Long Range Shooting: 10 fundamentals of wind calls

Now that you have some basic information on how to look at tools like a wind meter and the environment, let's discuss some of the basic rules to make reading the wind easier.

Don't make it too hard to do - keep everything as simple as you can - this will make the process faster. Speed is important as the wind is always changing.

Remember that each wind call is really a guess (SWAG) so don't over-analyze everything, just try and practice enough that you can get a reasonably accurate gauge on the conditions, angle, and speed.

When considering wind direction, try and keep with the simple options of 1, 3/4 or no value winds (multiply by 1, 3/4 or 0).

When shooting, observe the wind and select a wind that is the easiest to identify.

Once you have a wind speed estimated, try and keep shooting in that "wind" and avoid gusts and lulls. Many believe that the wind is most consistent on the "build up" of a gust.

If you detect a change in the wind conditions, stop, re-assess if the angle or velocity has changed, or if you can, wait out the change, but stick with your previous wind call then do that.

Watch your shot(s) and if you didn't pull the shot, but it is not on target as expected, re-consider your wind call.

Take into account the whole flight path, take a local reading with a meter, one mid-way at max ordinate (if you can), and one at the target, and then make an estimate as to the deflection you expect at that range.

Be aware of your surroundings and any other effects from terrain to add to your wind calls, especially across canyons (open air moves faster than air close to the ground, if you are on a canyon wall, it's likely that in the open of the canyon where you have to shoot across, it will be 25-50% stronger) or in draws where you may get odd conditions. Remember that differing times of day can create environmental effects based on temperature.

It is better to take a shot in a rising wind rather than a waning wind or no wind. A rising wind is more even and predictable and will last longer.