Hunting in pouring rain.

[mikejd]

Any tips for hunting in pouring rain. I couldn't even get out today it was comeing down in buckets.

[M,Yingling]

Hit the fields

[triune]

Typically, I will sit tight in a blind and enjoy the day.  I have killed several birds by moving slowly through the woods when fields were not available for me to hunt though.  Moving slow and not calling aggressive,  kind of like still hunting deer.  Wouldn't recommend this tactic on public land if you plan on calling while moving.  I've spotted strutters from good distances and was able to slip inside 50 yards before setting up.
If the lightning doesn't keep me in, I'm out there rain or shine.
good luck

[dirt road ninja]

I'll go sit in a blind with a deke or two out. Not my favorite method, but it beats not going at all.

[guesswho]

Pouring rain they usually don't move much.  They will stand still and let it pass.  Once it passes though it can turn on pretty quick.  You just have to be there to take advantage.

Now a drizzling rain usually equals dead turkey bird for me.   Slow and steady approach is what I go with.  More looking and listening than calling until I hear one or get a visual.  But I do the same on good weather days too.

[redleg06]

Pouring rain they usually don't move much.  They will stand still and let it pass.  Once it passes though it can turn on pretty quick.  You just have to be there to take advantage.

Now a drizzling rain usually equals dead turkey bird for me.   Slow and steady approach is what I go with.  More looking and listening than calling until I hear one or get a visual.  But I do the same on good weather days too.

I agree.

A break in a rainy day tends to be one of my favorite times to hunt because they do seem to get motivated when the rain breaks. It's a bonus that wet leaves are quieter to sneak around on than dry ones.

[bandedhonker]

We had our most productive day this year in a down pour..we thought it was going to be a waste but more birds moved and were vocal then I would have ever imagined.  We harvested our biggest long beard on that day.  We were in blind, however, which was the only way we could have tolerated that much rain.

[rock54]

had  a good day for calln,sitn in a blind and in the woods and in the rain,last week,here in ohio, calld in a nice jake...

he tryd to breed my DSD feedn hen four times (kept falln off), then it down pourd rain
for fourty minutes, he walkd off about two to three yards and waitd out the rain...
when it stoppd he lookd back at her at walkd down the hill.....
about an hour later i startd calln again and calld in a group of three more jakes from a
differant direction....let them all grow up til next year...

just a day in the woods before and after a rain....all came in to my set up quietly,no
gobblen...

just some info...good luck to you....russ

[mikejd]

Thanks guys. I will agree I am a fan of light rain but this was an outright down pour. Had another rainy one today. But the birds were talkin. But it was a bit lighter. Had a nice one in to 40 but brush was a bit heavy and didn't take the chance. Looks like this weather is blowing out so we give it a go in the morning.

[woodsrunner]

 Coupla years ago, I got caught out. What was forecast as scattered showers, was a severe thunderstorm. Had a nice tom, just out of range eying my decoy when it started.
Thunder was close, CLOSE, and every time the thunder would boom, he would gobble. I was in a pop-up blind in a clearing in the woods.
He stayed for several minutes but, finally left without giving me a shot. Oh, well--woodsrunner

[WildTigerTrout]

Not to be smart but I try not to hunt in pouring down rain. I will hunt with light rain and showers but pouring down rain is just miserable. I stay home.

[Thunderbolt]

Decoys...blind and a field.....birds ideally will hang around fields when rain falls

[mikejd]

If its raining heavy at daybreak I have also seen them stay in the rooste almost the entire day.(for me thats noon)

[bigredneck61088]

jake or strutter, a couple hens, ground blind, and a field... sit, wait, and call lightly. I have killed two nice birds this way and is becoming my favorite days to hunt, no other pressure in the woods from other hunters!!! alot of the weekend warriors go home when they won't gobble.

[sixbird]

We had our most productive day this year in a down pour..we thought it was going to be a waste but more birds moved and were vocal then I would have ever imagined.  We harvested our biggest long beard on that day.  We were in blind, however, which was the only way we could have tolerated that much rain.

[/quote]
I was seeing a few gobblers using the same break in a hedgerow as a travel route every morning right after flydown. I figured the next morning, I'd be there waiting...I was, but the morning, just at light, turned to a rain and then a torrential downpour...One crack of lightning with a simultaneous boom of thunder, rain POURING down and there they were, three gobblers, gobbling their heads off! It was raining so hard that I could just make out their heads at 30 yds.! At the time, I was shooting a gun with a scope. I shouldered it and looked through the scope...Rain, weeds, brush...No turkey heads! I lifted my head long enough to make out the white heads (they weren't obvious)...Down again, through the scope...NOTHING! After about three times, I raised my head, lined up the heads just over the scope and dropped down...I could barely make out one head through the rain, etc....BOOM!!! One went home with me!
They will gobble in the rain...That being said, I prefer them dry too...