Several of you say that hunting with the wind in your face is impossible in alabama because the wind constantly shifts. I have a question about this. How can deer determine the direction of a dangerous smell if the wind constantly shifts?

I look at it like this, all you can do is use the wind, and the thermals to your advantage. Nothing else you can do. The scent free folks, will disagree, of course. On flat land, it stays pretty constant. Hilly terrain, is another story. Hunt ridge tops in the mornings, high in a tree, so your thermals stay high and low in the evenings, so your thermals will stay low. Thats all you can do.I have found that when the wind is blowing, say 10-12 mph, it stays pretty steady. On those mornings where there is a slight breeze, thats when it changes a lot. I guess you could just not hunt those days.

Because they are much smarter than us.

My guess would be that they realize from the smell that you are close and run like hell towards the direction they came from. When I think back when I've been winded, they always run that way. It's hard to believe that they really pay much attention to wind direction.

They don't always determine the direction of dangerous smells, that's a big reason they get shot. They don't always travel in the mountains with their nose in the wind, if they did they'd never move. Our winds are 3D.

Often they do not know where the threat is. I usually see them get nervous and go right where they came from when I get winded, because they know that there was no danger in that direction.

Changing wind directions in hilly terrain is precisely why i choose to hunt on the windiest, coldest days of the year. I have had real good success with mature deer on very windy days >20 mph from the north or west.

If you hold a water hose on the side of the house the wind has the same effect on the side of a mountain. If your on the side the wind is hitting it's going every direction.I almost alays hunt high on the mountain with wind blowing up into the brow.

Me too, as long as it's not hard enough to shut down all movement, mighty fine time to hunt spots where a slight wind is normally a big problem.

These are the days I typically don't go. In these types of conditions due you hunt the ridge tops or down in the bottoms. I assume the higher wind speeds dissipates the scent better?

Tops ,sides or bottoms. My thinking is it does in fact dissipate it quicker. A crisp, clear morning when the air is light and about a 12-15 MPH wind is mighty fine IMO.

On my mountain property, the wind starts to blow about the first of November, and doesn't stop until May. Hunting the ridge tops, is key, but man sometimes the wind will be blowing 20-30mph on top of the mountain, if you go down the side of the ridge about 50 yards, theres a dramatic difference. Hard for me to sit in high winds.