Henry David Thoreau Once Wrote A Storms The Best Time To Head To The Mountains
- Thoreau was referring to people heading to the mountains for respite from the daily rigors of life but the same holds true for hunting.
- A good storm can make or break a hunt unless you know how to read the weather .
- The wildlife know the weather and they’re better weatherman than you will ever be . They live out there day and night year round and to them it’s just second nature to react to weather conditions in any given way, only discernible to them and them alone so you need to do your best to out smart them and use the weather to your advantage in a hunt scenario.
Deer, Elk, Turkey and Bear react differently to the weather
Here's a List of how each react according to time of day , winds, rain , heat
Each has it’s own peculiarity’s concerning a weather condition but they are all pretty close to being the same in what they will do.
I will start with a scenario of a 3 day long cold rain almost continuous with sporadic heavy showers and ending with high dry cold winds after the third night with a little drizzle the 4th morning
Deers Reaction To Inclement weather ....
- If you see a herd a deer in a field along with a herd of cows and they are there all day then a storms coming in and it will usually be a long lasting one and the deer are stocking up foraging as much as they can in preparation for a long wait .
- Can You shoot them ? Ask the farmer but they’ll probably be gone by the time you get back .
- If you make to your Hunting Camp before dark and before the storm arrives you should definitely get out hunting as the deer will be foraging as much and as long as they can to stock up on energy for storm .
- I would recommend a walking hunt because if the deer will not be moving much if at all , They will be in one place browsing and if you spook them out of an area while climbing your deer stand then you probably won’t get another chance at them anyways so you might as well stay grounded and walk a bit .
- If the storms alraedy moving then the air currents are already moving which means your scent is being moved but not in any particular direction which is not good as you will not be able to stay down wind of them and they will most likely pick up your scent no matter what you do which is another good reason to walk hunt .
- If you “Walk Hunt” your scent will be cast about in multiple directions before a storms initial winds but this can be a good thing in a “walk hunt style”- A Drive – A Push etc… as the deer will not know in which direction you are currently at or have come from and they will panic and simply run somewhere which will hopefully be towards you or another hunting club member .
- The problem with this style of hunting is the danger of not hearing the other hunters as it will be high winds and you will not be able to hear them moving along and they may end up out in front of you or behind you and someone may end up in the line of fire.
Visual"- Line of Fire Deer Drive
- Make sure everyone knows where each and everyone else is at all times during this drive to help insure safety because this is a dangerous enough hunt tactic when weather is good but much more so when weather is bad s o you are totally dependent on needing a visual connection to the other members .
- You should not depend on walkie talkies but instaed make sure everyone is in site .
The Cold- The Wet -The Rain - The Deer -The Hunter
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A Turkey's Reaction To Inclement Weather
- A turkeys reaction to bad weather is similar to a deer’s but they have a better way of dealing with it as they not only have a full length feather coat to wear , they can change that coat into a tiny house for turkey and just wait out the storm.
- I’ve never seen any turkey during a storm or even near the end of the storm,especially a 3 day storm ,I don’t even think about them coming out because they won’t.
- If the storm comes to an end on the 3rd night late in the evening and there’s clouds or even another brief shower in the morning then don’t expect to see any until mid to late afternoon .
- Before you decide to set up to hunt them search around and find a south facing hillside that’s mostly field and the further downslope there is the better as this area will get plenty of wind as the clouds clear and the wind begins to pick up.
- Remember to stay near the downwind side of hill and near the top of hill but get back in the tree line a ways so not to be seen .
- The Turkeys reaction is different than a deers and here is where you will notice it , The deer in this situation will not move once the wind picks up because it is spooked by the noise from all the leaves and vegetation drying out and being thrown about in the wind as in rustling leaves .
- The Turkey on the other hand wants to be out in the wind to dry off and seems to be ignorant of the inherent dangers of being shot at.
- They way iv’e always seen them is – The storm ends in evening or early morning , the sun comes out partially and things begin to dry a little on and off but them some more trailer clouds and sometimes some more light rain comes through but with the wind gradually increasing as this happens .
- A couple hours of this continue on and things gradually start to dry out and the trees finally finish dropping water , Then around 2:00 in afternoon the sun comes out a little more and the wind begins to gust on occasion and it all repeats itself a few more times until it becomes dryer and windier and then it’s time to once again go into deep stealth mode as their about to come out from 3 days of weathering a storm and they don’t really seem to care if your there or not. Then you’ve got your chance to get a turkey .
- Every time I’ve seen a turkey in this scenario it is around 2:45 to 3:30 in afternoon when it happens
