However, it took me several years to finally figure out the best wind direction to utilize when hunting these narrow strips of cover. Any wind that is parallel with the cover is going to alert any approaching deer from one direction on the corridor, and any deer traveling from the other direction would be traveling with a tailwind. Since I personally don't want to waste time sitting out on the open prairie waiting for a buck to give up the wind and commit suicide, I've found that the best way to hunt these corridors is by using a crosswind! Over the years, I've been very successful using this strategy.

KNOWLEDGE IN ACTION
Several years ago it became very apparent to me that most bucks, and mature bucks in particular, would be traveling along the downwind side of these strips of cover when using them with a crosswind. This makes perfect sense because these bucks are able to detect anything within the slight cover while using their eyes for the open areas. To hunt such a setup, I simply get as high as possible with my stands, and with any substantial breeze my scent goes right over the top of downwind deer.

In fact, I expect any mature bucks to be on the downwind side with such regularity that I concentrate my attention in that direction no matter what other factors may be present. For example, last season I was hunting a fencerow that had a plowed field on one side and a picked cornfield on the other. Most of us know firsthand how hard it is to walk across a plowed field, yet every buck that I saw from that stand was walking through the plowed field rather than the cornstalks because the plowed ground was downwind of the cover! It's plausible to think that the bucks would have had an easier time walking through the cornstalks than the plowed ground, but they were not willing to give up the wind to do so.

FINAL THOUGHTS
For whitetail fanatics like me, there's a lot more to understanding how a buck uses his nose than trying to be as odor-free as possible and occasionally throwing out a bottled deer potion. All deer use their noses every day, but mature bucks have mastered the process. In fact, it is not even a conscious thought process -- it's an instinctual habit.

Remaining scent-free is a small part of the overall equation. Learning how a mature buck actually uses his nose is an ongoing and difficult process. Certainly it's made more difficult by the fact that it is beyond comprehension for us humans to envision continually acting and reacting to smells, since we don't have that ability. A mature buck's sense of smell is almost like an additional X-ray vision that he uses without thought just as we use our sight without thought.

I'm sure that we'll never fully understand all the ways a mature buck uses his nose, but I can say with confidence that the more we learn about the subject, the more mature bucks we'll end up seeing in the woods!

(Editor's Note: For an autographed copy of the author's popular hardback book, Hunting Trophy Whitetails in the Real World, send a check or money order for $28, which includes shipping, to Higgins Outdoors, Rt. 1, Box 271, Gays, IL 61928. Or you can order online by going to www.higginsoutdoors.com.)

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