Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting How Much Wind Risk Are You Willing To Take?

I've had my own dose of wind snafu's out west.....played with it intentionally ( on rocks not animals) to see the effects.Shoot through it at the range, etc etc.

Mostly saw it back in the days when I was a lot more innocent about it than later on.

I've passed shots I considered to be "risky" in the wind....but also made one of my longest ever after "doping", which was really a well educated guess.

I wonder sometimes,lets say at 400-700 yards, how much correction do people find acceptable on an unwounded bull elk at 400 + yards?

How much full value wind will make you take a pass on the shot?

I ask because the subject seems to get a lot of press on here.

Thanks.

Bob,

I'm gonna go with what my guide says on the wind hold...

Marty good call....but they ain't always around.

Although, one "call" I had a guide.....such as he was.....but he was pretty clueless about a lot of things.

A wind call was WWAAYY over his little head.

400-500 is my limit on game but I'm confident in 20mph full value winds.




Travis

Travis that's pretty good Id say!

20 is moving right along,no?

Depends on the wind's angle and speed (constant or switchy).
Depends on the cartridge/bullet choices.
Depends on how much practicing I have done in the wind recently.
Depends on the vitals diameter of said animal.
Depends if I can see any of nature's wind flags downrange.
Depends on my state of mind at the time.

5-15 mph winds.... and I'm pretty confident out to 500 or so. Range on critters degrades at an alarming rate when the wind starts to blow your hat off and spotter over.

I'll take just about any shot in any weather.... at a rock.... or a piece of steel... hence my pretty firm grasp on my limitations.

I try really hard to never underestimate my ability to overestimate my ability.....

Depends on several things, but I generally draw a limit @ 1 MIL of wind.

Ha!

I measure by how much rope stays in the air from the dog to the owner with a 20 foot rope...

Bob, about 300 yards would be my limit on a good day in KS. There are just too many obstacles much past that to feel comfortable about what the wind is really doing. There are not many good days in KS in regards to wind.. But then again there are not a lot of elk in KS.

Using a kestrel will help greatly. No guessing the wind speed.I hate shooting in the wind, but I shoot in it as much as I can up to 20mph. If you do it enough, you will gain confidence in your equip, and yourself. Its amazing the difference in bullets and drift. I shot a while back in a 17mph crosswind at 500yds.I shot my 243 with 105 hybrids. 1 mill of wind drift. 3 shots centered perfectly 2.75". I then shot my 30 06 with 180 gr corelokts. I had to hold 2 mills of wind. Same target same distance same wind speed. 3 shots 5"group. Its hard to believe that I had to hold twice the wind.BC really makes a difference.

Interesting question, Bob. In the majority of hunting situations,especially out west, I'd wager most couldn't dope the wind accurately across a valley, whether the valley is in Colorado, Texas or Pennsylvania, lack of 'wind flags' would really put the hurt on any estimations.
I notice on some of the videos, they appear to be shooting in very little-to-no winds. Lucky them. Try that same shot with an unknown cross-wind swirling up and/or down and/or across the canyon and let's see your targets then?
Personally, with a good rest I feel good out to 350-400 with the 243. about 50 yards further with the 264 and about the same as the 243 with my 25-06's. Across a canyon though? I'll pass most any shot inside of 400 and many times, inside of 300. As XPHunter said "It Depends..."

It's not the amount of correction that matters.

It the amount of variance in the gusts.

I dropped an antelope in a 40 MPH full value crosswind, but it was dead steady. No gusting, no variation. Dial it in, allow for the spindrift, simple.

I've had some less spectacular results with lower, but more variable wind values.

Great responses Guys! Good thread and interesting input!.

Schrapnel how much wind to keep the rope in the air?


6.5: Deer are fine...elk was just a generic target example.

I've been a meteorologist for more than 35 years and in the last 15 years have specialized in microscale and mesoscale meteorology, especially doping the wind for wildland firefighters so they could stay out of the way of really large, fast-moving fires that are primarily moved by the wind.

Unless you're VERY skilled, figuring wind across a canyon is mostly a matter of luck. And even if you're very skilled, you won't get it right every time...sometimes not even most of the time.

Look at a small stream, how it moves quickly in the middle, slows near the sides and eddies where it actually makes contact with the bank. Then the eddies make contact with the slower water, causing turbulence, and the slower water creates friction with the faster water, which constantly moves the boundary between the areas of water moving at different speeds.

Now translate all of that into a vertical dimension rather than horizontal, switch the water for wind and you'll have SOME of the variability encountered in valley winds.

Kestrels are handy but they have their own limitations. Essentially, you have to accept that they are only measuring the wind they are exposed to - the wind at the height above the ground you're holding it, at the elevation on the hillside you're standing on, and only THAT hillside. It simply will not be the same in the center of the valley or on the other side of the valley.

Drawing a straight line across a valley to represent the path of a bullet, the center of the valley will generally have stronger winds because of less friction with the surface. Occasionally it will have much stronger winds because of the venturi effect that comes into play when wind is being funneled through a valley that is becoming narrower in the direction the wind is traveling.

If the valley is curving, you'll also get some rising motion on the outside edge, just like rushing water trying to make it around a tight bend in the river. We once had a nighttime backfire go exactly the wrong direction because down-valley winds picked up enough to push air up and over a cliffside that was directly above a bend in the river (the top of the cliff was where we lit our backfire).

Rising air will also play havoc with winds as the ground heats up in the afternoon. And since one side of the valley will almost always have different surface temps than the other side, influence on horizontally-moving wind will vary across the canyon, too.

Even when the wind is steady, friction with the surface will cause turbulence that builds steadily upward, turning your winds in multiple directions until it gets so far from the surface that it disengages - wherein the turbulence suddenly collapses and the wind becomes steady again. This steadiness only lasts until friction starts creating turbulence at ground-level again, building upwards from the surface in an ever-continuing cycle.

The motto of this story is simple: if you have still or very light winds, you might chance a long shot across a canyon and you will probably do well if you're a skilled shooter and if you don't wait long enough for conditions to change. But never assume the wind is doing anything you can count on - especially over long distances - and be ready for the consequences.

czech thats a very good bunch of information. Great post! It's a wonder some people can dope those conditions at all.

It seems that even with good high BC bullets we have to be pretty careful if it's blowing!

czech, thanks for saying what I was trying to say. And, in a much, much better way! GREAT Answer!

For most places.




Travis

In Colorado we use a chain.

Lefty C