Question on winds....

[zeus1gdsm]

So my land I hunt is a only hunt let on 20 of the 30 acres. As the other 30 is terrible thick scrub old field.... It's used as a massive bedding area with 2 major roads bordering it. We know they move through it. But until we get a tripod we don't hunt it. Simply ro keep it intact and preserved.

Where we do hunt is hardwoods mixed with an old apple Orchard that doesn't produce much if any mass. (we did some work on it to help it for next year's apple production)

Our food plot sits on the edge of the Orchard in the center of the property. Cross a small marsh area and we have another thick bedding area to the east.

Now the issue is that we can only really enter the woods from the west. And the deer come in from the east..

However the prominent wind is west to East.... Our stands are north and south of the plot... We do have some homemade stands on the far East of the property in the southern corner. I took a deer out of this last year. There is a heavy run that comes west to East through this location for the built stands. And sure enough. That's how I got the doe last year. So the sign reading and stand placement paid off.. The issue is that with a predominant wind of West to East the entry path comes in from the west. The deer use our entry path for the wood stands.

So with a predominantly west to East wind for the property. And all entry points being on the west end. And the deer typically entering from the east during hunting hours. Should I wait until a North south wind to hunt this?

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[moog5050]

Obviously easterly winds are your friend but not common up this way.  Consider "just off" winds.  Like entering from the north west on a SW wind - enter and hunt the north end of the property. on a NW wind, consider using the south of the property.   Dead west may be tough for you.

[zeus1gdsm]

Extremely rough map... On the other side of the big River is used farmers field. Typically hay....

Distances... For scale. The distance between the 2 north footplot stands and the southern one is a little over 150 yards.

The distance from the southern stands to the deer run is about 70 yards...

Again the wind is predominantly west to East.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[moog5050]

Enter from the rd to the north walking south on the east line and hunt the northern stands on a sw  and enter from the rd to  the west walking the southern boundary on nw wind and hunt the southern stands.  Its inevitable that you will blow into some area that deer could be at some point, but use your local knowledge on where they are most likely to enter and avoid blowing in that direction.  Heck, if you expect deer to come from the south, you could hunt any of those stands on a west wind.  If you know they are coming in from the east, then I would stay with as suggested above.

[zeus1gdsm]

I should add that when the wind does change. It goes from northwest to southeast. My limited knowledge tells me this would be my ideal day to hunt.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[phade]

Assuming the road on the north of the property keeps running east, you could walk in on the northeast corner on a straight W wind until you reach the point where you would cross paths with a deer travel route or staging/feeding/bedding area east of your property. I have to assume you can make it some distance if the road does continue on.

This would make a very reliable entry and exit if the stand location matches up with the first deer coming east to west and could possibly create a stand location that you could repetitively hunt more as you are not burning ground.

[dbHunterNY]

like the others have said you're pretty much stuck hunting marginal winds.  if the scrub field has shade with the deer bedding there mid day you could mess with it a little for low impact gun hunting.  don't open it up to the road but go in a little and clear straight lanes north to south with ground blind or concealed tripod at the end closer to the road.  plant a perennial like clover and over seed with an annual that has draw but nothing too tall and thick.  especially during the peak of the rut deer will use it to stage and mid day feed.  has to be concealed though from view of the roads though for poaching and so deer are at ease.  kind of hunting texas style on roadways thru mesquite.

[dbHunterNY]

scout it with a trail cam easy to get to on field scan mode so you're staying out of there.  only talking like 2 lanes.

Edited August 31, 2016 by dbHunterNY

[zeus1gdsm]

The eastern boundary from the northern road. Is swamp field no trees. 2-3 feet deep. We tried coming in that way last year. Didn't hit sturdy ground until we hit the Orchard.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[zeus1gdsm]

Alright I just got confused.... A sw wind is a wind blowing towards to sw correct?

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[phade]

32 minutes ago, zeus1gdsm said:

The eastern boundary from the northern road. Is swamp field no trees. 2-3 feet deep. We tried coming in that way last year. Didn't hit sturdy ground until we hit the Orchard.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk
 

Sounds like that might make out well for an entry/exit then.

[moog5050]

1 hour ago, zeus1gdsm said:

Alright I just got confused.... A sw wind is a wind blowing towards to sw correct?

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk
 

coming from SW

[zeus1gdsm]

coming from SW

Thanks. Always been confused on that

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[moog5050]

if that swamp has cattails, try using a piece of plywood to flatten them, flip the plywood and do it again and again.  Its how we cut entrance trails in the swamp and the flattened cattails tend to hold you up over the water/muck better than you would think.  I actually prefer cutting a trail in cattails vs. thick brush.  Its easy than it sounds.  The trails have to be made very year around mid-august.

[zeus1gdsm]

Just wanted to update this.

We went in from the nor th to weedwack a narrow trail through the chest high field... About 50 yards in came across a bedding area. Then started hitting freshly used trails. Then more bedding areas... We backed out and are scrapping the plan.

This is a 30 acre field all chest high. We bedding areas were to the west and tried to come in down wind of them. But apparently they are all throughout the field. A real deer hotel.

How bad did we mess up? We made it about 100yards in. Disturbed 3-4 bedding areas and a couple runs.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[DirtTime]

Maybe not that bad, time will tell. But, if you knew they were bedding in that area, why would you even chance going near it? Not trying to be snarky, just curious. A 'bedding area' can be a 100 yard area ( or more ), they don't always sleep in the same spot each night like we do our beds. 

[zeus1gdsm]

We didn't expect bedding areas as it is very wet and swampy in that area.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[nybuckboy]

If you are like many hunters, you don't have a lot of days to hunt each season and get a chance to take a nice buck. You can't always wait for the perfect wind for you to hunt this property.

Some may take this wrong and I would not dispute if you think this wrong. Hunt the land only when you have the wind in your favor until the last few days of Oct and the first of Nov. After that if you have a day to hunt and the wind is wrong, decide which way in would provide the least disturbance and go in really early in the morning when they are feeding. You may kick a few out but if the bucks are moving the does will be moving and after a couple of hours things could be back to normal. 

 

Also around the madison county area I notice the wind comes out of the south often during the season so it may make your north entrance perfect.  Don't worry about kicking some out on the way in. When buck are chasing they will be back around.

[zeus1gdsm]

That sounds plausible. In keeping tabs on the wind for the last couple days. I've noticed that it has changed to be coming from the south and the west on different days. Seems all summer it has been east to west.

So this will bode well..

Hopefully with the large size of the bedding area they will just use the other end. Not move off to another property.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[moog5050]

I don't believe they will move out for good or any real length of time.  They will bed on the small islands in the marsh and will return even though you bumped them.  No worries.  Find the lightly used trails just downwind of the marsh in the transition (change of vegetation) area.  The bucks will likely use those trails to scent check the does.  Set up just downwind of those trails.  Again, just my opinion.

[phade]

If that path gives you safe entry and exit - I'd consider pushing on with the trail and burning that ground and acknowledging that is how you best get into that property. So what - you may burn up a small swath of that bedding, it sounds like you have a lot of it, so I don't feel as if you would lose much. If this were your only bedding or bedding that was clearly buck bedding, then my answer would be different. Appears to be doe beds based on your description.

Safe entry routinely with a little burned ground or blowing your scent into the bedding area on the predominant wind or simply not hunting it at all on predominant wind. Those are your three options.