comfisherman
Well-Known Member
I re read the op as opposed to my general previous response.
My tools for estimating are to watch the windy app on high resolution to get an idea of how the satellite perceives the system in the area to be hunted. I've no tool for estimating, just lots and lots of practice in scenarios we hunt. Watching various mediums of foliage move in various wind stages, and watching how it moves across terrain features.
Week ago had my hardest, northern latitude with 5 hrs of grey almost no sun sub freezing temps and an irritating swirl of relatively stout wind. Area was near void of foliage and about 5% the snow of a normal January. Ceased to be a long range hunter at thar point, and only saw what we were looking for a little past my perfect conditions range.
20 mph in a big bowl of sage in the high desert with minimal geological formation and very little speed variation is way different than the leading end of a storm on the coast. Be tough to give a specific rule of thumb. E.g. my favorite spot to hunt in the fall has a northwest wind that blows hard but the storms build slow and are relatively homogeneous in direction and velocity until they hit the point I don't like to hunt. It's the only place I've dialed for wind as it's like clock work. If it blows southeast it's anyone's guess what direction or speed that will be minute to minute.
To me the wind is one of those things that just requires time to watch and learn. It's so heavily region dependant, my buddy is spooky good at estimating speed from snow across the tundra on low horizon near artic daylight. His advice will not do a heck of a lot for me on a hot spring morning in 80 degree heat down south.
My tools for estimating are to watch the windy app on high resolution to get an idea of how the satellite perceives the system in the area to be hunted. I've no tool for estimating, just lots and lots of practice in scenarios we hunt. Watching various mediums of foliage move in various wind stages, and watching how it moves across terrain features.
Week ago had my hardest, northern latitude with 5 hrs of grey almost no sun sub freezing temps and an irritating swirl of relatively stout wind. Area was near void of foliage and about 5% the snow of a normal January. Ceased to be a long range hunter at thar point, and only saw what we were looking for a little past my perfect conditions range.
20 mph in a big bowl of sage in the high desert with minimal geological formation and very little speed variation is way different than the leading end of a storm on the coast. Be tough to give a specific rule of thumb. E.g. my favorite spot to hunt in the fall has a northwest wind that blows hard but the storms build slow and are relatively homogeneous in direction and velocity until they hit the point I don't like to hunt. It's the only place I've dialed for wind as it's like clock work. If it blows southeast it's anyone's guess what direction or speed that will be minute to minute.
To me the wind is one of those things that just requires time to watch and learn. It's so heavily region dependant, my buddy is spooky good at estimating speed from snow across the tundra on low horizon near artic daylight. His advice will not do a heck of a lot for me on a hot spring morning in 80 degree heat down south.
