Wind, Electromagnetic Field and Whitetail Hunting

I have been hunting whitetails since I was 16 years old in NYS. Some of my fondest memories of my life involved whitetail hunting. That includes the ones I took home with me and the ones that got away. The biggest thing I think I have learned is that technology and knowledge keep improving as the years go by. Between wildlife biologists, an organization called "Stump Sitters", Deer and Deer hunting Magazine, the explosion of deer hunting magazines and articles, Cable and Satellite TV shows about deer hunting etc., .......we have LEARNED a lot and been exposed to a lot of info over the years. KUDOS to Roger Raglin (ONE of my favorites) and his BKS (Best Kept Secrets) video hunting series over the years.


Back on 10/10/2011, I did a BLOG POST on the Whitetails uncanny ability to detect danger with his nose. In that post I mentioned that the whitetails NOSE works best when:

• Humidity is between 20-80%
• Temperature is 40-90 degrees Fahrenheit
• Wind is steady at 5 to 15 MPH
• Whitetails nose is 7 inches long (vs.) 2 inches for a human
• Whitetails nose has 6 to 8 cubic inches (vs.) 1.5 inches for a human
• Whitetails nose has 150 million scent receptors (vs.) 5 million for humans

(NEW estimates are that a whitetail under the right weather conditions can smell between 100 times to 500 times better than a human can).


I indicated that whitetails can smell food under up to 1.5 feet of snow and in verified tests, a whitetail buck smelled a single corn cob under 1 foot of snow from 5 feet away.

IN a different POST on 6/29/2010, I touched on the SIXTH SENSE FACTOR dealing with new information that even when the wind is in your face so the deer CAN'T  smell you, and you are completely CONCEALED OR CAMOUFLAGED so he can't see you, the big buck sometimes stops dead in his tracks, spins around and is gone in a flash. RESEARCH INDICATES THIS IS BECAUSE OF AN "ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD"  that the deer is able to sense. This is something that your scent free clothing, carbonated suits, all purpose camo and even playing the wind right simply cannot defeat. I suspect that as a buck matures, this sense is more pronounced. In other words that spike horn or crotch horn, six point etc. might see you, catch a whiff of your scent etc. and not totally spook, however that 10 point or 12 point 3 1/2 to 5 year old buck is more likely to whirl on a dime at the first sensory inherent mechanism that spells DANGER. Sometimes we as humans get a feeling someone is watching us, and the hair on the back of our neck might stand up and although we do not have any evidence that anything is wrong, we SENSE something is wrong. Our 6th sense so to speak is not anywhere near as developed or effective as a whitetails.

I have said all of that, to SAY THIS:

Recently I have read different articles on doping the wind, barometric pressure etc. to up the odds in our favor while hunting deer. This is some of what I found out:

• Prevailing wind across the USA is  from the south-west
• Wind is created when air moves from a HIGH-pressure system  to a low pressure system
• Wind changes direction when the prevailing wind collides with a high or low pressure system
• Average Barometric pressure is 29.92
• Therefore if pressure is in the 30's you have HIGH pressure and LOW pressure would be less than 29.92 (under 29.60)
• HUNT if you can low pressure systems when the barometer is dropping as low pressure normally brings (BAD weather - I.E. rain, sleet, etc. making it more difficult for a whitetails NOSE to detect you.)
• LOW pressure systems can also produce cold or warm fronts and cause the wind to change directions several times.
• When the barometer is dropping hunt swamps, or other thick cover which are normally found in lower elevations which reduce the effects on wind direction.

Lakes or larger bodies of water can also affect wind direction. When the water is 15 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the air temperature it can CHANGE wind direction near a lake. I do a fair amount of hunting near a lake so I found this interesting. The wind direction near a lake is often different than the weatherman might predict. Often I find the prevailing wind where I hunt to be from north to south west (At least thus far this year's bow season).

It is all fascinating stuff and explains why most of the time the odds are in the whitetails favor. He can small better than we can, hear better than we can, see better than we can, run faster than we can and change direction in mid stride.

I WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY. If hunting wasn't challenging, most of us would have quit a long time ago. Like I said, I remember the ones that got away just as much as the ones I took home with me.

Now that you are armed with that information, get to the range with your favorite bow, rifle or shotgun, muzzle loader etc. and make sure they are sighted in before you hunt.

This year's opening day, I am in a nostalgic mode and will be carrying my Marlin model 336 lever action with a Simmons Pro Diamond illuminated reticle and stuffed with Hornady's Lever evolution 200 grain loads. It just happens to shoot better than some of my bolt actions and when sighted in properly it shoots under 2 inches at 200 yards and drops only 5 and 1/2 inches. My son is coming home for Tksgiving week and will be toting my Ruger Model 77 MKII .270 with Federal 150 grain Power Shoks. We will keep my Savage Weather Warrior .308 Win in the vehicle for back up if something goes wrong with one of the rifles or a scope.

Dan