Checking the wind

Riverman

Member
If you keep squeezy bottle of talcum power in your pocket you can get an accurate check on even the slightest breeze with a quick squirt, Tesco do a pack of 2 travel bottles for a couple of quid which are ideal for the job.
Bottle.jpgPowder.jpg
 
My stalking mentor got me to tie a length of fluffed up cotton to my stalking sticks, that way you always have a visual indicator as you walk along. Works great even when the sticks are deployed and you are waiting quietly in ambush.
 
simples pick some grass throw it up and whoosh away with the wind,
but mind sometimes the wind direction can be misleading
if your in a ride
or on the brow of a hill
or in a valley
any where it can be channelled
only on open hill will the wind be uninterrupted and you will get an accurate direction
 
I am a smoker so its easy for me, but the talcum powder as mentioned works as does the little bottle and ring for blowing bubbles
that kids have.
 
talc, pieces of cotton, grass and whatever else you think of only tells you what the wind is doing were you're standing. Not uncommon for wind to shift, change direction 180 degrees and change magnitude - especially out on the hill.

Observe the vegetation out to your intended target - watch it in increments out.
 
blowing bubbles is good fun but after the stress of hard weeks work a cig before a stalk is the answer for me
I am a smoker so its easy for me, but the talcum powder as mentioned works as does the little bottle and ring for blowing bubbles
that kids have.
 
The powder is really good when the wind is too light so move the grass or feel on your face, it will show a wind which is to light for a piece of cotton but still strong enough to ruin a stalk.Also the hairs on the back of your neck will often alert you to a wind which has moved behind you. I stalk in one valley where the wind blows straight up from behind when you start to stalk it, which would make you think it was useless to stalk, but I know from experience that in 200 M it will veer 90 degrees and blow straight up the hill to one side and leave the rest of the valley free to stalk.
 
Talc in a sock, tied to your belt, hit the sock and out comes talc showing the wind, picked that one up in africa :)

George
 
I've used the talcum powder trick for years and keep it in a little squeezable bottle so I can just give it a puff now and again.
 
I've used the talcum powder trick for years and keep it in a little squeezable bottle so I can just give it a puff now and again.

Is it a criteria what your sexual orientation is then who accompanies you Paul? personally as long as I can bend over without fear whilst doing a gralloch I could not care less each to their own I suppose :D

As regard what i use to check wind direction and strength its either a zip lighter and check which way the flame leans or I have been known to use kiddies bubbles in the past:lol:
 
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I just use my face and in particular my ears to judge wind direction - very simply turn your head into wind and when you feel equal levels of coldness / or warmness on each ear you then facing directly into wind - but I suppose you do need sensitive and sticky out type ears.

More difficult to pick up though is how the wind swirls and eddies around hills trees etc - best way to visualise this is how water flows over rocks in a river. Don't forget though the effect of the sun when it warms the ground causing thermals etc and how a thermal rising can cause wind directions to change very quickly and catch you out.
 
Now's the time of year to pick up one of the puffball fungi starting to litter the woodlands, give it a squeeze and watch the direction the ejected spores take. Organic, sustainable, green and most importantly...........................free. :D
 
centralbely stalker used to be a magician & he went of with a puff:rofl: smoking is the best but for your health some bubbles is prob far better as its more visable to see change in wind etc
I've used the talcum powder trick for years and keep it in a little squeezable bottle so I can just give it a puff now and again.
 
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