I'm big believer in hunting the wind for whitetails. If the wind direction is not right for a particular stand I won't hunt it.

How important is wind direction for hog hunting?

Is it less important for night hunting?

I'm about 50 yds, upwind of these hogs and they busted me, you can see them sniffing me out.



I can post another video of walking up within about 20 yds of them, downwind. They didn't know what happened, they thought the bogeyman was upon them.

Yes, wind matters for hogs.

I would say that wind certainly can matter. Numerous times when I have had no option but to approach from up wind, it has not matter. Numerous times, it has. Some hogs are just more vigilant than others.

However, it should be stressed that scent isn't the only issue. Noise also comes into play. I have been busted several times, it would seem, by noise causing the hogs to go on alert, then sniffing the wind.

If I have the option to not approach from up wind, then I won't.

With Hogs the Wind is all that matters. I do lots of night hunting under a full moon and routinely guide first time hunters. If I can get the wind right and we are wearing clothes that vaguely match the color of grass, getting inside of 100 yards is no issue. I have been making a stalk and felt wind change and watched a whole pack raise their snouts and then run like He**. As far as their other senses; Obviously they can see but their vision is poor and can be exploited. I basically move when they have their heads down or are facing away from me. That being said, I believe that some have better eyes than others as I have been picked off at over two hundreds yards before. As far as sound goes.....if they are rooting or in a group there is little chance of being heard as you approach unless you are the clumsiest person ever. The sound of some wind seems to put them at ease. Let me add that hogs I hunt are heavily pressured and have equated human odor to death and act like it. I cant really speak about un-pressured hogs. These are my humble observations and come from hunting hogs hard for the last 15 years. I have likely killed between 750-1000 of them in that period of time so I feel qualified to answer your question. That being said; I am sure someone will say that I have no idea what I am talking about or that I am full of it, so these are just my two cents worth.

When I stalk at first light or last light I make sure I am downwind of where I think the hogs are going to be.
When stalking after light when they are most likely bedded down I do the opposite, I want them to smell me and get nervous enough to stand up, you can be just a few feet away and some will just lay there watching.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be sure to treat hogs the same way I do deer and "Hunt the Wind". The reason I asked is we're supposed to have a WNW wind Friday and Saturday which is the worst wind for my place. We only have a couple of stands that are setup for that wind. The stand I really want to hunt has a big boar that shows up every night at 7:00-7:30 but a NW wind will blow right toward him.

Yes, I think of all things to try to avoid, hunting bad wind is a no-no with hogs. I have seen lightly pressured deer come in down wind of me more times than I want to speak about, but hogs coming in downwind is almost impossible to get any shot off, especially if it is a mama with babies. I have even seen solo boars get spooked by a deer so these animals, despite what the world may think of them charging at people with their razor sharp tusks, are just a bunch of chickens and self preservation is deeply rotted in their instincts.

If you hunt long enough you will notice that sometimes deer and hogs will come in downwind and never spook or even act like they smell you and sometimes a deer or hog will come in upwind of you and just know something isn't right and spook. IMO there are a lot of factors in play such as are there other animals around and relaxed, are the animals your hunting approaching a food source, hunting pressure, day or night, lots of stuff. An animal approaching a designated food source like a feeder is gonna be more alert then a deer just eating natural vegetation because they know they are vulnerable at a feeder. An animal in daylight will usually be more alert than one in the dark where they feel more comfortable. My goal is to always try to hunt the wind especially when stalking an animal but I've had hogs spook at night with the wind in my face it may have been something else that spooked them but they were spooked and ive had hogs walk right by my blind downwind and never even look my way.