Hunting against the wind question

[waxworm09]

I have a question when it comes to wind. There is a nice stand in the middle of a section that I can use for muzzleloader season this year. I can only enter the land to the northwest of the stand, and the clearing where the deer come out is to the south of the stand. Since the wind is usually coming out of the north or northwest, does it pay to sit out there on days where the wind is blowing from the north/northwest direction? Or am I better off holding out for days with no wind or wind from another direction. I just have a feeling every deer in the area will smell me by the time I get to the stand if the wind is blowing south. I use scent killer every time I go out, but not sure how much that helps. Thanks

[matchset]

Wash your clothes in scent free detergent and hunt it

[Jeff13]

I think it depends on how many opportunities your going to have. If I know I got time left in a season I will avoid some of my "best" spots until the wind is right. If I don't have that luxury then do your best to cover your scent, as mentioned above wash your clothes in scent free detergent for sure. I've found cover scents to work well to, nose jammer and deer dander I have had good luck with.

[Notime]

The last weekend of deer hunting up here I had 6 deer walk in on my tracks and all 6 stopped at no more than 15 feet from me. They didn't know I was there. 1 tried to run me over and finally turned at about 8 feet. I had washed my clothes in scent killing wash and I sprayed my legs with scent killer the day before and they just layed over the couch overnight. I was sitting on the ground so I was on their level, and I had no blind and as I recall the wind was quartering towards them. It was an interesting event.

[HunterLee]

I don't care what kind of scent reduction you use they will smell you. Wait until the wind is right and then hunt. Hunting with the wind blowing to the deer makes no sense.

[K_Josh87]

scent killer, drag line, and some scents... Bucks are still rutting pretty hard around here... Not paying a lot of attention... I shot mine tonight, after we drove around yesterday afternoon, set up two stands, cut shooting lanes etc...

Didn't once think twice about looking for the "doe" estrous scent I had out...

[skee0025]

Go ahead and hunt it, unless your targeting a specific deer. Contrary to what some people would tell you, deer dont always travel with their face in the wind. If they did the state would have very few deer. It must be nice to have your choice of stands in different locations as some do. The land I have access to is relativley small so there is no real choice of waiting on the "right" wind and I always am able to put 2 in the freezer. If your after meat use the scent eliminators and have fun. If your after antlers wait and maybe you'll get a favorable wind sometime this year.

[BuckSutherland]

My group hunted for 9 days this year. The only time we ever got a good chance at deer is when the wind was in our favor. I played it every day and it worked really well. I think I could have shot deer every time I went out. I am a firm believer in wind direction. The big plus I have though is a lot of acres. If I was able to hunt such a large area and know it quite well I would descent as much as possible.

The only time I got deer down wind of me was 4 does at about 20 yards. They were on a trail and the lead doe busted me right away. They didnt know I was there, but they knew something didnt smell right and turned right out of there.