PLOT YOUR WAY TO A BUCK
What To Do When The Wind Changes
Editor’s Note: You can blueprint a deer's movements
and accurately predict when, where and from what direction
you can expect a deer to show up. But to have a successful
deer hunt, you must get to your stand without spooking
the buck you hope to take. Although most deer hunters
know this fact, few sportsmen understand how to accomplish
this feat. This week we'll look at ways to plot your
way to a buck.
I had set up perfectly to take a buck last season.
I had scouted the area and knew where the buck should
come to feed in the late afternoon. I had gone to my
tree stand in the middle of the day. Then if the buck
came in early to feed I wouldn't spook
him. After only 15 minutes in my tree stand, a strong
wind started blowing from the east. I had my stand positioned
to face the west because the prevailing wind in the
area I hunted blew from the west or southwest. I knew
I killed my chances for bagging a buck in this place,
the longer I sat in my stand. My human odor blew toward
the direction from which I expected the buck to come.
I had two options. I could lie to myself and say, "I'm
so clean, I've used so much odor killer, and I've got
such a strong masking scent on that the deer probably
won't smell me." Then I could try to convince myself
I had told the truth, knowing all the time I had lied.
Or, I could leave that stand site, although I hated
to, and move to another area where I could hunt into
the wind and expect the deer to come from either the
northeast, east or southeast.
I decided to use my GPS receiver to pull up on the
screen the stand sites
I had logged as waypoints. Originally, besides giving
the stand sites numbers, I'd also included in the name
of the waypoint the wind direction I needed to hunt
from that stand site. While in my tree stand, I took
my GPS receiver out of my pack, scrolled through the
stand sites I'd entered as waypoints and located three
stand sites I could hunt from with an east wind. I also
determined my distance from each stand site and the
direction I needed to walk to reach each spot. From
the receiver, I saw that less than .4 of a mile away
I had a stand I could hunt with an east wind. With this
information and following the path the GPS receiver
showed me, I knew I could leave my stand that wouldn't
produce a deer and move to another stand site less than
20 minutes away that drastically would increase my odds
of bagging a buck. Once I made the move, a nice 6 point
came to within 50 yards of my stand just before dark;
I took him.
The
internal compass and steering screen of my GPS receiver
as I left one stand site and headed toward another stand
site . . .
* kept me on course,
* updated my progress constantly,
* showed me how far I was from the stand where I wanted
to go and
* told me how much longer I needed to walk to get to
where I planned to set up.
My GPS receiver gives me much more freedom to change
stand sites quickly. It also helps me to consistently
hunt from the right stand site at the best time of day,
regardless of which way the wind blows.
TOMORROW: HOW TO TIME YOUR HUNT
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