Make Your Own Wind Checker Dropper Bottle The Klench & Sharpie Way

[Klenchblaize]

Take and assemble:

a. 10g (£5) of Lycopodium powder from e-bay (Read the label.)
b. 10mm droper bottles X3 from e-bay.
c. Length of chord for connecting to clip and rubber grip.
d. Retaining clip.
e. Section of old rubber grip for slipping over droper bottle. (Note: Must be of a diameter that permits griping droper bottle and cut to length if required.)

Get puffing.

Cheers



K

 

[Loki]

Hi

Thank you for the photo - interesting refinements for my set-up.
Ground wood ash, once strained, works for me.

L

 

[Klenchblaize]

I like the sound of wood ash as its free!

Have since made another with longer bit of para chord.

K

 

[caorach]

I've also tried the puffer bottles with chalk - lots of it available on ebay for a few quid and you can even get it in different colours. Being white the chalk dust is easy to see in low light or against forestry so you can watch it drift away for some distance and it seems to be much cheaper and more readily available than the lycopodium.

However, I've ordered some of the lycopodium to give it a try as it is always good to test some new ideas.

 

[dlz90]

To be honest the talc in the little bottle works just fine scented or unscented matters little, for if the deer can smell the talc they can smell you anyway its cheap and very easy to get, but you don't need the powder in a bottle for with practice you can feel even the slightest breeze on your face a tip wet your lips and it will further help to tell the wind direction it works for me, just my tuppence worth...

 

[caorach]

but you don't need the powder in a bottle for with practice you can feel even the slightest breeze on your face a tip wet your lips and it will further help to tell the wind direction it works for me, just my tuppence worth...

I think you are right on the hill but in forestry I find it really handy to watch the chalk dust float away from me for a little distance as it will often swirl or even change direction and I feel that gives me a better idea of where the scent is going rather than just how the wind is swinging around the tree I'm standing behind. Also with the trees the wind can often be so light as to be imperceptible and watching the chalk dust can sometimes show me that there is indeed a little movement even if I can't feel it and it can sometimes give me an idea of the speed. If I can walk faster than the chalk dust is moving then it is sometimes worthwhile to walk quickly down a ride, even despite the noise I might make, in the hope that something might walk out ahead of me before the scent gets there.

In view of the minimal cost, and light weight, I've found a little chalk bottle to be well worth having in thick commercial forestry and I do believe it provides useful and worthwhile info but, as you say, you can survive without it.

 

[Border]

I use a lighter set to a big flame to check wind direction.

 

[Klenchblaize]

"I find it really handy to watch the chalk dust float away from me for a little distance as it will often swirl or even change direction and I feel that gives me a better idea of where the scent is going rather than just how the wind is swinging around the tree I'm standing behind."

The above sums up the need and benefit 100% and could only have be written by someone who truly stalks and in closed woodland of undulating topography.

I would urge anyone who has not studied the mind-boggling variables of air movement to be encountered throughout such terrain and when given of zero wind to spend a morning on their patch with nothing but a bottle of powder. You'll go home amazed and a better stalker for it.

The one issue I have with the "dragons breath" powder is its not easily seen in low light.

K

 

[caorach]

I did some testing today comparing chalk with the lycopodium powder.

I think the white chalk is more easily seen. Also what I tend to do is sort of "pre-charge" the dropper nozzle on the bottle and give the bottle a good squeeze to launch the chalk upwards. This produces a cloud that in light winds you can watch move for maybe 20 seconds or more. The lycopodium doesn't seem as well suited to this form of deployment as it only produces a very small "spurt" of powder when you do this and you can't see it for anywhere near as long as with the chalk.

However, there is no doubt that the lycopodium powder is a lot finer than the chalk and so it works well with the dropper pointing at the ground and you can "dribble" a little of the powder out and watch where it goes even in the lightest wind.

However, I think the chalk is the way forward for me, plus you can get 250g of it for less than a fiver.

 

[jthyttin]

Also what I tend to do is sort of "pre-charge" the dropper nozzle on the bottle and give the bottle a good squeeze to launch the chalk upwards.
...
However, I think the chalk is the way forward for me, plus you can get 250g of it for less than a fiver.

I use talcum powder, cheap, available, I'd assume works the same as chalk.

I also "pre-charge" by putting my index finger on the nozzle, turning the bottle upside down (nozzle down), then removing the finger and launching upwards. You can get one big puff or 2-3 smaller ones for one "charge".