Wind, important? Yes! Can you do anything about it? Maybe

[John Y Cannuck]

If you live on the bald prairie, then the wind can be your friend, as it is fairly consistent, and you can position yourself accordingly.
If however, you live in a spot like the hills of Ontario, or the mountains and foothills of BC/Alberta, things may not be as easy as the hunting rag "experts" might have you believe.

Deer always run into the wind they say, but I know that in Ontario, those twisting winds can make a deer run in any direction. I used to hunt with hounds. Listening to a chase, that was apparently running down wind seems crazy, until you realize that the deer was running into the wind, where it was running, only the direction was different from where you were standing. (BTW deer will run straight down wind for short distances, and will run cross wind for miles)

So, the newbie hunter thinks "The weather guy says today's winds will be out of the west, great, I'll go to my ground blind, the wind will be angling across my face, and they'll never know I'm there!"

In the hilly terrain, the prevailing winds blow over the top of the hills, and roll, tumble, and curve around them. You may find when you get to your stand that the wind is in fact blowing from a different direction than it is even at your truck you walked in from.
What can you do?
Set up multiple stands, so you can use the one with the best chance that day.
Make your stands high as possible. This is not perfect, but, even with tumbling winds, it can disperse your scent, making it harder for them to know just exactly where to go to avoid you.
Practice good scent control.
You can go to extremes on this, and it's up to you just how far you want to go.
Limit your exposure to the wind. This you can do by putting up anything that will deflect the wind around you. Keep the wind from picking up your scent. Side benefit,you will be warmer.

If your hunt is the spot and stalk variety, trying to walk into the wind on those light and variable wind days can be challenging. Some folks try to stay on the ridge tops in the hope that the wind will be more consistent. Certainly scent control is again a big issue. Me, I try to do my spot and stalk type hunts on misty light rain days. Makes me quieter, and the mist/rain keeps the scent close.

The above is my opinion, it's one that has worked very well for me.
I'm sure there will be others.

 

[bearkilr]

I actually completely ignore the wind. Out of the blinds I hunt, the deer can come from any direction, so every wind can be good and bad, there's no way to predict where the deer will come from. Spot and stalk is obviously different, and so is bear hunting over bait. The only thing that concerns me in regard to wind is that when it's blowing hard, I avoid large fields as deer seem to do the same. In fact, I've found that on really windy days, it's best to stay home.

 

[genghis99]

Good post. Although it depends on what you're hunting (ie. birds don't care)... scent control and awareness of the wind matters a lot!

I've tried it all... from field sprays and scent control bags right up to Ozonics...

Multiple stands and playing the wind is the best advice in there I think.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

There are options for those days when the wind is howling.
Only a few though
It's possible you might be able to find a bedded deer, but, I think drives are your best plan. Even then, deer can be very hard to move in the wind.
Years back I hunted deer with hounds. they can find deer on those windy days, but even for the dogs it's difficult.
In big wind, deer seem to just evaporate at times. In fact they are still there, bedded and watching you. You will need to near step on them to get a reaction.