Wind on a river/cliff

[Pydpiper]

I think I found a nice tree to place a stand but I am concerned with the wind.
The tree is about 20 yards from a 45 degree incline down to a river, the incline is about 200 yards long and has heavy deer traffic. Looks like they spend a lot of time on the incline and scaling it. Behind the tree is a corn field, about 30-40 yards.
My question is what the wind will do coming from behind me (from the corn), is it likly to blow over them or get sucked down to the ground? This spot looks so good to me outside of this variable wind..
Thanks!
David

[sumner4991]

Good one David. I don't see how anyone can answer that question without being in that tree at the time. It's going to depend on several factors. The greatest of which is the exact wind direction. Normally, you could set up two or three trees to cover the trail. The wind direction would make the decision for you when it comes to which stand to use. Depending on the wind, you might need to take the stand to the North of the trail, or the East, West, or you may need to set-up a little closer to the corn. Anyway, give yourself a couple of options.

The subject was covered in a issue of Field & Stream a month or two back. I'll see if the article is on-line.

Scott

**EDIT** Not sure this is the article I read, but, you get the idea. Multiple spots . . .

http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstre ... 11,00.html

[hatchet jack]

FOR SOME REASON WIND WILL BLOW DOWN OR UP A RIVER IN OTHER WORDS IT WILL FOLLOW THE RIVER LIKE A HIGHWAY, I LIVE IN KANSAS WHERE THE WIND BLOWS ALL THE TIME, DOSENT MATTER WHAT DIRECTION THE WIND IS BLOWING WHEN IT GETS TO A RIVER IT WILL SHIFT & FOLLOW THE RIVER.

H.J.

[Doe Master]

Pydpiper we all can come up with alot of speculations but my suggestion would be to light a smoke pot or use corn starch to SEE what the wind is doing . Just my .02 worth

[Pydpiper]

I wish I had found this place earlier in the season so I could experiment a bit..
I would hate to spoil a good spot with my lack of experience. Looking back I recall this is the little bush my son and I had seen a lot of deer coming out of in turkey season..

[Boo]

Dave, a generality. In the morning if there is no wind your scent goes up because the earth warms up and warm air rises. As the sun falls the earth cools and your scent is carried down hill.

[Pydpiper]

That makes perfectly good sense Don, I get lots of calm days around here. I just can't help but wonder if that hill or river isn't going to play tricks on me though.
I feel foolish for not looking into this earlier.

[Mike P]

Dave, a generality. In the morning if there is no wind your scent goes up because the earth warms up and warm air rises. As the sun falls the earth cools and your scent is carried down hill.

Nail hit on the head. The two guys that started ScentLok, a couple of boys from Michigan, did a lot of research on this subject and have some video of air patterns in morning and evening with the condition you outlined, side of a hill. Mornings UP and evenings Down. I copied this next part from their web site.

It is common knowledge that heat rises. Thermals, or the warming and cooling of air alters air currents in hilly or mountainous terrain even without the presence of wind. When hunting hilly terrain the air currents will be going uphill or rising as the day warms up, generally from daybreak until late afternoon. As the evening air starts to cool down, the air currents change and go downhill or fall. When these thermal changes are not paid attention to they can, unknowingly to the hunter, alter sightings of potential game animals.

Pydpiper, I hunt a few areas exactly as your describing. This type of setup is one of my all time favorites! I have noticed that I get busted in the evenings as my scent is carried down the side of the hill. Mornings i can still get busted, but not near as often.

All things considered, I would wager you have a better shot at killing deer in the morning with this site selection.

Also, dependent upon the degree of slope, your shot could also be affected when shooting down towards the bottom. You may want to take a few practice shots from your stand at targets placed below you.

[sumner4991]

Another thing to consider is weather fronts which could change the typical warming in the a.m. and/or cooling in the p.m. Those don't happen often where I hunt, but, they happen.

Interesting observation of the wind along the river, hatchet jack. In Virginia, the main river that runs through my area is the New River. It's slow moving and relatively shallow river. I have never noticed the wind running with the river. However, I wonder if the wind current you are taking about is associated with a faster moving stream. The water could pull the air much like a passing bus on the highway only the water doesn't stop passing. It might even change with the water temps. Interesting. However, the New River runs North and is one of the oldest in the world . . .maybe it's running against the wind.

Good luck David! Let us know when you get one at this location.

[LV2HNT]

In the places I hunt the wind can do a number of things. You can't just turn on the news to see which direction the wind is coming from and assume it will be that way where ever you go hunting unless you hunt flat land. The lay of the land will also play a big part in the direction. It will run up or down valleys or creek and river beds like Hatchet Jack said. Or it will hit a hill or mountain side and then change one way or another. It can also blow from one direction over the side of a large hill like in Pydpipers case and then actualy drop down and turn back in towards the hillside only to go back up towards the top along the ground. Kind of like a circular tumbling motion like the wind in the back of a pickup or the water in a set of rapids. It is about as unpredictable as the deer and that is a big part of why the deer are so unpredictable. You may think you are playing the wind just right and you will have that deer nailed as soon as it gets a little closer, only to have it snort and bolt back to where it came from. That may be because the wind is right where you are but you don't know that your scent will blow thirty yards in the right direction only to be sent right back to where you expect the deer to come from by some other stronger wind current that changed its direction because of the terain. The wind does a lot more circling than people think and it will often follow the path of least resistance. Add that to the rising and falling thermals and you can spend days or months just trying to learn what is happening in your one little area. Another thing to think of while hunting near water is that during the time of year we are deer hunting the water is almost always warmer than the air temps so the heat that rises from the water may play a big part in what the wind is doing. Another one of my hunting secrets that I am hesitant to share is to pay attention to what I call the secondary wind. When ever it is gusty out, hard or strong, it doesn't matter, pay close attention to what the wind does after the gust goes through and everything seems still. Then watch the deer and their movements. You may be surprised.

[bjs]

I have experienced the phenomenon LV2HNT expressed above. I hunt below a large wooded hill/ridge which happens to be their bedding area. I hunt off a food plot along the base of the hill. When the wind comes from the general direction of the hill, a wind curl/eddy occurs at the bottom, pulling the wind toward the hill. I have had to position the ground blinds outside the eddy which is about 50 yards from it's base. The deer feel very safe on the hill as they can use their nose from two directions. Good Luck

[Pydpiper]

I am going in soon to get a ladder up, maybe I can snap a photo or two..

Thank you for all the advice, it is looking pretty positive..