Hunting in the Rain???

[patton1]

I'll be out in my tree stand in the morning and I'm a little worried about the rain.  I know I'm in WA but I'm originally a MI hunter and not used to bow hunting in rain. Growing up I was kind of taught not to bow hunt if it was raining (mainly for tracking purposes). I lost a nice buck four years ago hunting in the rain.  Granted it wasn't the best shot I've ever made, but I'm pretty sure I would have found the guy if the blood trail hadn't been washed away.  Any advice or tips would be greatlycappreciated, looks like I'll be getting wet all weekend. 

[washelkhntr]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news....but rain is rain and this is Washington. If your worried about not being able to track in the rain... hunt with a gun and drop them on the spot.

[grousetracker]

get one of the umbrella things for the tree and hunt a little bit more open country so you can watch him go down.

[Hunterman]

patton1,, I'm not trying to be a smart ass but, there is more than one way to track a deer, and in Washington you need to learn them..Watch the way the animal goes, and how they are moving. Look at the tracks, the animal WILL favor one leg. You might have to get down on your hands and knees (I can't tell y'all how many miles it seems like I put on mine) to follow the signs..Another thing is to spine shoot them...

Hunterman(Tony)

[NWWABOWHNTR]

good shot with a sharp broadhead and that blacktail won't go far,  if even out of sight. 

[MIKEXRAY]

I won't hunt in the harder rain, any thing over a drizzle & I worry about tracking / blood trail. It makes finding game some percentage harder than without rain. It also makes you take up the track sooner rather than waiting that amount of time that you should wait for the animal to expire. The odds of dropping the deer in sight are pretty low, I say wait for better conditions.  Mike

[konrad]

Hang in there! When the rain lets up a little, the action can pick up quickly.
If its just our standard "rain" (heavy mist to drizzle), who'll notice? The deer won't.

How do you think it stays so green here?

I'm originally from Houston. I've seen it really rain here four or five times.

[carpsniperg2]

i like to hunt in the rain when bow hunting but not with my smoke pole

[Little Dave]

Guy I spoke to at a gas station said he had tried a reel and just followed the string.  Something like that might work.

Keep dry and you'll enjoy the hunt.  Welcome to Washington.  Give it a few years and you'll probably think it kind of funny that there was a time when you were concerned.

[seansfire]

i am headed out in the morning too and i am a new guy who got lucky enough to be the only guy hunting 400 private acres. i was just wondering what kind of area the deer might be in in the rain. some of the property is tall trees with a canopy so thick it is almost dark in there , some is alders around a hay field , some is kinda swampy.

[Alan K]

Just make sure you're absolutely sure of your shot before you take it in the rain (though you should always be regardless of the weather).  What I mean is don't risk a shot that's going to go through a bit of grass etc. Don't take any chances that would increase your chance of making a marginal shot.

If you put a good shot on an animal you shouldn't have to wait for more than 10-15 minutes to retrieve it I'm convinced.  In my opinion it's best to hop on the blood trail in the rain as soon as possible, depending on your shot placement.  That blood WILL wash away quickly, or at the least get dilluted in the rainwater on the brush and ground, making it difficult to see if you don't have a great bloodtrail and don't jump on it quickly.

[Alan K]

Also, as tempting as it is, try to resist hunting right before dark in the rain.  It's difficult enough to track in the rain or at dark alone, let alone together. 

[Aneoakleaf]

I won't hunt in the harder rain, any thing over a drizzle & I worry about tracking / blood trail. It makes finding game some percentage harder than without rain. It also makes you take up the track sooner rather than waiting that amount of time that you should wait for the animal to expire. The odds of dropping the deer in sight are pretty low, I say wait for better conditions.  Mike

With deer you can go east to where the snow and the rain meet and hunt up in the snow ..or hunt the east side  where there's not so much rain.

[MIKEXRAY]

Hunting exclusively on the east side for the last six years. I like the openness & dryness. Mike

[robb92]

I like to hunt when it is drizzling out, walking on dry leaves is like walking on egg shells, to damn noisey. Two years ago I walked up to 10 yards from a buck because he couldn't see or hear me but the brush was to thick to shoot through so he had to walk.

If you do have to track in the rain the marking tape works good for leaving a trail. I have a roll of it in my pack at all times, plus I have a safety pin with 40 strips of it that are 10 inches long so when I start to track I will pin the pin to my shirt and when I need to mark a blood drop I will just tear it off the pin and keep going.

[patton1]

Thanks for the tips guys.

[xsf1]

just dont go chase your buck (or elk), give them about half an hour and they will bed down and die, you push them and you will be chasing for hours... thats when you worry about the blood trail getting washed away.

[Shootmoore]

Also don't just track the blood, an injured deer usually leaves a good trail.  The blood is more just for conformation your on the right trail.

I think I read somewhere you are in the military Patton, if you ever get the chance try to catch one of TTOS's tactical tracking schools.  The skills you learn in that course really made me a better wildlife hunting tracker.  The final test we had to track an instructor for over 3 miles with a 5 man team.  Makes tracking a wounded deer much easier.

Shootmoore