Hunting in the rain unethical?
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 72

I'm curious what everyones opinion is on this one. I'm from the thought that shooting an animal with an arrow in heavy rain borders on unethical, since the blood trail will be washed away in short order. I will hunt in a light rain however. I have friends who feel otherwise and hunt in anything.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
#7

Make a good shot and don't take a poor opportunity on an animal and they should not run too awful far out of eyeshot anyway. I hunt in rain and have no problems. I usually don't see deer in a torrential downpour, I see them when the rain subsides and lightens up.
#8

I agree, hunt the rain. But be sure of your shot and give it your best effort (as always) to find your deer. It wouldn't hurt either to have a tracking dog on speed dial (if legal in your area) - tracking dogs are still effective if less than ~1/2" rain has fallen on the blood trail.
-fsh
-fsh
#9

No, there is nothing unethical about hunting in a heavy rain. However, it's very miserable and the odds are stacked against you if you think you will shoot the big boy that day.
Deer become very skittish in heavy rain because it demishishs their senses they rely on. For a big deer, they will prefer to hunker down and not move at all and just wait out the rain. They do that normally even on a good day. It's the chance of getting something that gets them moving.
Deer become very skittish in heavy rain because it demishishs their senses they rely on. For a big deer, they will prefer to hunker down and not move at all and just wait out the rain. They do that normally even on a good day. It's the chance of getting something that gets them moving.