All Day Hunt
We woke to a sopping wet mess. It was going to pour all day long. A cold front was moving in and pushing out our beautiful weather. The temps were down in the forties and falling. I knew today was going to be miserable but sometimes the giant bucks make mistakes in weather like this.
I went to the same stand I hunted last night. It was in the middle of a thicket and buried in a white spruce. I set up my tree umbrella and got situated for what would hopefully be a short hunt. That didn't happen.
As the hours ticked by the rain picked up and settled into a steady rain shower. The umbrella did a good job until the wind picked up and then it just got nasty. The north wind blew the rain into my face forcing me to reposition the umbrella as low as possible yet still being able to shoot.
By noon I saw 2 does. I had nicknamed her white-sox because all four shins and feet were white. It was the same pair I saw yesterday. It was so nasty out that I decided to stay all day. I couldn't imagine getting packed up in the downpour then turning around and coming back two hours later. But it was apparent that the deer were hunkered down hard today with the wind and hard rain.
The only excitement I had today was listening to elk bugles a few hundred yards away. Despite the horrendous weather I was comfortable. This was a great test of my new Sitka Fanatic Clothes with some Sitka Downpour rain suit over them. My hands were freezing and my hand muff was saturated and useless but I was able to stay comfortable despite the rain blowing in my face all day. Everything else was saturated but me.
After 13 straight hours in the rain I saw two spikes and a bunch of does. Nobody killed anything today. The rain should be over tonight. The next two days should be great.
