Rainy Day Spot and Stalk Tactics

[jteulker]

I've now killed 2 bucks with a bow this way and wanted to share the tactic with everyone. Saturday the 23rd was a nasty rainy day here in Indiana. Mid day I decided to still hunt up to some bedding areas on public I had marked on my OnX as buck bedding. With some quality binos I would get to about 60 yards from the beds and pick it apart looking for tines. I saw a nice 8 pt rack in a bed I had marked and crawled up to 20 yards waited for him to stand up and when he did put a good arrow in him.

Some keys to doing this successfully is you have to have something covering your noise. (Rain or wind usually) Also the wind has to be in the bucks favor and you have to stalk into a just off position. So if a buck is bedding at a particular spot on a NW wind say, you would need to come into the bed from the NE. This is important because more than likely the buck will be facing away from you with the wind at his back, and will be less likely to spot you sneaking in. A 3rd key is to move so slow it is painful. It took me well over a hour to move from 60 yards to 20 yards watching every twig and leaf I had to maneuver over. A good ghillie top is nice too!

Don't be afraid to get out there on those nasty days. Remember those bucks are still out there and its a great time to be in the woods completely undetected.

Hope this helps someone!

[andy]

Nice buck and good breakdown of your tactics.

[The Mediocre Hunter]

I've now killed 2 bucks with a bow this way and wanted to share the tactic with everyone. Saturday the 23rd was a nasty rainy day here in Indiana. Mid day I decided to still hunt up to some bedding areas on public I had marked on my OnX as buck bedding. With some quality binos I would get to about 60 yards from the beds and pick it apart looking for tines. I saw a nice 8 pt rack in a bed I had marked and crawled up to 20 yards waited for him to stand up and when he did put a good arrow in him.

Some keys to doing this successfully is you have to have something covering your noise. (Rain or wind usually) Also the wind has to be in the bucks favor and you have to stalk into a just off position. So if a buck is bedding at a particular spot on a NW wind say, you would need to come into the bed from the NE. This is important because more than likely the buck will be facing away from you with the wind at his back, and will be less likely to spot you sneaking in. A 3rd key is to move so slow it is painful. It took me well over a hour to move from 60 yards to 20 yards watching every twig and leaf I had to maneuver over. A good ghillie top is nice too!

Don't be afraid to get out there on those nasty days. Remember those bucks are still out there and its a great time to be in the woods completely undetected.

Hope this helps someone!

Congrats on the buck and thanks for sharing. Have a question for you. Have tried going out in the rain twice. Once with a water "resistant" hoody that I got soaked shortly after and decided to ditch my plan and the other had a poncho style covering that was super loud on anything hitting it. What do you recommend on using to stay dry or what have you found does or doesn't work?

[jteulker]

I've now killed 2 bucks with a bow this way and wanted to share the tactic with everyone. Saturday the 23rd was a nasty rainy day here in Indiana. Mid day I decided to still hunt up to some bedding areas on public I had marked on my OnX as buck bedding. With some quality binos I would get to about 60 yards from the beds and pick it apart looking for tines. I saw a nice 8 pt rack in a bed I had marked and crawled up to 20 yards waited for him to stand up and when he did put a good arrow in him.

Some keys to doing this successfully is you have to have something covering your noise. (Rain or wind usually) Also the wind has to be in the bucks favor and you have to stalk into a just off position. So if a buck is bedding at a particular spot on a NW wind say, you would need to come into the bed from the NE. This is important because more than likely the buck will be facing away from you with the wind at his back, and will be less likely to spot you sneaking in. A 3rd key is to move so slow it is painful. It took me well over a hour to move from 60 yards to 20 yards watching every twig and leaf I had to maneuver over. A good ghillie top is nice too!

Don't be afraid to get out there on those nasty days. Remember those bucks are still out there and its a great time to be in the woods completely undetected.

Hope this helps someone!

Congrats on the buck and thanks for sharing. Have a question for you. Have tried going out in the rain twice. Once with a water "resistant" hoody that I got soaked shortly after and decided to ditch my plan and the other had a poncho style covering that was super loud on anything hitting it. What do you recommend on using to stay dry or what have you found does or doesn't work?

Honestly when I'm out doing this, I just plan on being wet. The best thing to do is wear merino wool base layers. They hold their insulating value even when wet and keep you warm.

[The Mediocre Hunter]

Honestly when I'm out doing this, I just plan on being wet. The best thing to do is wear merino wool base layers. They hold their insulating value even when wet and keep you warm.

I'll have to give that a try. If I find anything else later I'll let you know.

[EllieTheChubb]

Awesome! Ive had decent luck sneaking up on deer in rain and wind. That awareness zone defineitely reduces in inclement weather. Personally I've never gotten an arrow on a buck in this situation. Maybe because I dont bring binos, they always end up wet and foggy because I dont have caps for my set.

Great job and thanks for the post!

[backstraps]

Very nice!! Congrats on a dandy buck too

[hunting_dad]

Nice write up! I am actually planning on doing this tomorrow on some public that is archery only. Forecast is calling for rain to end by morning, but really high winds all day which should help me get close if I spot something. Congrats on a good buck!

[Edcyclopedia]

Spectacular!

[Drenalin]

Sounds like a heck of a fun way to hunt. Congrats on the buck too!

[MarshRunner1]

Congrats! Hunting that way takes lots of patience and attention to detail