Carlie Rawls called in to work specifically to hunt an approaching warm front - seems counterintuitive right? Well it paid off for Charlie in a big way with an absolutely massive Alabama 7 pointer!
Hunting wind shifts is an interesting topic that we have discussed quite a bit on the podcast. The theory is that a buck has been bedding and/or traveling according to whatever wind or weather conditions he has been living in. When a large shift in wind/weather occurs the deer shift with it - presenting an opportunity to catch them transitioning from one pattern to another.
This idea was discussed at length on The Southern Outdoorsmen Podcast in episodes 402-408. That series of episodes features Shane Parker of Alabama who ran a massive trail cam study consisting of 150+ cameras on public ground. He compiled all the data to see what weather conditions (among other things) got deer on their feet the most in his area.
A major topic of discussion was temperate and temperature changes along with wind direction changes. For a deep dive on the topic, make sure you go listen to the episodes mentioned above.
Here is how Charlie took that info from the podcast and turned it into an opportunity at a huge buck:
I’ve had a spot that has produced for years on some small to decent bucks for me. But this year I’ve been getting a hammer on a salt lick. I knew he was bedding close ( due to just before light and just after dark pics) but have yet to pin point where his beds were.
Recently One of y’all’s episodes a guy was talking about 2 things, one was hunt 10+degree differences in days and when that normally happens hot or cold you have a distinct wind switch. And when that happens the bucks you are hunting have to change their weather routine beds.
Such as past weeks it’s been super cold 20-30s then Tuesday morning it was warmer as I get up getting ready for work, I see at 630am the wind was swapping from north (which we have had for almost 2 weeks) to a SE wind and pushing warmer temps in for thanksgiving. And so I called off and went and got in my stand before light and like it said 630ish the wind went from north to SE and almost 0700 this hammer 7 point came down the path from a hardwood ridge heading into the pines and the rest is history.
I don’t think I would’ve called off that day if it weren’t for going on a Wiff of the distinct daybreak wind switch/temp rise and thinking he would swap bedding spots in daylight if it weren’t for hearing about it on y’all’s episode. Keep those Bama guest speakers coming! And roll tide!!!
- Charlie Rawls
Huge congrats to Carlie on such an amazing deer and kudos to him for thinking outside of the box and doing something a lot of other guys wouldn't do. Remember if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you have always got. This is especially true when it comes to hunting mature bucks. I encourage you, the reader, to try something outside of the box on your next hunt, you never know when an off the wall tactic will pay off in a big way.
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