Playing the wind

[Ohanaman]

I've been debating this internally. I have a stand in a creek bottom along a creek. The creek is about 60 yards to the base of the ridge. The ridge rise is about 50 feet up. My debate is if I should go to higher ground and set up on the top of the ridge? The bucks I've seen from that stand have worked their way down the ridge but not close enough to be in range. Will the wind blow my scent down the hill or over the top of the creek bottom? I've noticed that the wind swirls some when I'm in the creek stand.

 

[Buckly]

You've got about 60 variables to your question. It can be different day to day and hour to hour. I would do some wind testing in those spots with something that floats in the wind and you can see it go a long ways. You can get a general idea how it affects flow at different winds, times and temps.

 

[dogdoc]

I have found when hunting ridges it all depends on wind speed. Of course direction plays a huge role but when the wind is light thermals play a huge role in where your scent is going to go. Normally in the morning once the sun starts hitting the ground the thermals are going to rise and keep your scent from going down the Ridge. The only problem (unless you have a good wind >10mpH) is the first 30 minutes of shooting light the sun has not risen high enough to start bringing the thermals up. For this reason I don't like to hunt on the top of ridges in light winds. Once the ground starts to warm then you are ok. In the evenings when the air starts to cool the bottom of the Ridge is where you want to be.

 

[Ohanaman]

Thanks guys!