It may sound like a stupid question but is there any way of reducing either the amount of your scent that will travel on the wind (apart from being clean, using scent free products, etc) or any method of dispersing the scent molecules that come off you?
For example, will standing close to a tree trunk on the downwind side reduce the number of your scent molecules travelling on the wind or does your scent passing through thick vegetation or very leafy vegetation tend to reduce the amount of scent molecules travelling towards any game downwind of you?
There's no way to beat the wind other than hunting into it.
What Ozy said.
I agree. Wind swirls around trees which would probably distribute your scent over a larger area. Wind in your face is the best or wind quartering to you.
If you are in a tree stand, you can blow your scent "over" a deer trail which can make the difference in a pinch and I've relied on that when hunting funnels quite a bit.
A daytime thermal enhances this effect, and an early morning/late evening thermal really makes it close. It's a game of feet. I don't like it.
At close range, a deer that catches wind that has touched your body will pinpoint you like a bird dog every time; and even if you can get a shot off, they will jump the string on you. I've been there.
The wind is your friend or your downfall. I prefer a steady breeze when I'm hunting so at least I know what direction I'll get busted!
The problem with the wind is that it never goes in a straight line. Take some dandilion fluff and let it float away from you. Keep watching to see where it goes. I'm betting that it goes where you never thought it would.
Quote from: degabe on May 09, 2021, 08:21:59 PM
The problem with the wind is that it never goes in a straight line. Take some dandilion fluff and let it float away from you. Keep watching to see where it goes. I'm betting that it goes where you never thought it would.
For sure! I have a few stands where it has a steady upward current. Some of my best deer have come from these spots. No accident !
I use milkweed fluff tho , easier to see for old guys. :biglaugh:
Every sit is a gamble....wind is fluid....
Tim B
I've found some of the highest deer activity areas are in locations where the wind swirls like crazy all the time. They know they can frequent the area in complete safety. As great as they are for deer presence it is nigh on impossible to hunt there.
Don't overlook contact scent on the way to your stand. I am very careful to use a pairof pruning nippers to move branches and brush so that it doesn't brush against me. But once in the stand I am at the mercy of the wind. It seems that about every other year I have deer walk under my stand that don't spook in spite of the cold coffee I dump. And the recycled coffee there too.
My buddy swears by his portable ozone generator, but I'm skeptical. I think one of his kids gifted it to him so it's probably got "sentimental value" and he's in denial. For what they cost I'm in denial. And the treated air has a smell all its own. I'll pass. Just as an aside, I generally hunt only from tree stands as the wind is notorious in the Blue Rige Mtns where I hunt for swirling and eddying. If I followed the rule "only hunt favorable wind" I'd never get to hunt as I'd always be on the move. Trust me, I check it often. I turkey hunted this year from a ground blind, dirty clothes, no bath and was stunned the amount of deer I saw in easy bow range. I was only busted once and that was a morning I was drinking a Thermos of coffee...so technically the deer may have simply found caffeine objectionable....or they knew the season wasn't in!
I have a spot I hunt, if there is a northern wind, I'll see deer, if it blows South, I'm lucky to see a squirrel. I'm convinced the deer hunt the wind too.
Colin: To answer your question. Yes, certain land forms, topography, etc, can disperse scent molecules more than others. However, it would be extremely rare that it would ever be enough to fool a deer's nose. They might not get as strong a whiff of you, but they'll still get a discernable whiff. Then, it's a matter of what they do with that information.