Since it was pouring rain yesterday I figured I'd pull some camera cards. I don't hardly ever hunt in the rain for turkeys (deer is another story). Well I figured I'd regret not taking my bow so I grabbed it and sat beside my ground blind in a spot we call, "Turkey Valley".
I mostly just soft called on a cheapie single double reed. I was surprised to get a Jake to come through the dekes. Obviously I let him walk since I don't like killing jakes/spikes :OGani:
I was just pretty surprised to get one to come in during the rain.
Course jakes are dumb as a mailbox. :funnyturkey:
I've actually had better luck turkey hunting in a light rain.
YUP , YA U JUST DONT KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN .......
Inclement weather I usually have better luck with turkey and deer.The way I look at it is they live outside.It may be crappy for them but they aren't going to dig a hole to hide
The thing I dislike about hunting in the rain.....dead wet turkeys stink
Easter sunday a few years back I was driving to Easter dinner in a monsoon. Saw a Gobbler and 2 hens huddled under a tree on a field edge. Had everything I needed in the truck so I went after him. Got as close as I dared and started calling. He gobbled 4 times and came right in. I couldn't get a shot however. If you find a hot bird anything is possible.
Camo Gore Tex also helps.
I have no problem being out in the rain I guess I just always subscribed to the notion that Turkeys wouldn't move in the rain.
Honestly though they are about as smart as a mailbox so anything is possible with them.
Like a guy in another thread just posted..."Turkeys being Turkeys".
My wife and I enjoy riding around in the rain. We often see turkeys out in the fields during that time.
I tag out in Tenn Tuesday morning in the rain. Don't let the rain stop you from hunting get you a good ground blind. The wind is what I dislike the most.
My best bird was in the rain right off the roost and he was hot and ready to go.
The biggest turkey I have ever killed was in the rain in Missouri during a heavy rain storm, he was in a field strutting with another longbeard a jake and some hens.. I like to hunt on a rainy day myself!!
Talkem into given up!!!
Quote from: eggshell on April 15, 2015, 09:50:10 PM
The thing I dislike about hunting in the rain.....dead wet turkeys stink
Amen to that. One time I was hunting in the rain on a Friday afternoon and killed a nice bird around happy hour time. I figure, shoot, better hit the local watering hole quick. Tossed the bird in the back of my jeep and off we went. When I came out of the bar about a half hour later, I got in my jeep, promptly got out, and began the pre-puking ritual, and it wasn't cuz I had too much to drink...
I have better luck in a light rain
I prefer to set up on roosted birds and play a game of chess with them but I have grown to really enjoy sitting in a ground blind at the edge of a field in a light rain. Especially once the second week of our season rolls around. The slower pace gives me the ability to watch God's splendor much easier.
I've had very good success with seeing birds and getting them worked in to my setup.
the rain really has more of a influence on us than the birds. that is their environment and they go about their daily lives. does it shut them down? depends on the timing mostly. they have a window to breed in and a little rain is not going to stop it. I do think that it hampers the hunting more so than a blue bird day but they are still there and unlike deer , they do not just lay up and not move. you catch one in the right frame of mind , rain ,sleet, or snow , he will come.
of all the turkeys ive ever killed I would say that I have killed more of them in the rain,also the best one I killed was in the rain,
Love the rain set up close to afield in a dry place call softly about ever 15 min. and watch they will be on top of you before you know it.The great thing you don't see other hunters.
One question; why would you sit beside your blind, instead of in it?
I never hunt in the rain, never. Why? Because I don't enjoy it, I hate wet, dead turkeys and I see the inclement weather as an opportunity for the turkeys to have unmolested time. Now, an hour after a rain can be the best time to hunt, especially with a wind shift.
Quote from: dejake on April 16, 2015, 10:11:09 AM
One question; why would you sit beside your blind, instead of in it?
It's all growed up real fast back there and there's only one shooting lane with the bow. Since I was trying to be sneaky and didn't have the loppers I sat beside it. Lol
I have 4 ground blinds out right now. As soon as I got out to one of the blinds I haven't visited in a while today it started raining. I wasn't having much luck at all so I loaded up and headed to another one a half mile away. On the way I kept seeing really fresh sign and sure enough when I got to the next blind there was a couple hens right beside it.
It started pouring bad as soon as I sat down and then came the Thunder and Lightening; enough of the latter that I was a bit nervous.
I ended up doing some real loud and aggressive calling and gobbling and as the thunder and lightening subsided I started hearing some yelps and clucks on the left about 50 yards and clucks and purrs to the right.
On the way out I went to the right to find two hens and left them un disturbed. As I was leaving I saw a Jake that had been on the left.
As I came around a bend in the path I saw a coyote that was headed right for me but he turned around quick and offered no shot.
But the turkeys I saw were enjoying the rain...
If its raining, I just pop open the Shack Attack blind and sit back and relax.
Gman
where I hunt in arkansas ,tomorow is our opener and the forecast is 100 percent rain on sat and 80 percent on sunday but I miss turkey hunting so I will definatly be out there in my new frogg toggs rain gear and see for myself,cant killem on the couch!!!
If I did not hunt in the rain, I would not have hunted much this year in N Florida. The first 9-10 days were nice, since then, hot, muggy and either heavy fog or rain. I prefer rain to fog.
I just change tactics in the rain. I tend to think less about gobbling on the roost birds and look to travel corridors. Call and move quietly.
Hunted one morning several years ago with my nephew. It was UGLY out-windy, spitting rain, but no thunder so we said we were going. We were heading to a low draw that the birds like to travel on windy days and on the way, my nephew said "Here the train". I said yes, but the tracks are THAT way, not THAT way". No doubt we heard a small tornado. We were a half mile or more from the truck and in a low area, so I said, lets just hunt. At about an hour after fly down I spied a gobbler. I was watching him through the binocs and he was gobbling pretty regular. 100 yards away, but downwind. Could clearly see him gobbling in the thin pines and could not hear anything but the howl of the wind. We called and him and the jake came in to about 50 yards from us (nephew wanted to take the shot, I would not let him). We could not hear him until he was around 60 yards away. We did not kill him but he was dubbed the tornado turkey. I lost the least the next year, but I got two of his buddies before the season ran out-they were two year olds, he was a mature longbeard. I know we could have killed him, both barrels pointing at him and if we shot together I am quite sure we would have, but I figured I was teaching a lesson that day-nephew was 15 or 16 at the time. He is grown now and a good turkey hunter that learned a little from me and lot on his own. He is even teaching his Dad now how to turkey hunt.
I don't mind hunting in the rain. Killed some of my best birds in the rain.....
I remember one gobbler I killed just as soon as a heavy downpour ended. It was a real Toad Stringer and everything was soaked. I was on my way to work back in the late 80's or early 90's and hunting Piedmont WMA in S.C.
I was standing on the county road where a power line crossed and decided to try one more yelp with my Lynch Jet Slate. He gobbled about 75yds. from me up in a pine about 50 yds off the power line.
I eased in a little ways and yelped again and he pitched down about 30 yds from me and started struttin. Killed it with my fairly new Winchester 1300 Turkey Gun. He was drenched.