The rut gets the ink, but the truth is that sex drives whitetails only a month out of the year. Outside the peak-breeding phase your best chance to take a buck is from a post downwind of a hot food source. Don't forget that bucks are intimately aware of their home territory. Enter it with great care. Play not only the wind but also the vertical air currents.
Thermals are most noticeable in mountains, but they waft around anywhere the terrain rolls and dips.
As a rule, the higher you hunt on a ridge or hillside at sunrise, the better off you are, since warm, rising thermals will carry your scent particles up and away from deer. On evening hunts, set up downwind and slightly below a feeding or rutting area. Chilly, dense air will sink and push your scent down and away from bucks. Don't spook a monster buck before you hunt him. Prior to hiking into an area, wrap treestands tightly with rope or elastic straps so steel or aluminum rails and seats don't clang around.