This morning wind was 15 miles per hour from the north. I was shooting west. My POI was shifted about 3 to 5 inches to the left at 20 yards. Any seasoned hunters out there who wants to validate my observations. At 40 yards POI may be off enough to miss a bird. :turkey2:
I'm not a seasoned hunter, but I can confirm POI change for sure with a strong wind. I shot today at 40 yards and my entire pattern was several inches to the right. Wind was a stiff 25mph crosswind, and I had no idea it would affect it the way it did. So I'm going with YES, definitely. I'm not even sure I'd have hit the bird with the effects I saw.
I did shoot at 20 yards too and the effects were minimal at best. At 40 I could REALLY see the wind effects.
Shooting a 870 20ga and TSS 9's and the gun/optics were previously sighted in/patterned, and I was shooting off of a bench rest, so this wasn't a case of anything except the wind
I would say yes and hate shooting Longbeards into the wind - that filler can't be good for the lungs!