Wet weather hunting

[mmgrode]

Hey Gang,
     hunted roosevelt elk this past month in Washington.  The weather held out for most of the hunt, but rain moved in at the tail end and stayed there (coastal area).  I was fairly happy with my frogg togg raingear, but didn't like how noisy it was.  I'm curious what you fellas prefer to wear when hunting in the rain for several days in a row.   Any tips on keeping feathers and shooting glove dry?  Keeping hands/wrist area dry? (This seems to suck the comfort right out of you!)  

Thanks, Matt

PS- You Alaskan guys don't be afraid to chime in...you should know what this is all about!

[stujay]

Lived in Alaska and now Wa. state and I'll be honest, never have been thrilled hunting in the rain. However, sometimes these locations don't give you much choice. I've used Cabella's MTO rain gear it's lightweight so you can wear layers and that's what I've found is the secret. Also, got to have place to come back to that you can dry everything out over night!
By the way the MTO raingear is soft and quiet. For gloves lightweight wool, keeps your hands warm when wet.

[Bjorn]

One of the things I noticed about hunting in WA is that it rains even when there are no rain clouds! The fog sheds water just like when it rains. The only way to keep fletch dry is a tube quiver-the upper one in this pic
 
I use a Cabela's rain suit-Dry Plus Suede; it is non Gore Tex. In my experience GT is great as long as you are not moving too much. If you are exerting yourself GT gets wet from the inside.
I take my tab out when I nock an arrow.
You can dry clothes in the tent using a coleman lantern. Don't do this all night for fear of too many fumes.
Hunt on the ground and keep moving slow and you will be drier.
Wool helps.  And you can renew the water proofing using a product called Revive-it works great!

[Thebear_78]

I have a set of russel APX rain gear.  Great stuff, super light, quiet, and waterproof.   Combined with a set of Alpha burly 2 boots and a hat that will shed the worst of it off your head without going down the back of your neck.      Also prone to wear wool underneath and even add a tarp style poncho when its really coming down.   Some times its just about impossible to stay dry.  Sometimes boot foot waders and poncho is about the only way to stay dry.

As to feathers its tough,  I have used plastic bag over my fletching, and tried spray waterproofing like camp dry.   Probably a quiver like the simmons bushmaster or other covered bottom feed quiver would work well also.  Make sure to put something on your broad heads.  I like using thompson bore butter, a food grade lubricant they sell for muzzle loaders.  I have a PVC pipe style arrow case that keeps them dry while I'm not hunting.  You can take 6-12 arrows in the case and only bring out 4 at a time fork my bow quiver,  that keeps dry arrows available for the duration of the hunt.  Drying them and steaming feathers back at camp is fairly common      With my 2pc T/D longbow I have a 4" pvc pipe case that will hold the bow and a half dozen arrows to keep the hole thing dry until ready to hunt.  Also about the only way to not break a bow on a 4 wheeler trek back to hunting grounds.

Make sure your arrows are as well tuned as possible.  A well tuned arrow will shoot good even with wet feathers.    5" shield cut soaking wet on my arrows shoot fine.  

I use thin calf hide tabs and keep one in my water proof zippered pocket to keep it dry.

[wtpops]

A few years ago at a 3D shoot, that ended up in a down pour, as soon as my deer hide glove got wet my shots went 3' right. After that shoot i went on the hunt for a glove that would work in the rain. Through trial and error i found that cordoven leather was the trick. I found that my shot varied very little at all between a wet or dry glove.

[Longbowz]

For rain gear I like Goretex Paclite.  Mine is made by Browning.  I've had it for five years now and it still performs fine.  Pretty quiet too.