#21 Kestrel as training tool: Learning wind is hard, Kestrel is a cheat

[hereinaz]

Wind reading is hard. You need to read it at your location, at your target, and everywhere in between. A Kestrel is great for speed and direction at the shooters location, but it is useless for reading the wind all the way to the target. There are all sorts of cheat sheets that tell you what speed wind is when smoke rises gently, leaves move, branches move, etc. But, what exactly does it mean when "leaves move"?

Can we make the Kestrel a tool for reading the wind between the shooting position and the target? It is the best tool to calibrate our brains to judge wind speed. That makes it the perfect training tool.

Our brains are calibrating machines, and we can learn to guestimate wind just like the brain of a carpenter can guess measurements very closely within feet and inches.

So, how do you use a Kestrel to train your brain? Get the actual wind speed and then look at and feel the effects in reality. Its like picking up a board, guessing how long it is, and then putting a tape measure to it. You can learn the speed just like that.

Next time you are outside, stick your Kestrel into the wind and read the speed. Close your eyes, feel it on your cheek. Wet your lips and feel it. Feel it on your arms. Calibrate your skin as a tool to gauge wind speed.

Now, look at the vegetation that is local to you. What do the trees, bushes, and grass do at all the different speeds? And, pay attention to the wind speed low to the ground, now look at wind speed above the ground. Tops of trees will show the true wind speed, and below the tree line, you'll see differences. Shooting across hills, bottoms, and canyons, you need to know that.

We don't have maples or oaks in AZ, and cactus won't show most wind speeds in AZ. So, I need to look at what we do have. If you travel from the East to the West, vegetation will change, so your Kestrel should be a first tool out of your pocket if you are going to shoot long range. You need to look at what a juniper or scrub oak looks like.

You can do all of that without firing a shot. When you do go shooting, you will then be able to make educated guesses about what the wind will do to the bullet. When you miss, you'll be able to make more educated guesses.

I love my Kestrel, and the vast majority of my use of the Kestrel is during training.

 

[999delta]

Man, I enjoy reading your long-range tips. Although I haven't been able to do comps the last 8 or 10 years it brings back good memories. When you were writing about the carpenter you made me smile. All my working life I was a log scaler and timber cruiser. I spent my days measuring and grading trees. Looking for defect or indicators that would change the valve of the tree. Then the last 22 years I checked scalers and cruisers. you had to be right and be able to show and explain it to them. During this time I started shooting long range precision. Didn't know why but reading wind and the seeing the little changes was something my brain was conditioned for. At the time most were using kestrels or mirage. When both are lying to you being able to see little things that match up with where your bullet is hitting changes your day. My kestrel is still in my range bag, but don't use it as much on my home range. Priceless is shooting three shots on a gusty wind day and make three different wind calls and have spotter come up center of target. Thanks for all your great posts.

 

[hereinaz]

Man, I enjoy reading your long-range tips. Although I haven't been able to do comps the last 8 or 10 years it brings back good memories. When you were writing about the carpenter you made me smile. All my working life I was a log scaler and timber cruiser. I spent my days measuring and grading trees. Looking for defect or indicators that would change the valve of the tree. Then the last 22 years I checked scalers and cruisers. you had to be right and be able to show and explain it to them. During this time I started shooting long range precision. Didn't know why but reading wind and the seeing the little changes was something my brain was conditioned for. At the time most were using kestrels or mirage. When both are lying to you being able to see little things that match up with where your bullet is hitting changes your day. My kestrel is still in my range bag, but don't use it as much on my home range. Priceless is shooting three shots on a gusty wind day and make three different wind calls and have spotter come up center of target. Thanks for all your great posts.

Thanks! I am glad you enjoy them.

 

[Brucebarker024]

@hereinaz i recognize kestrels aren’t “necessary” however they seem extremely handy. I don’t own one but am looking hard at buying one. This far I’ve done well enough on game by guessing wind and just holding for wind or telling my less experienced shooter where to hold. I think for training it would be super handy and the extended ballistics solutions would be nice. Better than using my rangefinder and app past 800 at least.

Thoughts?

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

I have a lot of fancy shooting stuff. A Kestrel is not one. A lot of my shooting is done cross canyon where the wind is 100% not doing what the kestrel says its doing where you're standing. I've gotten pretty good at guessing wind speed based off what I feel and what its doing across the canyon.

Had an awesome wind call last week where the wind shifted 180 degrees where we were shooting from, but I could see the thermals going the opposite direction where the target was. Straight up hold and it would have been perfect had I said it loud enough for my buddy running double ear pro to hear!

Ken

 

[Warford305]

Wind reading is hard. You need to read it at your location, at your target, and everywhere in between. A Kestrel is great for speed and direction at the shooters location, but it is useless for reading the wind all the way to the target. There are all sorts of cheat sheets that tell you what speed wind is when smoke rises gently, leaves move, branches move, etc. But, what exactly does it mean when "leaves move"?

Can we make the Kestrel a tool for reading the wind between the shooting position and the target? It is the best tool to calibrate our brains to judge wind speed. That makes it the perfect training tool.

Our brains are calibrating machines, and we can learn to guestimate wind just like the brain of a carpenter can guess measurements very closely within feet and inches.

So, how do you use a Kestrel to train your brain? Get the actual wind speed and then look at and feel the effects in reality. Its like picking up a board, guessing how long it is, and then putting a tape measure to it. You can learn the speed just like that.

Next time you are outside, stick your Kestrel into the wind and read the speed. Close your eyes, feel it on your cheek. Wet your lips and feel it. Feel it on your arms. Calibrate your skin as a tool to gauge wind speed.

Now, look at the vegetation that is local to you. What do the trees, bushes, and grass do at all the different speeds? And, pay attention to the wind speed low to the ground, now look at wind speed above the ground. Tops of trees will show the true wind speed, and below the tree line, you'll see differences. Shooting across hills, bottoms, and canyons, you need to know that.

We don't have maples or oaks in AZ, and cactus won't show most wind speeds in AZ. So, I need to look at what we do have. If you travel from the East to the West, vegetation will change, so your Kestrel should be a first tool out of your pocket if you are going to shoot long range. You need to look at what a juniper or scrub oak looks like.

You can do all of that without firing a shot. When you do go shooting, you will then be able to make educated guesses about what the wind will do to the bullet. When you miss, you'll be able to make more educated guesses.

I love my Kestrel, and the vast majority of my use of the Kestrel is during training.

Thanks