Looking for everyone's experience hunting in either conditions here in Alabama it's slated to showers Friday and isolated thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday. What have you found to work? Do birds still respond or come to calling the same? Just trying to think through what I need to do. I am in a club where we have 4000 acres and mostly wooded with pines and hardwood bottoms. We have several food plots but most are 50-75 yards wide and 100-150 yards long. Some bigger some smaller.
Well I cant speak on hunting Alabama but I'm sure the turkeys will act the same as here in Illinois. I have had good luck locating birds during rain out in open fields, which for me can be simply driving around covering a large area. I have heard that when the leaves are wet they cant hear predators coming so they tend to stick to open fields. It has worked for me, I am sure it will for you too. I cant say for sure about thunderstorms or more severe weather.
I agree with Jeremy66 that's the only way I've had any success in rainy conditions. I have one very big cow pasture birds frequent and if it rains at any point that afternoon or night I set up in that field the next morning. They always pitch in that low grass after a night of rain.
I agree with what these two fellers have said. The only other instance in which I had any success on a rainy day was hunting a pretty wide open ridge top. It was really open, though, and hard to find cover to set up in.
Like the others have said...I've shot birds in weather that I probably had no business being in- thunder, lighting, horrible weather. But they gobbled their feathers off. Just need to find a field or large open area somewhere.
Anything open and if it stops raining sunny to dry out. Before a storm rolls in I have had them shake the leaves off trees gobbling everytime the thunder clapped.
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As others have said, the birds tend to migrate to OPEN areas once they get wet. It's harder for them to fly with wet feathers so they seek out areas where they can see danger coming and use their legs to escape danger. They also will stay in these areas until the rain is long gone to dry off. I would recommend hunting your food plots and the roads on your lease where you have seen birds in the past. Good Luck, we still have one more week for the NC opener.
Turkeys do head to open fields when it rains. If it is only intermittent showers I just hunt as usual. But if the rain is heavy or persistent I hunt the fields. I have blinds set up in a couple good field locations and dive in where its dry. I'm not really interested in hunting outside in a down pore or persistent drizzle. I like to kick back with a hot thermos of coffee and listen to the rain on the roof. No one says you have to be uncomfortable. Birds will respond to calls and decoys in the rain. Although I have found that turkeys will often stay on the roost on rainy days. Those that won't go out in the rain might want to keep in mind that the next days hunt will be much tougher because it will most likely be very windy as the front passes through.
Now when I hunt the mountains on public land in rainy conditions. Options are a bit more limited and discomfort a sure thing. I do know where there are open areas such as food plots or logged off areas. I will set up on the edge of these. Set one decoy out with a mind to safety and call occasionally. I really do not enjoy having rain pound on me so will use an umbrella designed to tie to a tree. I have found that the umbrella will keep most of the rain off you except your legs. This not an issue if you have good rain gear. One big advantage to hunting public land it fowl weather is that you will not see the crowds of hunters. Just my 2 cents
Shortest hunt of my career was in terrible wind and rain. They might have been gobbling, but I never heard it. Longbeard lit in my decoys and I busted him. Thought I was duck hunting. Got the hell out of there and dried off and glad it was over. I was in a wide open field known for lots of activity and strutting.
Fields or open areas as others have said. If you don't have fields, I would look for ridges with the best visibility. If it becomes very windy with the rain, I have always found them to tend to get off the ridges and head downwards into the bottoms where they can escape it.
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Have you scouted the area to determine if the birds are working those plots/fields at all? If they are, I'd be in the field/plot that the birds have been working.
First off, I don't mess around with thunderstorms. My favorite Honey Hole has two old trees nearby that both died from lightning strikes. I hear thunder, and I'm out. Second, I don't normally hunt in the rain, just because I can get away with not doing so. The season is long enough, and our camp is close to the turkeys. If I see rain coming in, I'll often times come out and have a cup of coffee and then go back out as its lifting.
That all being said, if it's going to be a 3-day rain in the middle of the season, I'll go sit in my luxury box deer blind and call. What I find is that that turkeys will often times get hinky as the rain starts. Rain reduces visibility and creates a lot of noise. They'll mill about inside the treeline and act worried. After the initial scare wears off, they'll go out into the fields and walk line-abreast looking for worms.
Some of my best hunting has been just before or just after a big storm has come through. If it's going to rain at 11, I'll be out until 1030. If it storms all night, then the action will be good after the rain clears out at daybreak.
best tactic I found for Rain and Thunderstorms is sleep in and hunt right after the storm passes ,
Exactly the same for me as some others have said already....
I've killed gobblers in some absolutely horrible weather conditions, but if it's raining I'm hunting the fields. I don't mind hunting in the rain, but I HATE getting my calls/gear wet, so I have a box blind set up on each end of a long narrow clover plot specifically for that reason. I set out a couple of decoys, crawl in the blind and if I'm not hearing/seeing anything, I just call from time to time.
If the forecast calls for a long steady rain, I kick back and relax with my coffee. If it's only a passing shower, then I wait awhile after it stops to see if anything shows up in the plot and if not...I'm out covering some ground trying to strike up a gobbler.
Not many fields where I hunt but when it rains they head to whatever open spot they can find. In heavy rain birds here will get in a cedar thicket. I will too.
Seriously though be careful about weather. One place I hunt has a small creek on it that is usually about ankle deep no I have to cross to get up the hill. A few years ago I hunted a downpour and on my way back to the truck that little creek wasn't so little. I waded out to belly deep and said to myself nope I know people who have been killed in less water. I had to hike about 2 miles out of the way to get back to my truck. I guess the moral is it's not only lightning you have to watch out for.
I have killed birds in the rain. I had one of the craziest days with an approaching thunder storm and will never forget it. My son and I were in NY and every time the thunder went off we had gobbles coming from all directions. Called one in and shot it, while we were taking pics 2 more birds came in and ran right at us. Could have easily shot another but we just sat and watched the show. Most amazing day ever in 32 years. My son and each got a bird and watched 3 more rush in 15 minutes. After the rain hit it shut down. I will never miss a good thunder hunt if I can help it. No one likes the rain but birds are still out there rain or shine and they Still play the game.
My most favorite time to hunt birds is in the rain or at the tail end of a nasty thunder storm. They just light up after the storm goes through. I've killed many birds in the pooring rain and a couple at the tail end of a thunderstorm. I actually shot more wet birds than dry ones.
I hunt field edges during and just after a good storm. If it's going to be closer to roost time when the storm is quitting I just hunt between the fields and the roost.
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Same as everyone else has said. I like to run gun in the rain, slip around inside the woods and find birds in fields. The wet leaves are quiet and there is more motion and noise than normal so you are able to slip around much easier and quickly.
I don't mind rain but I don't play around with lightning! Had to leave a bird yesterday evening I'd been working in a field for 1 1/2 hours at 75 yrds because a storm was rolling in and I was two miles from truck that I had to walk across open ag fields. I was high tailing it to say the least!
Just depends on how much pressure you have put on the birds if you hunt them in the rain ... might be best to back out that day and let the bad weather pass... i don't do lightning myself ... light rain showers are fine ... but you can kill them in the rain for sure ...maybe you need a backup plan and hunt from a blind on those rainy days ....