To hunt the rain or not???

[Bob B.]

I hunt the rain often with my center fire or even my flintlock.  I feel the knock down power is in my favor.  I see deer movement in the rain often.  That said, I rarely hunt with my bow as I fear a quick loss of the blood trail.  So, I am looking for opinions from the rest of the trad-gangers, do you hunt the rain or not?

Bob.

[Jerry Jeffer]

I LOVE THE RAIN!!!!!!!!

[joe skipp]

Rain or shine...we are out there.

[Stone Knife]

There are only so many times a person can go hunting in their lifetime, I hunt every day that I can rain or shine.

[TradPaul]

You better believe it....Rain or shine.

[monkeyball]

Bob,
    It depends, a slight mist or intermittent drizzle is ok with me, anything heavier than that I am with you. A fatally shot Whitetail can go quite a distance sometimes, what about a marginal hit? Now add in the steady rain and guess what happens,yep,you are now posting a "Should have known better" topic on the POW-WOW.
                             Good Shooting,
                                         Craig

[Soilarch]

If it's terribly cold or still warm-ish I love to hunt rain...regardless of animal.

When it's "cool" and raining I can't ever seem to keep from shaking and shivering so bad it's worthless.  When it's truely cold I'm bundled enough I stay dry.  When it's warm-ish it's not an issue.


If it's a pouring or something so heavy that it limits your visibility then I don't see the point either.

[Biggie Hoffman]

I don't wanna use the word ethical cause I'm kinda tired of hearing it lately. But bowhunting in a downpour is pretty irresponsible when you think about it.

If you're already out there and it starts raining, at the very least you should limit your shots to close, broadside shots at totally relaxed animals.

[30coupe]

Misty, drizzly...maybe.

Heavy or steady rain...nope.

I feel I owe it to the game to recover what I shoot. Rain can wash out a blood trail in the time I wait for the deer to go down (20-30 minutes). It's just not worth the risk IMHO.

[Jmatt1957]

30coupe, you just said what I was starting to type.

[doug77]

love hunting in the rain but not downpour's

doug77

[Sharpster]

Gotta side with Monkeyball, Biggie, and 30coupe on this one.

Most of the time we rely on a blood trail to recover bow kills. It is amazing how little rain it takes to completely erase even heavy blood.

I lost a well hit doe many years ago in a light misty rain and haven't got my feathers wet since.

Ron

[tackhammer]

drizzly I will do,any thing more and its off to the Lazy Boy for me. Gary  

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

My Favorite time to hunt is in a light rain.  Makes for excellent spot and stalk conditions.

[bear1336]

Only in a mist or very light dizzle never ever in a hard rain. JMO

[leatherneck]

I'm with Biggie on this one. I'm colorblind and have to have others help me track. Unless someone is close by hunting with me I won't hunt in the rain.

[Reg Darling]

I second Biggie on this one. I'm not necessarily heading for home if it starts to rain, but a shot has to VERY easy and clean before I'll take it.

[SteveB]

Another one with Biggie here.
Besides - I'd melt.

Steve

[Landshark160]

I'm colorblind and have a hard enough time trailing them under normal conditions.  The only way I'll hunt in the rain is if I'm in a fairly open spot where I can see 100 or so yards in every direction, where I have a good chance of seeing them go down.

[waknstak IL]

What Biggie said.