new to hunting and bows. can anyone help?

[nomad_archer]

Good luck and have fun with it. Opening of gun season is always an adventure. Half the fun is deciding where to hunt. There are alot of "spots" in the woods so don't get too attached to one or the other. I mostly hunt public land and have killed a few deer over the years. Not until recently have I had pretty good semi consistent success and as such I have matured and turned into a better hunter and I transitioned from a gun hunter to an archery hunter my success has increased with the amount of time I am able to put in in archery season. It really is a good time. I am still a meat hunter I've just gotten much more confident in my stand choices.

[213chrisp]

just checked out the weather and it says south winds, if that is true, then should i sit on fart north side of a field and go inside the woods about 20 yards and have my back to the field and hunt downwind ?

[nomad_archer]

Sounds like a plan to me. I don't pay too much attention to the wind direction in so far as most of my sets have a prevailing wind direction and hunting in the mountains the actual wind direction may be different from the weather. Just try to keep the wind in your face especially when hunting on the ground. Now saying that I still do pay attention to the wind but I don not let it completely dictate where I will hunt unless it is high winds etc and in those cases you dont want to be on the top of the hill but rather out of the wind.

Now should I pay more attention to the wind probably but I dont. Now if you want to play the game with the wind I say go for it. It cant hurt you chances of success to play the wind correctly.

[213chrisp]

just trying to think like a deer at this point, im sure no matter how much scent controll i do, im sure im giving away some odor, i just want to make sure i put all the ducks in a row and plan the hunt according that way i have a better chance, i think im going to try a different field this time , and its got a mixture of pine trees and brush and regular trees with what looks like a few decent trails , near a small stream, looks like it would be a good spot where i could ambush one coming in at evening time to the fields to feed. and from what i can see looks like ill have a few shooting lanes and semi open too.

[nomad_archer]

Now that sounds like a good spot. Also walk the stream bank and you may find a spot with a heavy trail were they cross. Follow that trail and see where it goes. That may also yield a good spot.

[mrbb]

I also don't hunt by the wind, far too many times I have killed eer on so called wrong winds for a stand
I worry a lot more about scent control, and getting in and out of a setup, without being seen
most folks hunt where deer smell humans all the time, so I think they are less sensitive to human scent, that deer in big mature woods, where human scent isn't very often there
when possible I will try to hunt with a wind working with me, but if a spot is hot, I will hunt that over a different area with less action any day of the week
to me a hot stand is a higher odds hunt no matter the wind, of you do good scent control that is
I seldom get busted, and I have deer near me most sits down wind up wind and all over me, and I feel I am doing a good job, so what I do works for me
we all learn what we feel is working or not as time passes

[radicalxl]

I like hunting a crosswind. With good scent control that seems to work best for me.

[Newbowhunter32]

I also have found that good scent control is key. For a lot of the stands I hunt, deer can be coming at me from multiple directions so it hard to play the wind to my advantage even if i try.

[213chrisp]

[nomad_archer]

You found yourself quite the rub line