Hunting in the rain?

Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Like? Not really. Have I? Absolutely.
My dad, a friend, and I had a great day hunting rabbits once in late Feb. snow mixed with rain was the norm. Temps in the mid 40s. Using muzzleloading shotguns. Didn't get lots of rabbits but damn did we have a good time.

My father grew up fishing as a kid. He fished with his grandfather who was a farmer. Farmers back the. Didn't fish when they could be in the fields. Dad learned to love fishing in the rain and it was passed on to us.

Shot a nice buck in rain once. Dress warm enoug and it isn't too bad.

My daughter shot a turkey at 14 in a good rain. We got wet but shot a couple nice birds. Makes the rain stop being an issue.
 
waco

waco

Springfield, Oregon
I'm only about 65 miles from the Pacific ocean. It rains here 9 months out of the year. Most all hunting is done in those 9 months. I guess it's something you just grow up with.
Good gear is nice to have. Not uncommon to go a couple weeks at a time without a dry day. Moss is just as, if not more, common than grass in these parts! LOL!
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
they make clear scope covers.
they wash the clearness of the glass out but to 50-60 yds they will allow you to get a clean shot off.
I also have a rifle set up for Dawn with see through scope mounts, where you look under the scope at the sights.
it's sighted dead on at 75 yds with the sights.

I have got in the habit of putting flip up scope covers on the scopes themselves, and keeping a couple of cheap water balloons in my pocket for covering the muzzle.
 
oscarflytyer

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Like Ian - I HATE it! Aversion comes from having to be in rain in the Army. Cleaning my weapon after being in the rain SUCKS!!!! And don't want to subject my vintage rifles or SAs to it... However, I love going out after a good soaking/mist/dampness, etc. I will go out in the mist/damp with a handgun or lever and rain gear and still hunt. Still my fav way to hunt but almost impossible in dry weather in South!
 
Winelover

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
Rain makes for difficult tracking, if not impossible, on big game animals. Especially, bow hunting, which I prefer. I avoid it, if at all possible. Since, I'm retired and literally hunt out my back door, it's easy to do. Our bow season, is two weeks short of six months.
 
I

Intheshop

Banned
Made it out yesterday in a drizzle with a stainless 7-08.Didn't get to "loose" a CB but sat quietly as four does munched on clover.

Got wet,gun got wet......going to try hopefully again this afternoon.It's funny,don't need details but had a minor family issue come up(no,wifey isn't bent,haha)....what is it about hunting and folks "emergencies"?

Here it's raining,done my chores and biz,minding my beeswax....but the very instant you pull on your hunting duds,something comes up.OK,wasn't a big deal but,there's no cell service down in some of these holes,thankyou,thankyou,just interesting.
 
Winelover

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
No cell service in the hollers, down here. I don't want to be disturbed, while hunting.......certainly don't want to alert the game, either. I keep my phone off......till I need to call wifey, my tracker.
 
I

Intheshop

Banned
Wine,I tried retirement aaaabout 10 years ago.May not have tried hard enough,dunno?

Enjoy working too much....get to whine about it,haha.And it's terrible fun looking at customers where at one time,would have to accept their work,no matter what.....look at'm and say,"nope".
 
F

freebullet

Guest
I don't mind hunting in the rain one bit. Absolutely love fishing in the rain. Purty much if there's no lightning close I'll go out.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Yep, lightning makes fishing a no go. No reason to be on the water holding a lightning rod.
 
Rick

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
A fiberglass pole is not the biggest of the worries, that aluminum lightning rod your sitting in would be much worse. Lightning doesn't always strike straight down, you can be 10 miles away from it's origin and it can get you. If you can hear thunder off In the distance your not safe from the lightning.
 
I

Intheshop

Banned
I've had too many close calls with lightning....3 or four that could've turned out different.Must be magnetic personality?

I left a bow tourney one time whilst,"in the money"....shooting with a cpl national champs.Both looked at me,not believing a little lightning would stop a competitor....see ya!Almost ran to the truck.Funny now but,scares the living snot out of me.
 
Rick

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Having the snot scared out of ya sounds much better than having it boiled out of ya. :eek:
 
I

Intheshop

Banned
We had a 250+ y.o. Oak in the yard for "like ever",haha....but that poor thing,because of it's enormity and general geographics was hit dzs. of times.I finally had to cut it down to put it out of it's misery.

So a "while" goes by........nice elderly guy who grew up on this,semi historic'y property(beautiful,long storied past)....calls me one day."You know how lighting always hit that big Oak"?.......well,now it's dancing on this big,whatever it was,tree a hill or two over behind his place.Still does as far as I know?

So lightning never strikes the same place twice?That is complete nonsense!
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
While on an ATV week long base camp camping trip we had some thunder storms roll through . That didn't worry me much we were tenting in a large quaking aspen grove in a DG canyon that ran about 80-100' above camp .
The next morning on our way out for that days ride there was a large aspen at the top of the next grove up the canyon that was about 60' high and 18" ........reduced to a 20' circle of sprue whackers and a spikey 6' stump .

About 2 weeks ago I drove past a transformer strike . No crack , no boom just rain and a light show on a pole about 100' behind me .

The most exciting strike I've been near was at work . The building I was in was 90% concrete with a transite roof on steel trusses . What a sick feeling to hear the trusses start to hum all your hair standing up and the floor vibrating then the flash and boom . It was a big strike , at least a half a second maybe a full second . In that instant it felt like an hour . By way of the doors I was nearly 100 ft away but the strike was about 10ft away all but under the eves .

All reminders of how much control we don't have .
 
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