Pros and Cons of Hunting during Rainy Days

Every hunter wishes a beautiful, warm, shiny day to go hunting, but the truth is that those are the less on any hunting season, furthermore, it seems that mother nature throw all what she has just when one is attempting to hunt.

Perhaps that's because most of many hunting seasons are during late fall and winter, moreover, all year open seasons such as wild boars hunting, may face weather challenges as well, regardless of the time of the year and despite of being on temperate climate.

At the end most of hunts will take place during bad weather including wind, snow and rain.

But not everything is as bad it seems, in fact there are certain advantages when you are out hunting on a rainy day. Advantages which may be and edge for the hunter if it's possible to ignore cold, wet and all the discomfort associated to be outdoors when it's raining.

Let's take a look to the pros and cons of hunting during a rainy day... Let's begin with the cons.

CONS

It's more than obvious that when you are out in the bushes hunting when hunting you will be wet and feel cold. Perhaps that won't be an issue if you count with the right equipment and protection, but certainly to be wet all day long is not the most wished scenario.

But there's much more than simply feel cold and wet. During a rainy day your vision probably will be impaired, not only because of water drops but also due to the lack of sunlight due to clouds; in addition it's possible to have fog just to make things a little bit harder.

Perhaps if you are a rookie you will be thinking about using a flashlight or something like it to find your way in the bushes and probably it will work if you are looking your way back home, but for hunt it's useless. During rainy days your flashlight will reflect on every single raindrop, turning you on a spotlight, thus every potential game in the area will go away from you.

On the other hand rain is noisy and it will be harder for you to hear certain sounds that might lead your steps toward your game. At the same time calls effectiveness is impaired, making the job harder than usual.

There's always a risk of falls and slips because of wet terrain, so every steps must be completely conscious and your alert status must be at maximum level all the time.

Certainly it's a challenge but if you are able to deal successfully with the cons, probably it will be easy to take advantage of the pros.

PROS

What it's a con for you is also and edge because plays against potential game.

Same as you, animals' vision is also impaired because of raindrops, so if you are an skilled hunter who knows well the area, it will be possible for you to literally "hide in the rain" until being ready to shoot.

On the other hand, if you are not the most silent hunter, rain will become an unexpected ally. 

If your walk through the bushes usually is noisy or not as quiet as it should, rain will help to cover your noise overlapping its sound over yours, so it will be harder for animals in the area to hear you, especially during thunderstorms.

Another important pro is something we usually are very concerned about, our odor. When you hunt on a rainy day, particularly heavy rain, no scent killer will be necessary because all that water will wash away every odor on us.

Water drops drag aromatic particles towards the soil limiting the scent trace we leave behind, thus it will be easier to take closer to a game without being detected by our smells, especially if we approach with the wind in the face.

Finally it must be said that not so many hunters will be enthusiastic about being outdoors on heavy rain or storm conditions, then you may expect less hunting pressure over animals in the area as well less competition, particularly in public lands. That will increase your success odds.

Obviously being wet and cold is not a dream for anyone, but if you are able to deal with such discomfort, it will pay great dividends; so do you accept the challenge.