Wind Reading question

[Guest DeerHuntingIsLife]

Hello, I was just wondering if there is anyway on like how to read the wind. Or do i just have to go out to my spot and right it down every day? thanks

[rad_112176]

Is there a certain reason on why you are wanting to keep track of the wind on a daily basis? I always check my wind direction the day before i hunt at www.weather.com and that is what i base my stand location that i am going to hunt off of. Now if you hunt in a valley you will think that the weather man is never right, which they usually aren't, but what happens is in valleys you get a swirling action from the wind coming over the hills and can be hard to hunt at times without getting busted.

[Guest DeerHuntingIsLife]

Is there a certain reason on why you are wanting to keep track of the wind on a daily basis? I always check my wind direction the day before i hunt at www.weather.com and that is what i base my stand location that i am going to hunt off of. Now if you hunt in a valley you will think that the weather man is never right, which they usually aren't, but what happens is in valleys you get a swirling action from the wind coming over the hills and can be hard to hunt at times without getting busted.

Alright that sounds good. and yea the weather man sucks. but thanks

[m gardner]

Check it with your binos if you don't want to go near your stand. Watch branches and leaves and fluff blow around. You will notice the vagarities of the breezes by studying the area with a spotting scope or glasses.

mark

[buckbuster11]

Checking the weather is the obvious thing to do. but unless you are hunting on the very top of ridges or dead flat terrain no weather station in the world is going to help.

If your hunting in anykind of hilly terrain my suggestion is to start keeping a log of what direction the wind was blowing everytime you hunt a stand. Another thing I do is everytime I am out scouting an area whether it's new or old I pay attention to which direction the wind is going.

Just on the 150 acres or so I do most of my hunting I can be on one ridge where the winds are from the NW and 5 minutes later I could be down in a dip a couple hundred yards away and it's blowing in the complete opposite direction. I started writing that stuff down and it's a big help from year to year.

[wtnhunt]

I would not put much faith in the weather channel. I do check it, to see what they say and to see when and if there are changes coming, but I will decide where I am going to hunt as I am walking towards my stands. If as i am walking in the wind is not right for the stand I want to hunt I will go to a different stand.

[GWSmith]

I pay more attention to the neighbors flag acrossed the street than I do the weather man anymore.

I check the wind when I get out of the truck, and as I walk in, with a small puffer bottle of talc powder(commercially made for hunting). It will tell me exactly what the wind is doing in that area and what changes I need to make in my approach to the standsite or if I need to avoid going to that spot and go to a secondary one.

[Rhino]

I mainly step outside and check the current wind direction before I make my decision what stand I'm going to. I also turn on the NOAA weather radio channel to listen to where the wind is blowing from in nearby areas along with what their forecast calls for. If they are calling for a wind shift then I'll check the hourly forecast on weather.com, accuweather.com, and wunderground.com to try to get a feel for when the wind shift will happen.

[Bowtech_archer07]

I check the wind when I step out of my truck at the property I'm hunting at. I'll have a stand location in mind before I get there, but if the wind isn't right for that stand, i'll go to another one. Also, I sometimes check NOAA weather radio on my way to the property just to get a feel for what weather changes might be occurring during the hunt.

[backwoods07]

From what I can tell from your question, you are trying to predict the wind moreso than read it before you get in the stand. After takin a couple college weather classes (my parents money put to good use, of course), a lot goes into forecasting and prediction. It is much too difficult to do unless you really know how to do it, and even then its not guaranteed. A forecast is only about 75% accurate up to two days, then it drops drastically.

There are countless variables that may affect the exact location that you're hunting. So, listen to everyone else that posted above me. Weather.com, neighbor's flag, or even get yourself outside with a windchecker.

[Doc]

Thermals and land formations can make the best weather forcaster a liar. I have seen many times when the wind at a particular spot was blowing exactly opposite of where the weather guy said they would. I have also seen wind direction completely reverse from what it was at the house to what it was half-way up the hill.

Also, I swear there are some spots that simply can't be hunted because of swirling wind directions. I have been on stands that had every wind direction equally represented. Pretty much a no-win situation. That is one thing good about having a lot of years hunting the same property. After a while you get a good idea where those no-win spots are. Unfortunately, they are usually areas that the deer prefer.

Doc