Blacktail bucks in the rain - where are they?

[fishngamereaper]

No absolute right answer.
Most deer don't like the timber in rain/wind because it's to noisy and inhibits a primary sense used to stay alive.

But ...big ole wise bucks will often hunker down. I have bucks on cam that won't leave their deep timber hides except for half dozen days when they go on the prowl for does.

[fishnfur]

I've always heard that hunting in heavy rain and wind will produce the most BT sightings/opprotunities. I consitantly recommend that type of weather to other BT huntes.  Me though - Ive never experience that at all.  I've sucked it up for years, sitting in pouring rain glassing cuts, still hunting big timber, rain running down my neck and back, and working isolated clearings that should all have produced a lot of deer in my vision.  My reality - nada!  THe majority of the bucks and doe I've seen have been on calm quiet days, both in the cuts and in the timber.  Based on all discussions I"ve ever heard, I still recommend hunting in the rain whenever possible while personally knowing that rainy weater isn't all it's cracked up to be when hunting BTs, at least in my book.

From all my readings, listening to hunt stories, and general understanding of deer biology and behavior, BT hunting should improve in rainy/windy weather due to the sensory overload that a deer experiences with all the noise assoicated with the massive amount of noise that wind and rain create in the timber. 

To expound on fishngamereaper's comments - A deer's primary defense against predators is it's nose/sense of smell.  Heavy wind and rain knock down scent particles in the air and heavy prevailing winds reduce a deer's smell to only areas directly upwind.  Secondary deer defenses include their sensitive hearing that can pick up on unsusual/potentially threatening sounds in the woods when all is quiet.  Their keen  eyesight that is extremely sensitive to movement, which also protects them from predators.  When the weather is really bad, wind and rain make so much noise in the woods that the deer can no longer use their ears or noses to protect themselve from predators.  That leaves only their remaining defense against predators - their eyes.

Their options during a storm are to either stick it out where they are or head to a clearing where they can use their last defense (their eyes) to protect themselves from approaching predators.   Their "clearing" options for a buck are either a clearcut, especially in a sheltered spot or on the lee side of a ridge where wind is less, or for some older smarter bucks, they may have a hidden clearing in the woods where trees failed to fill in, leaving a space where the buck can stand when the weather is insane, attempting to use it's eyesight to capture any movement that might indicate an intruder is close.  When it gets really windy and limbs are crashing to the ground, I suspect that the deer head for wide open space with no overhead danger (as I do). 

[fishnfur]

Usually either in the dense timber you find chanterelles in or on the open timber edges on the reprod side.  But they typically stay active when wind is a factor.  Windy rainy days are by far the best days to hunt black tail.  When trees are blowing down and you know a buck is in the area, find a spot to glass out of the way of a widowmaker and sit down and wait.

What’s the best way to hunt the timber? Hunt the edges?

That's what I'd say.  No more than 50 - 100 yards inside the timber, preferably above or to the sides of a cut rather than below.  Deer tend to bed uphill of their feeding area, so if there is high ground above the cut, that is where deer will normally bed. Bucks may go 400 yards or more to bed. Conversely, doe don't go very far uphill after feeding, leaving them in that magic 50 -100 yard zone just inside the timber.  If a buck is looking for a hot doe, it will be traveling/searching through these areas, or just as likely, traveling above them using the rising daytime thermals to carry the scent of a hot doe up to him as he cruises.  If thermals are heading downhill, then adjust your strategy accordingly and hope for the best.  That's my best answer.  I'm not saying it's right, but...