Wind direction matter when hunting near houses or roads?

snowracerh

Active Member
All, I have been pondering for some time about how strict I should really be with wind direction. I have a very strick scent control regime to minimize scent around stands and on the walk in. I have a road about 250 yards from my stands where people walk frequently. Also there is a house within 300 yards with kids playing in the yard every evening. The wind typically blows from the house area into my wooded parcel. What are you experiences with these senarios? Right now I try and only hunt the correct wind, which is from the west towards the east. There arent too many days where im off work, its a good time of the season plus the wind is blowing from an uncommon direction. When I have had deer downwind, they dont seem too concerned.

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I hunt within 75 yards of my house at home 10 in plain view of it. I can be in the yard and the deer pay me no mind as far as scent. When I get in the tree stand I have to be very conscientious of wind direction because they will bust me every time if it is wrong.
 
Deer get used to smells and noise from houses and kids and even barking dogs just like they do cars on the road and tractors in the fields. However...it's when those sounds and smells are not where they are supposed to be or they are stronger for some reason...they can tell. I think they cue in on the differences and the strange/out of place things....regardless of how small. A deer will question what it sees and what it hears far more than it will ever question what it smells!
 
I agree with Okie. I hunt within yards of my house. I had a spike two years ago catch my wind. He would look toward the house and I could see him thinking "i can smell him why can't I hear or see him". Mind you, I loaded up the wood stove and closed the damper down. There was a pretty good haze of smoke and he had no problem picking me out. Amazing animals.
 
A deer's sense of smell is everything it's cracked up to be times two. Once I was walking in to my stand in rubber high top boots freshly washed and sprayed, when I kicked a branch off the path. That little mistake cost me the biggest buck of the year, he smelled that immediately. Of course, if I can help it I don't walk in on the trail that I'm expecting the deer to travel. So I say even if you're hunting close to a house control your scent just the same as you normally would.
 
I agree with the above. My bow stand at home is about 200 yards from my house, but I never hunt with the wrong wind. It narrows the days that I can hunt it, but worthwhile because I've never been busted. If the wind is iffy, I hunt elsewhere.
 
If I see a nasty looking guy with a weapon when I drive through the slums, I think nothing of it. If one walks into my bedroom, it's a whole different matter.
 
One more for ya.
I sat watching a field in the middle of a trio of logging equipment that was running an hour before. Two doe were feeding their way down to my sent stream that would surely be camouflaged by all the heavy equipment smell. The lead doe couldn't have gone from feeding to fleeing any faster if she was hit on the nose with a cattle prod. THEY KNOW.
 
While I agree with all of the above, I'm of the opinion that deer that live around human smells are much more tolerant when they smell you. Not saying they don't care but they don't instantaneously bolt the sec it hits 'em. My old farm that was very isolated, the deer gave you no second when they caught a whiff, deer at my house and the base I work will often pause and investigate whether they should be concerned or not.
 
One more for ya.
I sat watching a field in the middle of a trio of logging equipment that was running an hour before. Two doe were feeding their way down to my sent stream that would surely be camouflaged by all the heavy equipment smell. The lead doe couldn't have gone from feeding to fleeing any faster if she was hit on the nose with a cattle prod. THEY KNOW.
That is the type of story that just reconfirms what I've said for many for many years...cover scents are a joke. Anyone who thinks deer can't simultaneously sort out a thousand odors, is naive.
 
All, I have been pondering for some time about how strict I should really be with wind direction. I have a very strick scent control regime to minimize scent around stands and on the walk in. I have a road about 250 yards from my stands where people walk frequently. Also there is a house within 300 yards with kids playing in the yard every evening. The wind typically blows from the house area into my wooded parcel. What are you experiences with these senarios? Right now I try and only hunt the correct wind, which is from the west towards the east. There arent too many days where im off work, its a good time of the season plus the wind is blowing from an uncommon direction. When I have had deer downwind, they dont seem too concerned.

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I wondered about that for years and I've proven that they still bust me when they wind me around my home. But the level of alarm is not as intense. Even when they wind me when I'm on my porch, they know something isn't right, which just blows my mind.
How well that they sort out odors is amazing. Here is a story that further boggles my mind about how they interact around humans and our homes. Several years ago, we did some remodeling at my home. We did some stamped concrete outside my front door. In those years, stamped concrete was extremely dirty to do. A hydrophobic release powder would be sprinkled on the wet concrete just before the stamps were applied. After the concrete cured, the powder would be power washed off. Since the powder was hydrophobic, it would not actually mix with the water, it would just "blow" off. The powder is so fine that it could infiltrate even my relatively air tight, energy efficient home. There was a haze of release powder inside my home. What that proved to me was how much air exchange comes in, AND OUT of our homes. So why is it that deer are perfectly comfortable, just a few yards away, downwind of my home which spews human odor 24/7/365?? But if I'm on my porch or in a tree at the edge of my yard...BUSTED!
And why is it a stand located right beside a road can still be prone to odor busts when that same exact location has hundreds of autos cruising by all day long (with many of the cars having windows open?
Humans cannot begin to fathom how a deer's sense of smell works. Simply amazing critters.
 
Just like properties all deer are different and how they will behave "DEPENDS"; Often, regularly deer in the yard less than forty yards away and sometimes as close as twenty yards or a little less, and sometimes downwind of us watch us leave the house, close the door loudly and get in the truck, close the truck door loudly, start it and drive away slowly. They just stand on semi-alert and watch and before the truck is out of their sight they are back to relaxed feeding; it is the same for the driveway deer.Thus from these experiences which as stated happen regularly one can see that those deer ( up to about nine of them) do not mind smelling and seeing and hearing us there under those circumstances.

Conversely bucks with antlers showing are very seldom (once every few years) seen in that forty yards circling the barn area.Also while the deer are present there which is usually daily and multi times each day (except during heavy snow cover and storms) there are times when they disappear for one to three days. The one to three day disappear act happens about every time we venture into the woods surrounding the yard area.

When in the woods surrounding the yard area, the same deer that I can talk to and walk by come unglued from my scent and/or visual presence. The only exception to that is near the end of winter when their fairly annual starvation period is underway.

And a second on the airtight house Tap. Our barn is "airtight"; we can not find any drafts from any windows. But today with thirty mile an hour winds a sheet hanging over a doorway was moving ever so slightly from moving air.
 
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Just like properties all deer are different and how they will behave "DEPENDS"; Often, regularly deer in the yard less than forty yards away and sometimes as close as twenty yards or a little less, and sometimes downwind of us watch us leave the house, close the door loudly and get in the truck, close the truck door loudly, start it and drive away slowly. They just stand on semi-alert and watch and before the truck is out of their sight they are back to relaxed feeding; it is the same for the driveway deer.Thus from these experiences which as stated happen regularly one can see that those deer ( up to about nine of them) do not mind smelling and seeing and hearing us there under those circumstances.

Conversely bucks with antlers showing are very seldom (once every few years) seen in that forty yards circling the barn area.Also while the deer are present there which is usually daily and multi times each day (except during heavy snow cover and storms) there are times when they disappear for one to three days. The one to three day disappear act happens about every time we venture into the woods surrounding the yard area.

When in the woods surrounding the yard area, the same deer that I can talk to and walk by come unglued from my scent and/or visual presence. The only exception to that is near the end of winter when their fairly annual starvation period is underway.

And a second on the airtight house Tap. Our barn is "airtight"; we can not find any drafts from any windows. But today with thirty mile an hour winds a sheet hanging over a doorway was moving ever so slightly from moving air.

More examples that prove that deer are individual critters that make conscious decisions. If they reacted to negative stimuli in instinctive ways, they would never tolerate human odor under any circumstance.
 
More examples that prove that deer are individual critters that make conscious decisions. If they reacted to negative stimuli in instinctive ways, they would never tolerate human odor under any circumstance.

I think Tap, you fully are correct with your thinking on that. When we let the little white dog out in the morning the deer watch but do not get alarmed. When she barks to be let in they make a leap or two but usually go back to feeding after watching the little white dog disappear into the barn. Acting Instinctively they would of course bolt when the door is opened or when the dog appears but some of these deer have seen that dog since they themselves were only a couple of weeks old and have learned that she is not a threat.

Sometimes though the deer act in a manner that could be interpreted as instinctive but is likely learned from their parents. When we drive by young deer in the driveway they sometimes bolt automatically but then stop and look confused as the mother just stands there watching us go by. After a number of times of this happening the young deer evidently learn that when on the public road which actually looks the same as our driveway they must bolt away at the sign of a vehicle based on what their mother does whereas in the driveway the example shown by the mother is to just stand and watch until the vehicle passes and then go back to feeding.

Maybe and just a theory most antlered bucks have yet to trust the yard and driveway and our activities because they have moved away by the time they have antlers and the ones replacing them from away have no mother here to train them that the driveway is OK. Also as the young bucks hang out with other bucks in their bachelor groups they are taught by example of the other bucks to stay away from our driveway and people activity.

And back on the original question, yes when hunting around the yard and especially if hunting bucks one needs to be just as careful with scent and entry as hunting in the deep woods. And if one breaks the security area feeling around a yard or least this yard then the does would be just as sensitive to people scent as the bucks are whether in the yard or in the deep woods for we would have trained them to be that way and the survivors would/will train their offspring accordingly.
 
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And back on the original question, yes when hunting around the yard and especially if hunting bucks one needs to be just as careful with scent and entry as hunting in the deep woods. And if one breaks the security area feeling around a yard or least this yard then the does would be just as sensitive to people scent as the bucks are whether in the yard or in the deep woods for we would have trained them to be that way and the survivors would/will train their offspring accordingly.

One mistake that too many guys make is they assume that there are no variations in what is considered "down wind". Our scent cone is not well defined. The fringes of our scent cone definitely do not have the same odor concentration as the center and the cone seldom 100% consistent in size and direction. Wind eddies and it fluctuates which creates a mixing effect that dilutes the intensity of our odor.

So, can a hunter experience fewer odor busts when hunting stands close to houses or roads? Probably. Can the hunter forego all odor reduction practices? I don't know...ask the deer that makes day to day and minute to minute decisions.
I know that I won't ignore my odor reduction regimen.

I doubt that an odor bust that occurs right outside the door is as disruptive to herd behavior as does a bust that's deep in the woods.
I avoid my best stands on days when the wind is screwy. I do think that it's less risky to the "calmness" of the herd to hunt out the back door on those days of fickle wind. Yeah, you may still have odor busts, but they probably won't have the long lasting effects. But then again, the individual deer will decide what upsets them and what they will accept.
 
Deer get used to smells and noise from houses and kids and even barking dogs just like they do cars on the road and tractors in the fields. However...it's when those sounds and smells are not where they are supposed to be or they are stronger for some reason...they can tell. I think they cue in on the differences and the strange/out of place things....regardless of how small. A deer will question what it sees and what it hears far more than it will ever question what it smells!

^^^^^THIS^^^^^^ But, to be honest, I have NEVER seen a deer question what it smells----especially if it's human.
 
I agree with all the above.

Been running equipment and drove right up to and pass deer that had learned I was no problem.

I also shot my biggest buck ever one Opening Morning in Pa while sitting on a chair on the crest of a hill, while smoking a cigarette. The deer came across the hill and went in back of me just out of sight. I rose from sitting and he was making a scrape.

I’ve seen and shot a lot of deer while smoking and know of others who say the same.

I also knew of guys that stood in the fire smoke the evening or morning before a hunt and swore by it covering their scent.

Weird Stuff but true.

Fact is No Two Deer are the same and what bothers or scares one might make another curious.
 
Good info from all above. I would add that I like to bowhunt with an area downwind that a deer is not likely to be in, it just betters the odds. These places aren't that easy to find where I hunt, but I seek them out. Another thing I'll add, is that steady winds from 5 to 15 mph are what I like best. Those ebb and flow winds are trouble when your quarry is close. You can get away with much more when gun hunting, especially if you're elevated.
 
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