where is is the most important wind?

[wjm1000]

I've been hunting and shooting long-range for around forty years and this is my thoughts on judging wind, First off I feel the wind closest to the shooting position is the most important. The reason I say that is, as the bullet exits the muzzle of the barrel two major factors act on it immediately, gravity and wind along with other environmental factors but I think gravity and wind are the most significant. A few thousands of movement at the muzzle can be huge at 1000 yards. Having said that as the bullet moves along it's flight path it can be and will be influenced by other whim's of the wind. What I do to judge the wind at different yardages is use the parallax to get a rough idea what the wind is doing at those yardages, as the bullet gets further from the shooting position and closer to the target the less important it becomes until I totally ignore what the wind is doing at the target because the bullet is already there. I'll watch the trees, grass and if there is any mirage I'll note the direction and speed that the mirage appears to be moving,

This is a very broad view of wind reading and just some of the basic things that I take into consideration. There is an article on one of the other forums by Shawn Carlock that goes into much more detail.

Before the advent of the kestrel this is how I judged the wind speed.
MPH Calm Smoke rises vertically
MPH 1-3, smoke will show direction of wind movement.
MPH 4-7, you can feel the wind on your face, leaves rustle.
MPH 8-12, leaves and small twigs in constant motion.
MPH 13-18, dust will stir up, tree branches will be in motion.
MPH over 19 and up I usually wont shoot unless constant.