Pass or shoot ?

RUGER

RUGER

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Man and I were discussing this today as the downpour began.

You have been hunting a deer for over a month.
He finally comes in just as a downpour starts.

Do you shoot and risk losing him in the rain due to the loss of the blood trail or let him pass till another day?
 
shoot if you make a good shot you don't need a blood trail anyway. but its kind of a tough call it has to happen for me to honestly decide.
 
shoot, it's not like he disappears if there is no blood. I followed a pretty scarce blood trail for a friend this year, and as usual the deer stuck to a pretty obvious deer trail and headed for a creek. He was dead in the creek. Of course I would much prefer a blood trail, but if it's the deer I want, he's getting an arrow, rain or shine.
 
Hmmm very interesting.
Guess I would be wrong then.

Looking back over all my bow kills, most ran off before dying.
When the second leap or jump would take him out of view there would be no way to know which direction he went.

Just can't see risking it myself.
 
I don't either tlranger, but this time right at prime time is when it hit.
I didn't like it.

I am actually glad he didn't show up yesterday.
 
I lost the first deer I every shot with a bow because of rain. I made a what I feel like was a good shot and no sooner than I did the rain started. I looked for days trying to find him with no luck. Don't know for sure that I killed him but he got a 3 blade muzzy pass through behind his shoulder. I actually quit bow hunting for several years afterwards and recently started back now I'm just extremely cautious with shot selection and I will not hunt in the rain period.
 
Don't shoot. Expecting to find a deer by shear luck of walking up on it is not a wise decision. Trust me...If it's pouring you won't find a blood trail so it would take luck to find him. Better to wait for the right time. I LVOE hunting in the rain...but I don't bow hunt in those conditions because of the lack of tracking conditions.
 
Trapper John said:
Depends on how good a tracker you are.
Click to expand...

X2...Winner winner chicken dinner.

Hunting in the rain...particularly bow hunting in the rain...is my favorite thing. Some people like those cold, still, frosty mornings...I like those steady rain days. There's more to tracking deer than just blood trails boys. I've killed more bucks on rain days than I have on sunny days, and probably more deer all together, and I have NEVER lost a single one in the rain. They are easier to track in the rain IMO, because when they run off, they kick up leaves/forest debris since it has been raining, all that stuff was packed down. It's easy as pie to see which way they ran. It's almost like looking at a trail in the snow. Blood don't wash off as easy as you think either. There's always quite a bit left, even after a good long soaking rain. You just gotta know what to look for.
 
I had this happen on the first deer I had a chance to take with a crossbow. At last light just as it started to rain I punched both lungs she ran jumped a fence and was out of sight. When I tracked my light was about dead but with very slow careful tracking I found her. She was only 60 yards from where I shot.

Not my favorite thing to do but I will take a shot.
 
I love how bowhunting in the rain tends to become an ethical discussion.... I have hunted in the rain and depending on where your at the term "rain" is subjective, I have let some walk and shot many more, and recovered them in the rain. Its simply a personal choice because at the end of the day a good shot is a good shot and a bad shot is a bad shot.
 
Crow Terminator said:
They are easier to track in the rain IMO, because when they run off, they kick up leaves/forest debris since it has been raining, all that stuff was packed down. It's easy as pie to see which way they ran.
Click to expand...

What if he was with other deer and they all scatter? Which kicked up leaves do you follow?

I love hunting in the rain with a gun. I don't hunt in the rain with a bow.
 
Spurhunter said:
What if he was with other deer and they all scatter? Which kicked up leaves do you follow?

I love hunting in the rain with a gun. I don't hunt in the rain with a bow.
Click to expand...

It has been my experience that deer run farther and longer via hit with a bullet than they do when hit with an arrow.

Also been my experience that the deer don't scatter in different directions either. They are herd animals and stick together; they feel safer in numbers against predators than they do by themselves. Thus in the case of multiple deer at the shot...they always head in the same general direction together, with the other deer they were traveling with. All herd animals are that way.
 
Crow Terminator said:
Spurhunter said:
What if he was with other deer and they all scatter? Which kicked up leaves do you follow?

I love hunting in the rain with a gun. I don't hunt in the rain with a bow.
Click to expand...

It has been my experience that deer run farther and longer via hit with a bullet than they do when hit with an arrow.

Also been my experience that the deer don't scatter in different directions either. They are herd animals and stick together; they feel safer in numbers against predators than they do by themselves. Thus in the case of multiple deer at the shot...they always head in the same general direction together, with the other deer they were traveling with. All herd animals are that way.
Click to expand...

My experience has been 100% the opposite. Most deer I've killed with a gun have dropped in their tracks or died within sight. No matter how good a bow shot, they always run some. Anytime I've shot a deer with other deer they scatter in every direction. I guess in the heat of the moment they forget they are herd animals.
 
RUGER said:
Man and I were discussing this today as the downpour began.

You have been hunting a deer for over a month.
He finally comes in just as a downpour starts.

Do you shoot and risk losing him in the rain due to the loss of the blood trail or let him pass till another day?
Click to expand...

Depends Ruger. And GREAT question BTW!

I won't even take the high value of this particular kill into question. I will just say ANY bow kill.
I will hunt in the rain. I don't like it, but if it is November, and it has been hot and/or dry, and it starts raining, I am most likely headed to my tree.
Trust me, deer are going to move in this scenario.

But I realize the importance of a good blood trail. CRITICAL comes to mind.

So, I limit my shot distances to a much closer distance.
And I shoot only high percentage, broadside, relaxed deer.
(something we should all do no matter what, but I have and will push this issue when need be) (except in the rain).

So if I am hunting near rain, or in it, and a deer walks up broadside at 20 yards, relaxed, I am confident I will see, or hear, it fall.
(but then, I practice a lot)
 

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