GMMAT

So you know which way the wind's blowing?

What good does that do you.....once you're on stand.....if you're not prepared to getdown and move?

I don't carry one.....just being honest.

LouisianaTomkat

For those of us who would like knowledge of thermals/swirling winds in our preferred setup areas.

breakaleg

You can make your own by filling some nose spray bottles with baking powder.Or you can atleast refill the bottles that you buy.

kevin1

Milkweed floaters with the seeds removed, they're free and they work as well as anything else.

BobCo19-65

I like the floaters.

brucelanthier

I have bags and bags of very small and fine little feathers that I pluck out of the chickens I kill.

louddrummer69

When I was younger I went sailing on lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. I didn't really know the guy who took us but he said he would check the wind by turning his head and waiting until both ears would have wind in them. I use that method when possible or I take anything dry around me and let it fall.

dayna0306

I use a bic lighter.If the winds turns bad for a stand I get out ,I would rather be setting in the truck thengiveing my stand location away.


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mofireman

I actually have the powder style and the wind floaters in my fanny pack. I personally prefer the floaters because I can visually track them much farther down wind than the powder. I think both are effective methods though.

Greg / MO

Jeff,

I find them extremely valuable for a few reasons:

One, is that on the main farms I hunt, I have an aresenal of tree stands pre-hung come hunting season. By the time Matt arrives in late October, I'll have upwards of 35 fixed-position stands waiting for us. Obviously, we look at a few internet weather sites to determine predominant wind direction before going to bed as we lay out the next day's game plan -- and again quickly before we leave the house (it's a 40-mile drive to my hunting land each morning, and we need to have a good sense of where to head before we ever leave). We also verify the direction once we step outside our vehicle when we pull into the parking area... stand choice is all about the prevailing wind direction then.

I know you can make those choices in the preceding paragraph without the aid of the Windtrackers or similar devices... but here's the point they do come in handy: The first few times we sit a particular stand, we'll deploy some and watch how the prevailing thermals react in a particular hollow, on a hillside or in some other geographical feature. Sometimes, we've found out that the wind acts a certain way almost every time, and it's a way that we wouldn't have predicted. It's also a way that simply holding a bic lighter (as I used to do a lot) or puffing a squirt bottle of unscented talcum in the air which dissipates after five or even ten feet can't tell us.

They're also extremely helpful when mobile, such as when I'm hunting out ofmy Lone Wolf Alpha Hand Climber. I have climbed down many times over the years when I've discovered the wind has shifted or the evening thermals are carrying my scent a diretion I didn't anticipate upon setup. With the LW hand climber, I can be down the tree and set up on the other side of my ambush spot in less than 15 minutes, and I'll take that any day over sitting an area for a few hours knowing that I'm ruining the spot for that and many more days if I remain where I shouldn't.

Hope that helps a bit.