Success hinges on how well we read it.
The bear came to me a week ago at this writing.
Dusks orange light, strained by black conifers shadowing black mud, lit the russet of his head.
Learning how to hunt the wind can help put you in the right position to make your shot.
A mighty big pumpkin!
He was shuffling through wind-savaged spruce, headed my way.
A stones toss off, he paused among blow-downs.
A deer’s nose can pull your scent from breeze you can hardly feel. You’ll get the animal’s attention!
One eye was visible between standing boles.
It was fixed on me.
He lifted his nose, then turned and ghosted through the shin-tangle down-wind.Oh, no!
On hilly terrain, wind behaves much like liquid. Land-form can bring quick changes in direction.
Scent tells bears tales it denies us.
We have reasonably good vision, sub-par hearing and almost no sense of smell.
Air movement what we call wind warns animals were close by when we can neither see nor hear them.
Sharp-eyed pronghorns have good noses, too. This hunter crawled within 100 yards,cross-wind.
Wind follows a change in air pressure, one area to another.
While theres always pressure, often theres no perceptible flow or turbulence.
Understanding the Wind
In some ways, air is like water.
Federal’s Terminal Ascent bullet was designed to retain velocity and resist wind drift at long range.
It has measurable warmth.
It is amorphous, with no shape of its own.
It can lie still or move with direction and speed, smoothly or with great turbulence.
Swirling wind made this hunt difficult, but this hunter earned her shot at 120 yards. A magnificent kudu!
It can splash and pool.
Think of a gasoline can with the lid off, or a thimble of dye poured into water.
Even with no perceptible movement, air distributes your scent.
Morning sun warms air, nudging it uphill.
Thermal drift reverses at dusk as air cools.
Thermals carry your scent as effectively as prevailing wind, whether or not you feel them.
Theres little use waiting for sun-up to climb into game country, because your scent will usually precede you.
Prevailing wind cancels thermals.
So can fog, rain and snow, a low ceiling and falling temperatures.
Depending on the cover and terrain, you might huntwiththermals.
Typically, theyre slow; a brisk pace may keep you abreast of your scent.
The wind is influenced by land-form.
Like water, it flows around or up over obstacles.
It can seem to move around a hill with you, as you venture to face it.
Like carburetors, they also impart a Venturi effect, increasing air speed in narrow places.
While hunting into a light, steady breeze is ideal, its often not practical.
Breezes are seldom light and steady over uneven ground or through cover for the period you wish to hunt.
Hunting into the wind is pointless if a low sun to your front blinds you to whats ahead.
Ive found hunting crosswind as profitable as trying to keep wind in my face.
In shifting wind, Ill hunt to favor the predominate condition, or alter my path to accommodate changes.
Often wounded animals, conscious of peril behind, move with the wind.
Hard wind can nix animal movement.
So spilled from the tree-tops, it splashes violently to earth with no prevailing direction.
Animals cant read wind well in such conditions.
Caroming about, high-speed air gives little hint as to the source of scent.
They were taut as guitar strings.
Hunting in a familiar area favors anyone whos learned the feeding, bedding and travel patterns of resident game.
Knowing local wind matters as much!
This head data helps them plan hunts even before they step out of the cabin to feel the breeze.
They know where game is likely to be and what its likely to do in common conditions.
Air movement so light its hard to detect can also be devilishly capricious.
While it may not carry scent far, its easy to read for any animal within reach.
An occasional squeeze of talcum powder from a rubber bulb can help you track these invisible tendrils.
Largely theater, in my view.
Most wind is palpable to anyone with cheek skin thinner than a rhinos.
The sharp motion of a kick hardly befits an able predator!
Dust and smoke show you the slightest air movement wind animals read instantly and with infuriating accuracy!
No need for glass.
I couldnt see far; my rifle had open sights; this bear was close.
The sun was down now, the woods a study in black and gray mostly black.
Then: a tick of motion.
The bear had ghosted up through the jack-straw spruce as before.
A halting breeze, barely perceptible, still ran his way.
He took the same path, but paused as he turned.
My bead found front ribs between trees.
