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Deer Movement in the Rain

oldsouth

oldsouth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2019
Messages
301
Location
Apex, NC
It's a nasty rainy day today and while at work it got me to thinking. What are all the theories, thoughts or opinions on deer moving in the rain? From drizzling to down pouring, hunting before the rain starts and hunting after the rain stops?
 
I don't hunt in the rain much because:

1) I'm a puss;
2) blood trailing is a problem;
3) the states I hunt in have very long seasons so there's no reason to get out in the rain;
4) I do think it negatively impacts movement overall.

But, it's not as much as some think. Deer still have to move in the rain, they still need to eat and drink. But overall, I think the movement is incrementally less. Some say deer move a lot before the rain....I understand the logic but have never seen any evidence of that in my hunting...
 

Penn State Deer-Forest Study

www.deer.psu.edu www.deer.psu.edu
I won’t bow hunt in the rain bc of blood trailing but I’ll sit out with my 30-30 levermatic and hammer em but this study says it doesn’t effect doe but bucks won’t move as far during daylight hours in the rain.
 
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I've hunted in the rain a fair amount (including before, during and after ons the same days). Even some nasty wind and rain events. I've seen pretty good deer movement and really no change. Sometimes more or less than average, but could say the same about any given day. One exception is that on a morning with light drizzle/rain I actually think I see higher than average movement. I like other posters sometimes avoid hunting in the rain for the reasons stated above (especially blood trailing and evening hunts since blood trailing in the rain and the dark is really tough). If you took a poll, you would probably find that a lot less deer are shot on rainy days by hunters, but I suspect that would be more due to the fact that a lot less people hunt in the rain, versus reduced deer movement.
 
Never a bad time to deer hunt. Deer move in the rain all of the time. My personal hunting data over 20 years shows the same percentage of deer sightings in the rain as clear days. I have seen my largest bucks in a light rain. With a good shot placement tracking is not an issue. If you need to track a deer, use Blood Glow - Blood tracking and bloodstain reagent - Blood Glow which works in the rain. Unless the rain is coming down side ways, get out and hunt.
 
On my 43rd season here. I absolutely love hunting on a misty foggy morning and have seen/killed quite a few deer in these conditions. I also have seen deer movement in downpours but not nearly as much. Like I tell my non-hunting coworkers when asked about such things. It's not like the deer can come inside to get out of the bad weather. I think high winds suppress deer movement more than precipitation does. I am not crazy about hunting in the rain though because of the above mentioned tracking difficulties. Regardless of the tracking methods used there is no doubt in my mind the recovery rate is gonna be lower in those conditions.
 
Hunters don't like sitting in the rain. Deer live in it.

The BEST times to hunt are immediately before and after a big front comes through. Sometimes that means sitting in some nasty weather. I've probably killed almost half my mature bucks just before or after a big front passes. Blood trailing is a concern when bowhunting in the rain though. It's easy to say to try to take only good shots but then it wouldn't be bowhunting...
 
Deer movement in the rain is pretty good where I hunt. I shoot a P&Y 8 point in the rain. So get a good set of rain gear and get out there.
 
Deer move before and after weather events that are severe enough to hamper them feeding. I won't hunt in downpours or anytime there is lightning or extremely high winds. I carry 3 different broadheads in my quivers, and one is a rain arrow, which is a 2" grim reaper mechanical 3 blade, and only take close range and perfect shots (broadside or quartering away) with it.
 
On one particular property I hunt, I’ve had 10 encounters with bucks. I’ve shot at 8, and killed 6 of them. Of the 10 encounters, 6 were in the rain.

in addition to these encounters, I have seen many more deer out in the open moving around or feeding during daylight hours, when it’s raining, on this particular property. I believe it’s the fact that they bed near atv trails, know when people are there are not by noise, and feel comfortable using those trails when they don’t hear them.

just yesterday two kids walked out the woods as a front rolled in. They laughed when I said I was heading out. They asked if I knew it was about to storm. I grinned and asked them the same question. I only saw two deer and couldn’t get in a position to get a shot. But I bet they didn’t see any sitting on their couch.

I don’t shoot deer with an expectation of a blood trail. I do my best to shoot deer and have them die or lay down to die within a couple hundred yards of the shot. Blood trails are unpredictable. I have lost one deer that I know I killed due to rain, and it was a random storm not forecasted that popped up overnight. It washed away tracks and blood trail so I had no hope. I would’ve pushed the deer the night before if I had known.
 
I am in on hunting in the rain. Bring it on.

Sheets of rain, maybe not, but any other level of rain I am good to go. Blood trailing is an issue, but if you wait around for perfect blood trailing weather then, sorry, but you are either a moron or have an empty freezer.
 
Been hunting all day today in the rain and have seen plenty of deer and a few bucks but none that were shooters not yet anyway but still have an hour or so left we will see!!
 
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