Do you call in HEAVY wind???

S

StarFox_64

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In my extremely limited experience, I usually pack it up when the wind hits 20+ mph. It just puts me in a bad mood. The wind pushes me and my gun around and makes me think the coyotes are bedding down.

What do you guys think? Are heavy winds prime or should they be avoided?
 
If I'm just hunting for the fun of it I don't like to hunt in high winds. If I'm in a contest I will because I don't have a choice. I like to hunt where I think coyotes are bedded down either way but I'll take the low ground in hilly terrain and make stands closer together. Coyotes don't seem to move as well when it's windy I don't think so I try to move in close to where I think they're hunkered down.
 
Sometimes that's all you get is wind the day you want to go out. I go out. Coyotes can be called in the wind and you can learn something even when it isn't a banner day. I will hunt heavy cover, creek/river bottoms and valleys. You can get pretty close to a coyote when the wind is blowing as the sound covers your noise. Response time is usually quite short on windy days from my experience.
 
No. Hard winds in the forest can be dangerous not only from falling Limbs and debris but for the simple fact that you can't hear something coming. You won't know an animal is coming in until you literally see it right in front of you. Never good in Bear Country.
 
Here in Indiana, critters don't move much in the high winds. I'd still go if I was just looking to get out, but I sure wouldn't expect much. Rather sit in the house and clean guns, spend money on stuff I don't need via online shopping or work on the honey do list so I'm off the hook when the wind does slow down.


Now if I was out in South Dakota and wind was howling, like it almost always does, I would still go but I'd focus on the canyons and drainages where the coyotes can get out of the wind.
 
Originally Posted By: BangPopMaster Blaster and I usually take a trip to town and support the gun store when it's blowing.

If I lived closer to town I would do that myself. Instead, on the days that its really windy or raining I just stretch out on the couch with a box of bonbons and catch up on my unwatched episodes of Oprah and Dr. Phil. Life is good!
smile.gif
 
IF I have to call in high winds, I try and find the low lying areas, like valleys, canyons, or rolling hills and go with something high pitched. Believe it or not, I have had luck in 15+mph winds with vole squeaks.

But I agree, they seem to lay up more, so it seems like you have to land on them to get them to come in.
 
The times I've been out in the wind out here in the wide open, calling has been all but pointless. We don't seem to have a good technique for it yet. I'm thinking that having the second guy far downwind could be advantageous when it works out. I just think sometimes they wind you from two hills away and you never even knew they were around.
 
Originally Posted By: jcs271Originally Posted By: BangPopMaster Blaster and I usually take a trip to town and support the gun store when it's blowing.

If I lived closer to town I would do that myself. Instead, on the days that its really windy or raining I just stretch out on the couch with a box of bonbons and catch up on my unwatched episodes of Oprah and Dr. Phil. Life is good!
smile.gif
it’s a hundred mile to town from where the nearest gun shop is for us. I’d rather drive the hundred in a blizzard than watch those two. I like bonbons too. 😄
 
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Originally Posted By: 204 ARThe times I've been out in the wind out here in the wide open, calling has been all but pointless. We don't seem to have a good technique for it yet. I'm thinking that having the second guy far downwind could be advantageous when it works out. I just think sometimes they wind you from two hills away and you never even knew they were around.

I would try to set your call out in front of you with the wind blowing across one shoulder or the other so that you can watch the up and down wind sides. That way your scent is farther away from the call.
 
20+ MPH, I'd rather just drive around sight seeing, sipping coffee and smoking a cigar.

15-20 MPH, if I'm out there to hunt, I'll hunt (at least some), but I know it's not going to be a banner day.

Mostly quick hitters or nothing on days like that. Sound isn't getting out very far anywhere but downwind, noise makes it easier to setup on top of them. I tend toward even shorter than usual stands when it's blowing like that because my experience has been you are mostly only going to get the ones you setup right on top of and they are mostly going to come in immediately. Rare, for me, to get anything after about 4 minutes in 15+ MPH wind.

I, personally, have got to the point I just avoid hunting the thick stuff in that kind of wind, unless that's all there is. My personal experience, they circle for a taste pretty consistently when it's blowing hard, tending to do so earlier and further out than more calm conditions. And in cover, mostly all I get is a few flashes through the brush as they buzz the tower downwind. I'm sure many more use that cover to taste the breeze that I never see. So, my strong preference, call stands that are not heavy cover, where I can at least see downwind. And expect most coyotes to either show up there - because that is where the sound is mostly going, or to head there, because for whatever reason they seem much more likely to circle for the wind further out on days it's blowing. I like calm mornings for getting into the thick stuff.

Wind days are good days to go see what is over the next hill that you always wondered about. I often to refer to the wind as Anasazi, my ancient enemy. Been howling wind almost every day I've been out so far this year, too, unfortunately.

- DAA
 
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