Foul weather hunting

Moose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
43071

A topic that comes up from time to time and are you one that still hunts or do you bag it till the sun comes back out? I try to get out there best I can I do draw line at tornadoes and T Storms.
Windy conditions can be challenging birds are often on high alert or spooky cause there is so much movement in woods as well as noise. Knowing your area and finding a sheltered creek bottom or the backside of a bull or ridge out of wind can be productive. Calls don't carry as well so I often call an area first soft before resorting to louder calls. Box calls are often my go to in this situation. I tend to wait a bit longer before moving on because often you could have a gobbled respond but you not hear it. Sheltered fields and road beds are good because it is hard to strut in a string wind.

Rain can be another challenging weather but I like it and have had some success in hunting in rain. Early in my turkey hunting career I had a season where it seemed to rain very day off I had to hunt. I was hunting with Rick and because he was retired he was pretty much a fair weather hunter. That year he was already tagged out so he was helping me try to fill a tag. We hunted Caswell County and this was back before the turkey restock or at least in the early part of it so most of the state didn't have turkeys. Our club was surrounded by GLs and that year the pressure around us was pretty high.
Rick offered to take me on his Uncle's farm which was a lot less pressured and had a lot of turkeys. One day we hunted in the rain in a pop up blind that was kinda small. We were sitting shoulder to shoulder and touching the blind walls. We got soaked in a few hours even though we were in blind and saw nothing but hens.
My next day off was the last Thursday of the season and it was supposed to rain starting midmorning. Rick and I hunted that morning nothing happened. We heard one gobbled and he was in the swamp at the far end of the property and once he got down he shut up. Rain sets in steady shower with bands of drenching downpours. Rick has a blind at the field near that swamp but it's and outhouse one person blind. I have the same blind in my truck so we hike in with it and set it beside his. Actually we stayed pretty dry just closing windows when the downpours came. About 1pm it was drizzling and Rick said he heard a gobble in response..... That joker could hear whatever we were hunting before anyone else. Well sure enough at the edge of the field that gobbler stepped out. About that moment the heavens opened up and it was a gully washer. That gobbler went back into the swamp. About 330 the clouds broke up a bit and the sun broke through and the woods came alive. I never saw him coming but I heard him drumming as he slipped into decoys headed right for the jake. Needless to say I busted him and then the celebration began.
We could of packed it in because of the rain we could of day in truck to wait for the rain to let up. Had we done it we never could of been in place at that moment to lose the deal.
Rainy weather turkeys are going to open especially if it lets up so they can dry their feathers.
So I guess don't let bad weather stop you from hunting try to use it to your advantage. I'm sure there are others out here that have tips or strategies to use when the weather becomes a factor.

43072
 

ScottyB

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Unless I’m just chomping at the bit and it’s been a rough season.....I will pass on the rain hunt, but just as soon as it quits I will be out there somewhere.....
 

CutNRun

Ten Pointer
Contributor
I hunt woods 95% of the time and don't use popup blinds, so rain is usually a curse on my game. Light rain or a passing shower is no big deal, but hunting in steady rain is a waste of my time. I've killed field birds in and after rain. I've also been caught in a few hail storms that made me dash for cover. Turkeys were out as soon as the hail quit though.

Jim
 
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