I'm not going to blame the weather on me not killing a deer at this point, but I can blame the weather for keeping me out of the woods during some of the prime days of the rut. I've probably lost 6 days because of really warm temps (mid 70,s) and ungodly bugs! I will have lost another 2 days to rain come Friday. Has anyone else lost much stand time because of screwy weather?
For sure, there's been days I've decided not to go and some days I still did go, either way this weather has been pretty bad for most of the season and definitely didn't help the cause, again not an excuse for not killing, but deff still a factor!
I had some really windy days as well, but they were right before the rut. Lately winds have been reasonable.
Warm temps certainly wouldn't have kept me out of the woods. In fact, I quite enjoyed a few extra days in a stand without freezing my balls off. Bugs can be handled with a Thermacell. The only things that usually keep me out of the woods are really high winds and driving rain.
I had 2 days with rain I didn't go in. Heat? that's normal down here. So I go when it's hot. Hell, this past week has been 78-80 every day and the big bucks are still dropping..
The 70's to 80F is normal the second week of Nov in SE Virginia? I think those bucks are dropping dead from the heat. lol
it's not abnormal.. some years we are lucky, and some years we get it. usually it's a trend of 3 days warm and then cools off for a few days in the low 60 or upper 50s. By the end of Nov it's usually in the mid 50s then by Dec it's low 50s upper 40s
I'll admit that my hunting drive isn't what it used to be. Now days for me, hunting is supposed to be fun. Clinging to a tree in high winds or sweating profusely in ultra warm temps is not fun. So I don't go out. That said, my son shot his buck on one of the windiest days we've had. Also, a trip to my buddies butcher shop ( he processes deer ) proved that nice bucks were still moving in the heat that we've had. The saying, "Can't get 'em from your couch" is true.
