A light rain - advantage or disadvantage?
- Thread starter Chipdasqrrl
- Start date
Chainsaw
Well-Known Member
I'm with you Tap. A nice light rain will see plenty of natural deer movement here. They just flat out are not bothered by normal rain here. Now the hard rains with 40 mph winds is another story. The deer movement shuts off then but goes into extra high gear within 30 minutes of it ending.
We see the same reaction to the rain with my wife's little white dog; We let her out in the rain and she just goes to the end of her tie and stands there totally relaxed and content while she is getting ultra soaked.
With all that said I think most people will see more deer on beautiful high pressure sunshiny days but not necessarily because the deer are moving more. They simply see more deer because they are alert and enjoying every moment scanning every inch of brush.
We see the same reaction to the rain with my wife's little white dog; We let her out in the rain and she just goes to the end of her tie and stands there totally relaxed and content while she is getting ultra soaked.
With all that said I think most people will see more deer on beautiful high pressure sunshiny days but not necessarily because the deer are moving more. They simply see more deer because they are alert and enjoying every moment scanning every inch of brush.
Slagiatt
Active Member
I see little deer movement in the rain, but love hunting a light rain. Lets me move in the woods quietly. Good time to find bedded deer if youre patient enough, and when the rain stops, you can count on deer getting up and moving. Seems to me that a nice sunshine after a squall really encourages deer movement. The rain might be jyst the cover you need to sneak into the right position to capitalize on the following activity.
Berserker
Member
How do you know if you would see deer if not raining?
Opening day if gun , rained all day. Sat 11 hours Light to steady, not down pour. Had does in morning and night.
I got metal roof and tinged like crazy. Even with plywood underneath. I suspect local deer are used to it. Being steady noise may help. Maybe they watch for a bit. No bucks. But I am in snowbelt.
I also had deer with enough snow to blur camera at night. I think there was a buck.
Should leave garbage bag in blind. I wrapped gun in hoodie for walk out.
I am not staking at camp opening day. Put a skirt on me. This is why even if you don't like blinds, they have a place,IMO.
I have started recording stuff on my phone. Time, direction, wind, ect. Can't say I have enough data to prove anything. But something to do.
Opening day if gun , rained all day. Sat 11 hours Light to steady, not down pour. Had does in morning and night.
I got metal roof and tinged like crazy. Even with plywood underneath. I suspect local deer are used to it. Being steady noise may help. Maybe they watch for a bit. No bucks. But I am in snowbelt.
I also had deer with enough snow to blur camera at night. I think there was a buck.
Should leave garbage bag in blind. I wrapped gun in hoodie for walk out.
I am not staking at camp opening day. Put a skirt on me. This is why even if you don't like blinds, they have a place,IMO.
I have started recording stuff on my phone. Time, direction, wind, ect. Can't say I have enough data to prove anything. But something to do.
Tap
Well-Known Member
I have enough observational data over the 31 years that I've lived here. Light to moderate rain has no adverse effect on deer movement, in fact, it may actually help increase movement. I've spent literally thousands of hours over those years watching deer out my windows and, for my deer in my region, minimal deer sightings was never something that I could correspond to rain.
I just checked my rain gauge. We got almost 3 inches of rain yesterday and at times it was heavy rain. It was also pretty windy, too. At times the rain was falling at a 45 degree angle...almost blowing sideways, and our area isn't known for the constant wind conditions that deer are used to in a place like Kansas, either. Even in those very miserable conditions, deer were coming and going in my plots pretty much all day long.
No doubt, zero doubt, that rain does not have an adverse effect on deer movement. Do the math...31 years of observation from my home puts me at about 10,000 days of watching deer out my windows. I do it almost every day for an hour or more. I know I'm in the 20,000 hour range of watching critters out my doors, and we've had plenty of deer and turkeys during that whole time. It's a rare day that I don't see at least a few deer, and some days it's as high as 50. I've easily had 80,000 deer sightings from the house over those 31 years...I'm positive that's not an exaggeration.
They move in the rain. Now, is this a regional behavior? We do have tremendous hunting pressure here. Have these deer been conditioned to realize they encounter far fewer hunters when it's raining? I don't know about that aspect of it but I do know they move in the rain.
Tap
Well-Known Member
I have a nice balance of field and cover. Most approaches to my fields are through heavy cover.
THE LLC
Well-Known Member
Must be a Yankee deer thing, Tap. LOL. I don't even get trail cam pictures of deer in the rain. In snow I do, but not rain. Now in Nebraska last Friday it rained lightly all morning and I saw a bunch of deer including a 135" 5x5 I could have shot. Rain in northwest Nebraska is rare ESPECIALLY in mid November so I guess they were just excited.
Steve Daniel
Member
I like to hunt a light rain, or light Snow. Deer move around a little more then. The rain hides scent a little, and that's good from our standpoint. I used to stalk hunt in the rain. Now days I just sit and watch.
