rain and turkeys

[FrontenacPike]

This morning started out good the skies were overcast and i had a active gobbler working. As soon as the rain started the bird and all other quit talking. I was in my blind so I wasn't too miserable but the birds were dead quiet. I stuck it out until noon with no luck.

Has anyone ever had success in the rain (sprinkle & downpoor). Tomorrow is calling for rain again, just wondering what my chances are?

Today I thought of a good question while sitting in the wind listening to my blind flap. Do birds spook from wind moving and flapping your blind? To me it sounds like an unnatural sound in the woods, but do turkeys feel the same?

[MrBaz]

I think that the rain makes the woods more noisey and makes the turkeys get quiet and a little nervous. Usually when its raining lightly Ill find turkeys in larger feilds, were they can use their eyes to see danger coming instead of relying on their hearing. With the flapping of the blind, I would agree that the sound is different, and turkeys dont hear that everyday, it might cause them to keep their distance or not come in.

Good luck tomorrow, hang in there, the weather man has been wrong before.

[birdswacker]

Hit the fields when raining.

[goblueM]

MrBaz I think the rain makes the woods both quieter and louder... they can't hear anything walking on wet leaf litter, plus the wind/rain itself covers up the noise.

I sat my butt in an open blind for 8 hours a day for 3 days in the rain last year... struck out. Still had fun though

[MrBaz]

goblue, I dont think its that they are making noise as much as they can sense something else, turkeys are at times a skitish bird, but im sure that some birds act different at certain times, if you run into the right bird that wants to work to a call you could bring him in.

[brittman]

On cold, rainy days: if you do not get them right after flydown from the roost, then it is barely worth sticking around unless you know their route or spot them and intercept them on their route.

I have found turkeys prefer open fields (pasture, hay or crop) during rain. Cold and rain and they go into "survival" mode and leave chasing the hens for another day.

Compare the DNRs harvest records and to weather. Seasons with multiple days of cold and rain show a huge drop in harvest. Probably a combination of lack of hunter effort and lack of gobbler cooperation - but I would lean towards the latter.

You get just 5 consecutive days in MN. Go hunting and stay out as long as you can.

[goblueM]

MrBaz thats what I'm saying... they can't hear anything ELSE walking because the litter is damp and it wouldn't make any noise . I think we're sayin the same thing. IN any case lets agree rain sucks... I'm scuba diving all day in the Croix at Hudson... 42 and rainy with 20 MPH winds? ugh

[riverrat56]

Stick it out as long as you can and hope for an hour or two break in the weather and the sun to come out.

I've been walking out of the woods at 10:00 and kicked gobblers out of trees on rainy days, another day I saw a bird roosted acrossed a feild and he didn't fly down until almost 9:30, not till after the rain let up.

I'll be hunting starting saterday, just got my rain gear down.

[870Express]

I'll second Riverrat, last year I busted a couple of birds still on the roost at 10:00 on a rainy day when I was walking through the woods.

[Tipup101]

Try to find an open area out of the wind. If its a south wind and you have a field to the north of a wind break thats where you want to be. Also rain days are perfect for glassing birds they seem to be on the move more. The need to stay warm also.

[Borch]

 Originally Posted By: birdswacker

Hit the fields when raining.

Yep!

Fields, open pastures, field rods are good option in the rain. I've killed many in the rain. I don't mind it at all. They do tend to be quiet but they are very killable and pretty predictable.

[Hotspotter]

Like Borch said, turkeys are very killable in the rain. The longest bearded bird I've ever shot came in light but steady rain after all-night thunderstorms. I've killed many others during off-and-on rainy conditions. I think that's part of the key, rarely does it rain continually all day. When it lets up, sometimes even a bit, the activity and gobbling can be phenomenal. Saying you'll "get out there after it stops" doesn't work that well from my experience. By the time you're out there, your window of opportunity has often closed. That's if you do get out there, usually by then the psyche will have dreamed up another reason why you won't be able to kill a gobbler. Too windy. Too cold. Birds will be in the tree all day. Etc., etc., etc.

With your steps being all the more quiet, and birds being more visible in open pastures in fields, it's a good time to observe their general path and cut them off. While it may appear they're wandering aimlessly across an open field with seemingly no destination in mind, careful examination often reveals a method to their madness. Where I'm at, no field is flat. Even ones that seem as such have some topographic funnel or relief that'll steer the bird a certain direction. That doesn't mean they won't cut across field ridges or go in funny directions, but when they do, it's usually with an end-destination in mind. Tender shoots along the river bottoms, mast on mid-hill benches, or crawlers and grubs under cowpies.

Rely less on your calling, and more on your woodsmanship. Never bumble into an opening without glassing it from a few yards back into the woods.

In bigger hardwood areas in the SE, small grassy openings in the woods can pay off big! These are often overlooked, but today I counted 3 jakes with 4 hens in a middle-of-the-woods firepit with grass all around it. Save large, chisel plowed fields (tough walking, even for a turkey), this was about the only opening for a good ways. Where the toms were, who knows, but these 7 sure seemed to be enjoying themselves!

Joel

[riverrat56]

Alright, well waking up to the snow and blowing wind made me watch the twins replay until now, but I'm going to head out, and hope this weather breaks sometime. I'm not going to kill one sitting here.

I have my blind set up over a feild, but I think I will start the morning off in a sharp ravine bottom that is near a roosting site, out of the wind if nothing else, hopefully I can cut a bird off that is headed too the feild.

Hows everyone feel about decoys when the conditions turn bad? I'm going to try to use one today, I'll report back.

[brittman]

One big difference I see is "warm" rain vs cold, windy rain (or snow). If it is raining and 55 degrees I feel much more confident than 38 deg - 40 deg with rain and wind. Looks like winter... blah

The morning after a good rockin thunderstorm has consistently help me shoot birds

[Mlaker3]

Don't buy a lottery ticket if this your weekend for turkey hunting in western Mn, 6-8" and near blizzard conditions today. Hope the turkeys are active for you once the weather breaks. Do you have white gear?

[Borch]

Turkeys will hang closer to their roost site when the conditions are like this especially if they have an are that provides some protection from the wind driven snow.

Sounds like you have a plan which gives you a much better shot at one then home on the couch!

[kilkercal615]

Last year I shot a nice tom on a morning that it was raining. It rained until about 9:00 or so and then it wasn't 20 min or so and 2 toms came with in 30 yards. They were really quite and never called back to my calls. I didn't even know that they were there until they were 45 yards away. I think if you are out there when the rain stops it is diffenitly in your favor. When I cleaned my bird last year I noticed he had been eating a few worms.

[Fishin=Easy]

Im no gobbler hunter, not yet anyways, but i've been seeing 3-6 turks for the past 3 days in the rain. 2 or 3 toms the rest hens out in a small field by my house. looked like they were eating worms. It was along the same road that i was pickin Crawlers. I know my neighbors ducks hit the field in the rain lookin for worms.

[riverrat56]

I didn't manage to bag a "snow" bird, but once it melted I went back out in the afternoon and bagged a nice jake, 18.5 lber with a 4" beard.

I did see a real big tom strutting during that blizzard.

[LABS4ME]

That's a BIG Jake!!!

Good Luck!

Ken

[riverrat56]

I was suprised by the weight,(especially carring it out of the ravine it fell into) and beard as well, I thought it might have been a small tom, but the little nubs of spurs were a give away.

[Hotspotter]

Good work. Once again, proof that you can kill them in about any conditions with a change of tactics.

Joel