The sense of smell is a big buck’s greatest defense. An incredibly small quantity of human odor can spoil a great opportunity.
Take, as an example, a hunter who trimmed shooting lanes for his favorite tree stand three days before opening day. Allowing the bows to lay undisturbed, a buck came along, sniffed a branch, and exploded in flight. Why? The hunter’s scent remained on the branches and was detected.
This post from QDMA speaks directly to the importance of understanding wind.
Wind is the most overlooked detail in hunting mature bucks. I’m not just talking about wind direction, although that’s very important. Wind gets way more complicated than that. The more you know and understand about the wind, and more importantly a whitetail’s nose, the more successful you will be.
When I was young I read that 10 percent of the hunters kill 90 percent of the deer. True or not, the statement got me thinking about how to be one of the 10 percent. When I became more serious about hunting mature deer, I realized the wind was probably the factor separating the consistently successful hunters from the rest. I found myself studying the wind and learning more and more every year. Through observation and experience, I’ve learned some things I’ve never read about in articles. I’m going to share with you some of my findings and explain how I use that information to better my chances of putting a tag on a mature buck.
Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
