Rainy Day Tactics

[Uncle Harley]

How do all of you deal with hunting in the rain? Do you find turkeys change their ways when the rain's coming down? Do they go to more open & sunny areas when it quits?

[WildTurkey101]

Hey, Was going to ask about this myself....It's supposed to be raining here in Tenn. this weekend and was wanting to get some opinions on hunting in the rain....If it comes a toad strangler I'll hang out in the jeep or stay home but a shower or drizzle, or if it looks like it's not going to last long I figure to be in the woods 

[air leak]

FWIW....My own experience has been, a very light rain or drizzle won't be hindrance, but a heavy downpour is nfg.

It is very hard hear any gobbles, and I don't think that my calling travels very far.

I have waited out heavy rain, and headed into the woods or fields when it has tapered to a drizzle or stopped, and have killed birds on days like that.

[paturkeyhunter29]

They like to come out in the fields when the rain is ending to dry off and preen themself. Sit tight in a blind
and wait for them to come out then call em over to you.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Light rain or drizzle they like to be in the open fields. In a heavy down pour, they will move into cedars or an area the will give them some protection. The reasons they do that is for their protection, they only have two things that keep them alive, their eyes and ears. Even a light rain in a hardwoods makes hearing difficult, they can hear a lot better out in the open and can see movement better. In a down pour they try to protect their eyes as much as they can, we can look down to keep the rain out of our eyes they can't and they can't hear very well either so they will head for low heavy cover, cedars are just right for that, they can get under them and even tho it's a down pour it is still quieter in cedars then in a hardwoods and it offers some protection for their eyes.

[WildTurkey101]

Thanks Guys,, I took some vacation time and am going to be off the next 2 weeks and the start of it they are calling for a cold front with some rain and windy[:@]......good hunting to everybody, I'm going to enjoy just being in the woods no matter[:D]

[jcscofie]

Last Spring in Iowa my buddy and I drove around and around our normal public hunting ground waiting for the steady rain to let up.. it wasn't a downpour .. but it was steady ... we started to notice in the fingers of grass that reached back in to timber there were birds out in those fingers in plentiful numbers....  we decided to just suck it up and not wait for the rain to stop ... we drove to a spot where we knew there was a finger of grass that went back in to the trees, that couldn't be seen from the road ... we went down to the tip of the grass - picked our trees ... put a couple of decoys 20 yards out in front of us in the grass ... we called very little .... it wasn't long before two brother's and their cousin Jake came rushing in to our decoys... we doubled ... mine was a 24 pounder ... I don't remember the size of my buddies....  from now on I wont stay in from the rain ... but I will sure watch those grass fingers if it is raining....

[Fargohunt]

John, is right and I was just telling Da Hoosh that last week when on my way home from work after a long day long steady rain, I saw no less than 6-7 flocks all with gobblers in as many separate fields spread out between 15 miles.  It didn't matter where I was, the birds were out in droves within minutes after the rain stopped or at least let up a bit.  Of course there isn't much we can do if it rains hard, but if possible I would set up a blind in a good spot, naturally near a field and a protected one out of the way...maybe tucked into a hardwood area would be ideal and wait out the rain.  If you don't have a blind hang tight in the truck and be ready to beat feet the moment the rain eases a bit.  I also think John is right about NOT calling much at all--the birds want to be there naturally so not much need to encourage them and give away your position.  I also believe the decs in such a situation are perfect--giving the real birds some comfort as they scan the field before entering.
 
Good luck all, rain or shine!--Scott

[air leak]

FWIW...It started to rain lightly here this morning around 7. On my way home from fishing at 12 noon, it was still raining lightly. I drove by 2 fields that had several turkeys in each, and they were feeding.

One was a green field, the other was a cut corn field.

A light rain or drizzle won't bother them.