What are you guys using to "read" the wind out in the field while hunting/pesting? Curious on some ideas. I see a string some people tie to guns or ribbons. Anything else?
Reading the wind in the field...
- Thread starter Dairyboy
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Pollen in the air, the way grass bends, heat mirage, tree branches, an indicator tied to my barrel, etc.
Wind is tricky and a combination of things is usually the way to go for longer range shooting.
Wind is tricky and a combination of things is usually the way to go for longer range shooting.
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for real hunting I only use slugs which has less than half of the wind drift depending on the ammo. With slugs anything under 70-80 yards there really isn’t much of hold over needed unless it’s 10 mph or more but by then it’s fairly easy to tell with that much wind. For real long range shots I have wind meter but that’s super rare.
if hunting with pellets like field target style with 20 FPE or less then a string on the barrel is helpful. Even with full power .25 pellets there isn’t much of wind hold till we’ll pass 60 yards unless it’s over 5mph which isn’t too hard to feel. Also there are grass and trees so it depends on your environment.
if hunting with pellets like field target style with 20 FPE or less then a string on the barrel is helpful. Even with full power .25 pellets there isn’t much of wind hold till we’ll pass 60 yards unless it’s over 5mph which isn’t too hard to feel. Also there are grass and trees so it depends on your environment.
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The wind indicator (piece of yarn on zip tie) on the barrel of my rigs does help, it gives me an idea of the wind where I'm shooting from. Then I watch which way the birds face, grass, pollen, dust, etc. Anything that gives a natural indication of wind direction. I've confirmed that the simple piece of yarn does indeed help through lots of plinking out to 100 yards.
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Heat mirage, grass movement. If the first shot is a miss and quick measure with the reticle and send the 2nd one.
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@Dairyboy When hunting I just watch the plants and trees and feel the wind on my skin. I recently looked into some electronic wind indicators that people in HVAC use, but I don't want to have to buy refill cartridges on those things when I can kick some dust or drop a few leaves/blades of grass for free. What have you been using?
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Ok so most try to read the environment and just by the feel. I do too well try too. Lots of shooting I do is around corrals and in bare fields....nothing to really go off which is the hard part. More a shoot and see where it went then correct. I today was shooting which I couldn't barely feel the wind but then tied a ribbon on the front and was quite a bit telling. Also showed just how shifting the wind could be here.
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@Dairyboy Seems feasible to tie a few pieces of string to fence posts or on equipment in the vicinity of your pesting.I'm thinking it'd be good for reference, just gotta rember to take it all with you when you leave. That is if you're ratting in the day or pesting birds on the ground. For most other birds outside atop roofs and silos I'd think that watching them take off would be telling. I've been hearing other hunters say that birds take off into the wind because they need lift to take off. I've been watching buzzards a lot lately and it seems true. Those big guys take off slow and if I think they can use all the help they can get. While target shooting I watch trees, weeds, grass, and stings/flags. Often I notice that the wind blows differently at 50'-60' up than at ground level. One thing to take into account is at ground level we must consider wind-breaks like trees, structures, vehicles, hills, etc. At the top of or above it all the wind is less obstructed. When you say "bare fields" do you mean fallow fields where all crops have been harvested and fodder has been cut to the ground or burned? If so you may be able to tie string or mylar strips to some sticks or wooden steaks and stick them into the ground in bare fields. I sometimes use old wooden steaks left behind be oil field workers, hammer them into the earth, and attach some sort of wind flag to the them. I've also used mulched sapling tree trunks as wooden steaks and beaten them into the earth as range markers in open areas. String can be tied to them as well. If needed and there is no string, some times breaking up a fibrous vine and tying the fiber around something can serve as an indicator. If vines don't grow where you are take a look around and see what you have available. In an open field I imagine you could find some straw or sift and drop some dust to see which direction it blows.
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Alot of my prairie dog shooting is just that, either walking in the shots, or the first miss gives a nice puff of dust/dirt to indicate which direction and how much the wind is blowing out at the target. (Works best before the dogs get smart to what those dirt puffs represent)
What you're talking about is the challenge of Xtreme Field Target. The maddening, frustrating, addicting challenge of XFT.
The windicators tied on guns give the shooter an idea of what it's doing at the shooting position, but the wind is often doing something completely different out at 75+ yards. My best scores in XFT have come when the conditions allowed me to see the mirage out at the target. When you can see mirage, you can tell if the air out at the target is pretty still b/c the mirage will bubble straight up. If the mirage is trickling to the left or the right it gives an indication of necessary hold off left or right. And finally, the degree to which the mirage is boiling helps to know how much hold off. In a stiff wind out at the target the mirage will be moving almost horizontally. Think wind driven rain moving more horizontal as it falls in a stiffer wind. Falling rain is just reversed as it's heading towards the ground while the mirage is traveling upwards. And sometimes you get a chance to see the mirage going in two different directions, at mid distance and far distance, which is really tricky to then decide what to do about it when you take the shot.
There's a lot of skill to it and I don't profess to even sort of have it mastered. Seeing the mirage is the first part, the hard part is being familiar enough with your gun and pellet and how they behave at the speed they're being shot to know how much to hold for what you're seeing in the mirage.
As for the benchrest guys who put a bunch of flags up ....I acknowledge the skill in what they're doing, but I can't get on board with the idea of a plethora of wind flags. Reading wind flags is indeed a skill, but one of limited utility. The only time a shooter is going to be able to utilize that skill is when they shooting benchrest, over the top of a bunch of wind flags. I much prefer the concept of learning to work with what you have, be it leaves or grass or branches or mirage or hair on your neck and arms or a combination of all that, over wind flags.
And for sure, put a benchrest/wind flag reader up against a "hunter" and have them shoot over a field of wind flags and the wind flag readers gonna win, BUT take away the wind flags, in perhaps a hunting situation or an XFT situation, and the wind flag readers going to be struggling in the absence of flags.
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You could try Illusion Systems PhaZe - Windfloaters or Hunters Specialties Windicator (On Amazon)
A small feather tied to 1lb test on the barrel All give you read on wind at we’re you are. Then read the plants. Birds tend to like to face into the wind.
A small feather tied to 1lb test on the barrel All give you read on wind at we’re you are. Then read the plants. Birds tend to like to face into the wind.
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Dillon, Joe Garland of JD's Custom Designs makes wind indicators. And you can print these wind Roses (laminate if possible) and adhere into eyepiece scope cap.
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Mirage and things moving around with the wind.
The more you shoot the easier it will get to predict the wind.
The more you shoot the easier it will get to predict the wind.
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I like a small squeeze bottle with some sort of powder in it (talcum, baby, string chalk, doesn’t seem to matter). I use it while bow hunting, but it works great for getting the wind at your shooting location. Much more accurate, in my opinion, than reading a string on your barrel. Then at range I do what everyone else does and try to read nature! Been thinking about making a hollow spot in the 4x4 of a forearm on my Kral puncher breaker, seems like that chunk of lumber should be used for something, besides holding on to. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about carrying it around with me and getting it out. I don’t use it much hunting because a 50 yard shot is pretty far in my area, but could see it being handy for those rare occasions. Hell I’ve only killed one deer past 100 yards in 20 years and she spooked and ran out in the middle of a field is the only reason.
Beau
Beau
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Best way I’ve found is to dial your scope out of focus and look at the mirage movement. This will tell you tons on shot placement.
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If you are shooting around any steel framing on cattle shade roofs, etc, take a shot at a spot on the steel girder and see where you hit.
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Flags(ribbons, strings etc ) tell you direction. Mirage tells you speed. Cold weather flaging tape hung works well. Focus an auxiliary optical device at the distance you feel them most wind is present to read the Mirage. When you read Mirage while focused at the target it is not telling you what is happening in the area that is influencing your pellet. Once the pellet is at the target the drift has already happened. What is happening at the top of tall tress is not necessarily what is happening at ground level.
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Good info guys! I'm taking it all in. I have been using the ribbon now to help with seeing direction. Other than that just see where I'm hitting. Sounds like that's about all one can do. I'm getting better at it already.
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Though some might disparage the yarn, string, or tape at the front of a barrel. It definitely helps to indicate wind direction at shooters position. Combined with other, in the field indicators and lots of shooting in the wind you hit ratio definitely goes up.
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