RE: rain?
I will hunt whenever regardless of the weather. On most the places I hunt, I know where the deer go, where they bed, where they feed, etc. I will find any deer I shoot on those properties. Plus, I can't hardly follow a blood trail anyway as I am colorblind, so rain makes little difference to me.
Also, if you can't see a blood trail, a dog can still smell it. Borrow someone's hound if you have to, but both my lab/weimaraner mix and my weimaraner can smell out a couple day old trail with no problem (only done that in training), which means a fresh one isn't a challenge at all. If it is raining, just get them out there ASAPand they will find it. Another thought is if you make a bad hit there often isn't a good blood trail anyway, but again, plenty of a trail for a dog, especially a gut shot. I actually really enjoy hunting in the rain, and if it is the rut I am not going to pass on any opportunity to get out there.