He lifted his nose, then turned and ghosted through the shin-tangle down-wind.\u00a0Oh, no!<\/em><\/p>\n

Scent tells bears tales it denies us. We have reasonably good vision, sub-par hearing and almost no sense of smell. Air movement \u2014 what we call wind \u2014 warns animals we\u2019re close by when we can neither see nor hear them. Sometimes they slip away, sometimes they dash off, sometimes they hold still until, unobservant and unaware, we pass.<\/p>\n

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A deer\u2019s nose can pull your scent from breeze you can hardly feel. You\u2019ll get the animal\u2019s\u00a0attention!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wind follows a change in air pressure, one area to another. While there\u2019s always pressure, often there\u2019s no perceptible flow or turbulence. Two kinds of air movement matter to hunters: feathery currents that carry their scent to game, and the thrust of palpable cross-wind that nudges bullets off-course.<\/p>\n

Understanding the Wind<\/h2>\n

In some ways, air is like water. It has measurable warmth. It is amorphous, with no shape of its own. It can lie still or move with direction and speed, smoothly or with great turbulence. It can splash and pool. Vapors ride air. If you sit in still air on a stump in the woods, your scent rises with your body heat, then spreads. Think of a gasoline can with the lid off, or a thimble of dye poured into water. Even with no perceptible movement, air distributes your scent.<\/p>\n

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On hilly terrain, wind behaves much like liquid. Land-form can bring quick changes in\u00a0direction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Morning sun warms air, nudging it uphill. Thermal drift reverses at dusk as air cools. Thermals carry your scent as effectively as prevailing wind, whether or not you feel them. There\u2019s little use waiting for sun-up to climb into game country, because your scent will usually precede you. Better to climb in the dark, then at first light hunt across thermal drift, glassing openings and across drainages. Prevailing wind cancels thermals. So can fog, rain and snow, a low ceiling and falling temperatures. <\/p>\n

When your hunting plan puts you at odds with thermal drift, innovate, moving in a zig-zag pattern to keep air movement across your front. Depending on the cover and terrain, you can hunt\u00a0with<\/em>\u00a0thermals. Typically, they\u2019re slow; a brisk pace may keep you abreast of your scent.<\/p>\n

The wind is influenced by land-form. Like water, it flows around or up over obstacles. It can seem to move around a hill with you, as you try to face it. Draws funnel wind. Like carburetors, they also impart a \u201cVenturi effect,\u201d increasing air speed in narrow places.<\/p>\n

While hunting into a light, steady breeze is ideal, it\u2019s often not practical. Breezes are seldom light and steady over uneven ground or through cover for the period you wish to hunt. Few hunts track in one direction, and you can\u2019t afford to ignore other factors, like slope or cover or the sun\u2019s position. Hunting into the wind is pointless if a low sun to your front blinds you to what\u2019s ahead.<\/p>\n

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Sharp-eyed pronghorns have good noses, too. This hunter crawled within 100 yards, cross-wind.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve found hunting crosswind as profitable as trying to keep wind in my face. In shifting wind, I\u2019ll hunt to favor the predominate condition, or alter my path to accommodate changes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Yes, undisturbed game animals often travel nose-to-wind; but after they\u2019ve run from hunters or know they\u2019re being followed, they may use their eyes and ears to warn them of danger up front, while they monitor their flank with their nose, ahead of a trailing wind. Often wounded animals, conscious of peril behind, move with the wind.<\/p>\n

Hard wind can nix animal movement. If it brings a blizzard or heavy, cold rain, it simply drives beasts to shelter; but even a windy day can anchor them. Wind barreling through a forest is raked from the sky, much as water is shredded by rocks and tree limbs as it thunders down a steep pitch. So spilled from the tree-tops, it splashes violently to earth with no prevailing direction. Animals can\u2019t read wind well in such conditions. Caroming about, high-speed air gives little hint as to the source of scent.<\/p>\n

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Hunting through timber one day in strong, gusty wind that spun on its heel every few seconds, I chanced upon two young bull elk, close together, facing opposite directions. Their noses were up, trying to decipher the confusing assortment of smells tumbling into their nostrils from all directions. They were taut as guitar strings. I suspected they had my scent but couldn\u2019t place it and didn\u2019t dare move until they knew where I was.<\/p>\n

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Federal\u2019s Terminal Ascent bullet was designed to retain velocity and resist wind drift at long\u00a0range.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hunting in a familiar area favors anyone who\u2019s learned the feeding, bedding and travel patterns of resident game. Knowing local wind matters as much! Smart hunters note air currents at different times of the day and in different weather \u2014 and how they affect game behavior. This \u201chead data\u201d helps them plan hunts even before they step out of the cabin to feel the breeze. New country is then not a mystery, because they know how air moves over similar terrain and cover, and how changes in temperature influence wind. They know where game is likely to be and what it\u2019s likely to do in common conditions.<\/p>\n

Air movement so light it\u2019s hard to detect can also be devilishly capricious. While it may not carry scent far, it\u2019s easy to read for any animal within reach. An occasional squeeze of talcum powder from a rubber bulb can help you track these invisible tendrils. In Africa, professional hunters seem compelled to kick sand from time to time, and squint knowingly at the retreating column of dust. Largely theater, in my view. Most wind is palpable to anyone with cheek skin thinner than a rhino\u2019s. The sharp motion of a kick hardly befits an able predator!<\/p>\n

\"hunting\n<\/picture>
Swirling wind made this hunt difficult, but this hunter earned her shot at 120 yards. A magnificent\u00a0kudu!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the other hand, you may not have delicate heads of grass or drifting snow to tell you about air speed and direction. Dust and smoke show you the slightest air movement \u2014 wind animals read instantly and with infuriating accuracy! <\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

The bear was gone for long minutes.\u00a0Maybe forever.<\/em>\u00a0I kept my head as still as practical, binocular tucked in my shirt. No need for glass. I couldn\u2019t see far; my rifle had open sights; this bear was close. The sun was down now, the woods a study in black and gray \u2014 mostly black. Then: a tick of motion. The bear had ghosted up through the jack-straw spruce as before. A halting breeze, barely perceptible, still ran his way. He took the same path, but paused as he turned. My bead found front ribs between trees. The bullet denied him a final read of the wind, a sniff that would have taken him off into the Alberta night.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Be sure to check out The Armory Life Forum, where you can comment about our daily articles, as well as just talk guns and gear. Click the \u201cGo To Forum Thread\u201d link below to jump in!<\/em><\/p>\n

Join the Discussion<\/span><\/h5>\n

Go to forum thread<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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By Wayne van Zwoll Editor\u2019s Note: When hunting, knowing how to use the wind can make a difference between putting a mature buck in the freezer or a season of only quiet quiet walks through the woods. Paying attention to the wind isn\u2019t just for deer hunting, either. A plan for success should use wind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}