Author Topic: hunting in the rain (Read 1641 times)

rickyp · « **on:** December 09, 2004, 09:00:05 AM »

how many of you hunt in the rain?

If it is a shower I will stay in or If i can hear the rain on my house or running down the gutters i will stay in.

now if I get cough out in the rain I will set up my umbrella and hunker down unless it is raining real hard then I will come back in

they way I look at it is if it is raining that hard the animals will not be moving around much and if I should get a shot the blood trail will be washed away.

now a mist or very light rain I will go out and stay out in.

quickdtoo · « **Reply #1 on:** December 09, 2004, 09:16:37 AM »

Heh heh, hunting in Washington state, if you don't hunt in the rain, you don't get to hunt much! I just dress for the weather, wool and or breathable membrane fabrics make life easy. :wink:

willis5 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 09, 2004, 09:25:31 AM »

I have seen more deer in a drizzle to steady rain than any other time

Graybeard · « **Reply #3 on:** December 09, 2004, 11:55:55 AM »

Don't do it intentionally anymore. But I have observed around the house here that unless it's really coming down hard the critters are still quite active. In fact more so often than when weather is nicer.

If light rain is predicted I might still go and take an umbrella or ground blind or sit in a stand with cover from rain. But if it's raining I don't leave home. If more than a mist when I arrive I don't generally get out of truck in it either. Yup old and fat and lazy. I've killed a lot of game in my day and one more or less ain't a biggie anymore. I've learned that if it ain't fun there is no good reason to do it. And to me hunting in the rain ain't fun.

rickyp · « **Reply #4 on:** December 09, 2004, 12:20:34 PM »

Quote

I've learned that if it ain't fun there is no good reason to do it. And to me hunting in the rain ain't fun.

you forgot an other reason. it gets one away from the wife and kids for a while.

huntsman · « **Reply #5 on:** December 09, 2004, 01:00:32 PM »

Usually welcome rain if it isn't coming down in buckets while I'm going to and from my (roofed) blind, like it did during November this year here. Had to spend a few days drying out all of my stuff and cleaning my gun after getting soaked hiking a mile one way through a veritable swamp to get to my blind while wearing a supposedly waterproof pancho. The hike slugging through ankle deep mud was wearing me out, and I wasn't having any fun, so after a day and a half I gave up and waited for a break in the weather. Oddly, I saw only one doe and fawn in about 12 hours of hunting. Usually in the rain I see plenty of deer moving all day long unless it is pouring, but even then when it lets up a little they still move. Killed my second best buck all-time, a 12-point 155 B&C gross, in similarly swampy conditions at 2:15 pm after the rain had let up for a few hours.

Graybeard · « **Reply #6 on:** December 09, 2004, 01:12:08 PM »

Quote

you forgot an other reason. it gets one away from the wife and kids for a while.

Kids are grown and gone. Older than a lot of you guys posting here in fact. Seeing them at all unless they need money from pop is more of a problem than getting away from them. They generally show up every time they need something.

After over 39 years of marriage we've been together and apart enough that I don't have to leave home to be alone. In fact if I'm in the computer room she's usually off somewhere else anyway. If I'm not in here she is.

I hunt strictly for enjoyment these days. If I'm not enjoying it I ain't doing it.

rickyp · « **Reply #7 on:** December 09, 2004, 01:17:55 PM »

must be nice to have your own computer room
I have a 5 year old and my computer sits on a desk in the tv room. so I get the wife and kid fighting over the tv and then they get mad at me.

It has been raining since about 12 pm today and is going to rain trough the night and most of tomorrow.
this morning before I came out of the woods I put a plastic bag over my stand so it will be nice and dry.

I think I may head out in the morning to see what I can do.
I will be taking out my 14 inch 209x50 contender

ihuntbucks · « **Reply #8 on:** December 09, 2004, 03:34:29 PM »

I hunt on any day I get a chance as long as it's not a moonson or thunder strom.It seems to me in rain it's harder for your game to hear you or smell you.But the most important thing is all the good naps I take in the woods while it is raining :eek: .There is no tellings how many deer have walked by me while I dooze in the rain :shock: .............Rick

longwinters · « **Reply #9 on:** December 09, 2004, 04:15:28 PM »

I used to go out no matter what the weather. Pouring rain (never know when it might stop and the deer will move) or freezing weather with wind chills down to -50. Now . . . I am a little older and so if it is pouring I sit home. If it is much below zero I don't go out anymore (although I did go out last weekend muzzleloading and it was -11 one morning). Like GB says, generally I hunt for fun, and am not as driven as I was 10 years ago. I spend more time shooting than I ever did and have added reloading as a serious hobby but I am a bit more moderate concerning what conditions I hunt in.

Long

rickyp · « **Reply #10 on:** December 10, 2004, 07:55:46 AM »

I went out this morning in the rain. when I started out it was a light drizzle no big deal what I have I can handle that. I do not own a lot of rain gear we do not normally get that much rain during hunting season. Well shortly after I setup in my stand it started to poor down rain and the fog rolled in. I started to get soaked. I had to take the clear trash bag I always keep in my back pack and use it to cover my legs and top part of my stand. I was using a porta roof umbrella to cover the rest of me.

well on the way in I saw 5 deer in the fields and 1 on the way to my stand. I couldn't take a shot because it was 3 minutes before legal shooting hours.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #11 on:** December 10, 2004, 08:19:58 AM »

I love the rain and snow on some days and hate it on others. I have a couple of sets of rain gear. I will wear rubber boots or pacs. I prefer the pacs. "Normally" a good rain and snow will get deer moving in my part of the country. And they are more active. I see more deer in the backyard on rainy days. They need more feed in the old boiler room.

I keep a couple pair of light weight shooting gloves on hand. I also have a light pair of gloves designed for water sports. Provides a good gripe on my rifle in wet conditions. When is starts getting around freezing the wool gloves replace them. I also wear mil surplus wool pants. I wore them so much this year that I went and bought another pair. After a week or two I feel I might need a change.

Normally shots are closer in wet weather. I have enough problem with fogged up glasses. So I will switch to a rifle with iron sights.

I also carry chains, shovel, and a axe in my vehicle. Along with those items in my Dad's old hunting box: food, MRE's, stove, fuel, military cook kit and space blanket. Those old dusty logging roads turn into grease with a little bit of rain.

marylandeer · « **Reply #12 on:** December 10, 2004, 08:44:11 AM »

I love hunting in snow but RAIN :shock: stinks. The only way I'll go hunting in the rain is if it's on opening day or the last day and I still need MEAT.
I should be in the woods rite now but it's raining so I'm cleaning guns :cry: and checking the forums

.

daddywpb · « **Reply #13 on:** December 10, 2004, 12:52:02 PM »

I don't intentionally go out when I know it's going to rain. If I get caught in it that's one thing, but going out in a heavy rain on purpose? Not me.

rickyp · « **Reply #14 on:** December 10, 2004, 01:14:43 PM »

I just got back in.
Didn't see any deer this afternoon. However I could have sworn I heard 2 bucks fighting or someone was rattling but this could not have been because Me and one ohter are the only 2 who are supose ot be hunting

New Hampshire · « **Reply #15 on:** December 10, 2004, 02:06:29 PM »

I really dont like POURING rain and if Im home Ill stay there. But if Im out ill stay out. Drizzle, sprinkles, light rain and even semi heavy but not steady are the greatest. Deer just seem to love moving in the stuff. Now 20 degree temps are a bigger pain to deal with than rain. Warm dress and proper clothing keeps you respectable in the wet stuff, but its almost impossible to keep warm in arctic temps.
Brian M.

rickyp · « **Reply #16 on:** December 23, 2004, 01:50:43 PM »

it is in the middle of the late muzzleloading season and the first chance I could get in the woods. It was a light rain all morning, but by the time I got in my stand and set up it started to rain a little harder then about 3:00 it started to poor down and before I could get my rain gear on I was soaked then about 10 minutes it all stopped. and about 4:15 I had 5 does come with in 60 yards of me but never gave me a shot. at 5:00 I was cold and wet and came down alittle early when I got out to the field I saw 2 more big deer running from me.
I got to my truck put everything away. started down the farm road came to a barn beside a field and saw about 15 deer running and stop at a the wood lline. I stopped grabed my contender and put the cap in and went to the edge of the barn but most of the deer already went in the woods. I was about to take a 100 yard shot at the last doe but she walked in the woods with out ever knowing I was there.
I saw more deer today on this farm then I have in a long time.

I also saw 2 brand new scrapes, I even found a new rub the bark on the ground was still white and plyable. I did not see this rub on the way in but it was there on the way out.

marylandeer · « **Reply #17 on:** December 24, 2004, 02:32:29 AM »

Uhhh sounds like a yucky day maybe you should have stayed under the covers. Thats what I did, but then you wouldn't seen all of those deer. I'D just rather watch the hunting shows on the rainy days.

rickyp · « **Reply #18 on:** December 24, 2004, 02:59:44 AM »

I know there is a monster buck running around where I am hunting. If i want to take him I have to be out no matter what. Last year I got a very big one (for MD) and this one is even bigger.
I am thinking one of the big deer I saw in the fiels was him. he is known to go in the fields around 5 I have seen him do this no less then 4 times this year. he is smart and stays away from where I come in and go out so I never get a shot and he has not been in the same place twice. where I hunt they have a farm road that runs down the middle of several fields and I ahve sen him in all the fields os I can not pattern him.

marylandeer · « **Reply #19 on:** December 24, 2004, 04:13:58 AM »

Well he didn't get that BIG by being dumb. Keep working on him and maybe he will make that one mistake you have been waiting for. Good luck I hope you get him. We only have until Jan. 1st with the muzzle-loaders then two days with firearms Jan.7-8 then it's just bow until the 31st. I'm going down to the shore on the 1st with my Knight then back one more time on the 8th with my Tikka. On Jan. 14th I'll be hunting on a state park with a shotgun (lottery hunt)
Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you Ricky