wind check

O

ole hat

New member
Is the wind direction on a cell phone accurate or do you need to use a dust bulb when hunting ? Most of the time i do have a dust bulb when i go out . Out last night . Had deer in field that grazed close to where i sat . One was farther away and she puffed a few light puffs and they trotted on behind me and around a bend . Kept looking down wind for a few minutes. then fog started pouring in from a creek so i sat there about thirty minutes and eased out of the area . Still enjoyed the time out . Nite folks !!!! Do many ladies hunt coyotes ? dont want to offend anyone so i try not to use guys alot .
 
Regardless of what your phone says the wind is supposed to be, you need to confirm what the wind is where you are, when you’re there! Knowing how wind and thermals react to the terrain you’re in is very important. Hills, valleys, creeks and drainages, woodlots and more can have an influence on what the wind will do. Bring that dust puffer along.
 
I like to use the on-X app to get a general sense of the wind. I always carry a bottle of Dead down wind, Wind Detector to check my wind once I arrive at my stand.
 

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Lucky I live in the desert. I just grab a handful of dirt toss it in the air and pretty much stick with that wind direction.

We often get an almost 180 degree wind shift in the morning . Yesterday I started with a NNW wind and when I left it was SSW.

I will say when I used to feel a wind shift on the back of my neck I'd quit the the stand but have learned it isn't always so , 20 yards in front of the stand it could be different and getting up ruined the stand.
 
hunt0168 said:
Regardless of what your phone says the wind is supposed to be, you need to confirm what the wind is where you are, when you’re there! Knowing how wind and thermals react to the terrain you’re in is very important. Hills, valleys, creeks and drainages, woodlots and more can have an influence on what the wind will do. Bring that dust puffer along.
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This is about the best response you are going to get.

Here in South Carolina you have to stay on the wind every minute. If you are hunting a pine plantation the rowed pines will change the wind direction as will a road/fire break.
 
Many years ago, I would set of smoke bombs on my loc-on treestands to see how different winds reacted in my hills/hollows. NEVER did it stay in one direction as it left me unless there was NO wind and thermals where drifting downhill of an evening.
Oftentimes swinging 90 deg, left or right and back and forth and it was not uncommon for it to completely reverse. I think that may be why the times we have coyotes racing in downwind of us that they don't smell us. This was in timber and hillsides which is not the same as open ground, be it flat or hill.
I have spotted my neighbor practice out to 1000yds with centerfire and 350 with 22 and observed the wind detector ribbons very seldom be blowing in the same direction! Granted, this course it in a long hollow but it is the terrain I hunt in.
I do not use a wind checker but do plan my sets before I leave the house by the predicted wind direction and knowing what that wind will basically do in my terrain.
 
jmeddy said:
Many years ago, I would set of smoke bombs on my loc-on treestands to see how different winds reacted in my hills/hollows. NEVER did it stay in one direction as it left me unless there was NO wind and thermals where drifting downhill of an evening.
Oftentimes swinging 90 deg, left or right and back and forth and it was not uncommon for it to completely reverse. I think that may be why the times we have coyotes racing in downwind of us that they don't smell us. This was in timber and hillsides which is not the same as open ground, be it flat or hill.
I have spotted my neighbor practice out to 1000yds with centerfire and 350 with 22 and observed the wind detector ribbons very seldom be blowing in the same direction! Granted, this course it in a long hollow but it is the terrain I hunt in.
I do not use a wind checker but do plan my sets before I leave the house by the predicted wind direction and knowing what that wind will basically do in my terrain.
Click to expand...

there was a bowhunting video YEARS ago where a guy went up in a treestand and set off a smoke bomb, that smoke went with the wind direction, then dropped to the ground, then made several other changes. it was really surprising to see that
 
With light winds,most don't feel wind under 3 mph on their cheek and shifting is very likely especially near vertical cover/terrain. Temp changes have a lot of influence on shifting winds and how scent is dispersed. Humidity also is a factor in scent dispersion. High humidity, falling temps, light winds =low scent dispersion(tends to spread out around you for a short distance). Strong winds (flags straight out) temps rising, scent carries a long ways in a narrow path(with some influence by terrain) downwind. MOST nights I can trust my NOAA weather app to overlay wind direction/speed on satellite image. Occasionally a 5-6 mph wind prediction will be off, not an issue until the error is double (sound doesn't carry as well). Usually the error results from a rising temperature caused by southerly winds and cloud cover in the winter in a relatively small area(30,40 square miles) so NOAA airport data doesn't show the local change.
 
Windy.com is what many pilots use and what I use. I do believe it and most weather predictions are not for "surface" direction but a few thousand feet up because of all the variables mentioned above at the surface level.
 
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