If you are serious about your hunting and are really focused on putting your tag on a trophy buck, a respectable long-bearded turkey, or a Pennsylvania black bear, then rainy weather and blustery conditions should not hold you back. In fact, lousy weather conditions may actually up your odds of success.

Whether the forecast is for occasional showers or rain that will last from sunup to sundown, some of your most successful hunting trips just might be on bad weather days.

Today’s hunters are not as rugged and dedicated as they once were. Years ago, there was a greater need to put venison or other game on the table by those who headed into the woods to secure food for the family. Today, there are an increasing number of hunters who will hold out for “nicer” weather and avoid the soaking rains and gusty winds. With fewer hunters in the woods when the weather gets nasty, the game you pursue may very well be less spooked because they are not being pressured by a greater number of hunters.

Deer, bear, turkeys, and small game animals and birds cannot just check into a nearby motel to get out of the weather! No matter what the conditions are, wildlife is always out there in the woods, somewhere. You may have to employ different hunting tactics, but there is a good chance that if you brave nasty weather, you just may be rewarded with success.

During any inclement weather conditions, turkeys may stay on their roost longer, and once they fly down for the day, they will more than likely head to a field nearby, and they tend to feed on grasses and clovers or simply loaf around in the open area. When it is raining, the rain makes additional noise in the woods, and turkeys simply don’t like the added distraction, so instead of remaining in the forest, they will travel to the nearest opening where there is less distracting noise, and they are not as nervous about their surroundings.

Since early season hunts will frequently find you in the rain, it is wise to adopt a few rainy day tactics. If you can plan ahead of time to do so, place a ground blind in a field where you have seen turkeys feeding before. If possible, set the blind on the downhill side of a field as birds tend to travel downhill more readily in response to a call. There is a good chance this is where nearby birds will head when the rain comes down. If you have not had a chance to place a blind in a field, you can still take advantage of a rainy day flock of turkeys that are loafing in an open field by slowly moving inside the woods as far back as possible while maintaining visual contact with the field. Once you have located the flock, set up and call from inside the woods – preferably on the downhill side of the field.

On those days in the spring when intermittent storms occur, you should move as soon as the rain stops in an attempt to locate a responsive gobbler. An even better scenario is when there is a sunny break in the overcast sky. This sudden appearance of sunshine will often fire up a gobbler, and he’ll tend to be more interested in coming to a call.

If you are hunting with a buddy, try leap-frogging, where one of you circles around to a spot with good visibility out ahead of the other. Then the second hunter walks slowly, taking lots of time to scan and observe the area ahead as he moves toward the waiting hunter. It is a similar pattern that multiple hunters use in a deer drive but can be very effective with just two people in foul weather conditions.

Don’t let the rain or blustery weather hold you back this spring. Some of the most successful spring hunts and some of the quickest successes that I have had over the years have been on really lousy weather days. You may just find that inclement weather presents the perfect conditions to bag that elusive gobbler, and on a warm and rainy day, you might even find a morel mushroom or two to add to your dinner plate!