Thermals

[Troy R]

So I am a whitetail hunter from Indiana that will be elk hunting Colorado 1st rifle season this year. I have been watching every elk hunting video I can, and I have went and scouted my units twice this year so far. I am trying to figure out how the thermals work. Can someone explain thermals and how they work? I am not sure how to know when the thermals will be going up the mountain or down the mountain. Thanks

 

[Kaitum]

 

[Stcknstringer22]

My understanding is early in the am thermals should be falling downward, once the sun starts touching the area the thermals will start switching in all directions then become consistently up ward in the heat of the day.

 

[WyoDoug]

The way to look at thermals is look at it in the terms of warming and cooling air. In the morning when the sun comes out and warms the ground, that in turn warms the air above it and the air starts to rise. In the evening, the ground cools causing the air to sink or flow downward. When the thermals change direction it's kind of swirly and trade wind effect sometimes. You can see that with the powder base wind detectors. The cloud of powder moves downward in the direction of the prevailing wind if air is colder and sinking and upward when the sun is out warming the ground.

 

[Jrrosem]

Nice video explaining it!

 

[Gerald Martin]

Sun goes up. Shade goes down. Stream bottoms almost always have a down thermal.
Prevailing winds can override thermals.

 

[WyoDoug]

Good point on stream bottoms. Same goes with watering holes of any size. Lakes and larger ponds or a number of ponds can generate their own wind. Air above water rises at a different rate than over land. This creates wind and sometimes with a swirling effect in which all you can do is just hunt the place but pay attention to the prevailing winds as much as you can.

 

[Chase McGill]

Been working on really using thermals over the last 3 years or so and it’s definitely helped me make kills I like wouldn’t have made before. But I’m left with 2 questions.

1. many times, I’ll get to my spot before first light. Typically, I know where they’re bedding so on a morning hunt, I’ll want to sit uphill from them. But I’ve noticed using my windicator, that until the thermal starts pushing my scent uphill, it’s going straight down to their bed. So this past week on a whitetail archery hunt, I decided to wait to go in until after first light. It seemed to pay off because in a spot I usually see one or two deer, I ended up seeing 10 does, and a good buck that I got a shot on. Now, my arrow hit a branch on the way to him, but that’s no fault of the thermal I guess. So my question is, was it coincidence, or did waiting on the thermal work.

2. Hunting drainages out west.. many times, the slopes of a drainage ridge will run perpendicular to the slope of the main mountain it’s on. Will the thermal rise up the slope of the drainage ridge, or will it follow the actual drainage up the mountain?

thanks

 

[diamond hitch]

Generalities are best left to dating - if even there. I make note of wind direction as I hunt. Even plot it on a map for future reference. I plan my hunts with my nose in the wind. I have a spot where I have killed three or four elk that I start the hunt from the east with the wind on my face but at the mid- point I have to circle to the south around an outcrop. I then hunt west to east because the wind changes in the little pocket where the elk bed. I walked through on the north side once and ran them out in front of me. The next time I did the southern bypass and walked into 30 head sleeping at 20 yds. They understood the wind and then I did too.

 

[ShadowValley]

How do you deal with the down thermal when you arrive at a high glassing knob before/at sunrise?

 

[diamond hitch]

I have been know to coat my clothes with elk urine and walk right into them. Initially my wife was crabby but after forty plus years the response is " leave your clothes on the porch dear". Pick wisely!

 

[Chase McGill]

How do you deal with the down thermal when you arrive at a high glassing knob before/at sunrise?

That was kinda my question too. Been experimenting with it in the whitetail woods here in TN. The mornings I’ve stopped right around the top third of the ridge where they like to bed and waited to finish the hike until a few minutes after first light have paid off. It’s all circumstantial I guess. The thermal on this particular ridge changes 90 degrees right at first light (with the obvious swirl here and there) and 180 degrees by the time the sun hits it. Take that for what it’s worth.. I grew up in MS hunting flat swamp bottoms so thermals are a new deal to me but I’m learning. Gonna try my luck on a post rut elk hunt in CO in a few weeks. We’ll see if it works!

 

[ShadowValley]

I have been know to coat my clothes with elk urine and walk right into them. Initially my wife was crabby but after forty plus years the response is " leave your clothes on the porch dear". Pick wisely!

On man, I've just been soaking my boots for a few days before...maybe that's my problem!

 

[ShadowValley]

Chase, sounds like you know where the deer are already. I was thinking of a situation where you want to get there and glass across a unknown canyon without blowing out the side your setup on.

I seem to favor setting up on the east side of a canyon looking west in the morning, where the west side could take a few hours to get sun and flip the thermal and I don't want to waste that prime time.

 

[Chase McGill]

Chase, sounds like you know where the deer are already. I was thinking of a situation where you want to get there and glass across a unknown canyon without blowing out the side your setup on.

I seem to favor setting up on the east side of a canyon looking west in the morning, where the west side could take a few hours to get sun and flip the thermal and I don't want to waste that prime time.

I hear ya. I really never “know” where they are but I’ve definitely been making better guesses about where they are because of what Randy says about elk bedding on the top third of the ridge and more specifically on 20 degree slopes. If you can locate those areas on your map, you can kinda play your hike in/wind accordingly. I think that’s how I understand it??

 

[EKY Hunter]

Basically by the time you walk 3 miles to get the thermals/wind in your face to make your stalk the winds shift and start blowing the back of your neck. Gotcha