backpack hunting and rain

[fillthefreezer]

it sucks..
im not talking quick colorado showers either. days of it. without reprieve.
what are some secrets to making it better?

anyone ever figure out how to deal with water leaching up your sleeves?

kifaru oval stove got burned in the weekend so that should help, so dont just say GET A STOVE.

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

Something to read...

 

[Beastmode]

A stove/fire definitely helps. If you don't have that as an option having plenty of socks and an extra pair of boots help. There is nothing more miserable than putting on wet boots in the morning. I have even hiked back and let it idle for an hour with the heater on full blast. If worked out good too because I ended up killing a buck about 2 miles from the truck on my way back.

 

[justinspicher]

Take a big tarp to put over everything so you can at least get out of the tent/tarp you're in and have a place to stretch out. I know the rain you are talking about because I live an hour or so from you. It sucks, every bit of it, but it's way better than being cooped up inside the house going stir crazy in my mind. I also try not to go as far in as I normally would and I'll take bins of extra clothes and jackets and leave them in the truck to come back to. I'll take all of my wet goods to the truck and switch everything out each morning. Hunt back or hike back to a spot I've picked out. That seems to help some, but sometimes the rain is just too much.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Being able to dry out your clothes and gear is very nice. A tarp to glass under while the rain pours down is nice not only for personal moral but to keep water off of optics.

 

[Hawkeye]

I hear ya. I hope last week was not our summer.

I bring lots of changes of tops and socks. In case my feet get wet, I bring a pair of seal skin socks to get me through the day with dry feet until I get back to dry it out.

 

[littlebuf]

stay in the tent or under a tarp and deal with it. what else are you going to do? i was in my tent/under a tarp for 14 hours straight last elk season not counting the the night i slept through (in a wet down quilt, thats the time i died). i made it a mission to keep a fire going the whole time during the day, mainly just for something to do. the warmth was nice but not necessary. like you said it sucks, thats about it

 

[fillthefreezer]

stay in the tent or under a tarp and deal with it. what else are you going to do? i was in my tent/under a tarp for 14 hours straight last elk season not counting the the night i slept through (in a wet down quilt, thats the time i died). i made it a mission to keep a fire going the whole time during the day, mainly just for something to do. the warmth was nice but not necessary. like you said it sucks, thats about it

so if theres no end in sight how long do you ride it out?

so far ive done a mixture of all all these.

with seal skins if im doing more than still hunting, my feet get so sweaty i might as well not where them, have you run into that?


hiking back to the truck everyday, i might as well basecamp and get up early everyday.

 

[littlebuf]

Depends on the hunt. I'm not leaving if it's elk or deer season. If it keeps raining I'll just figure out a way to get on um in the rain. Bear hunt and it's going to rain all weekend I may pack it in if not seeing anything. I hunt Washington, not sure how well I'd do if I let rain chase me off the mountain

 

[7mag.]

I think the cutoff is different for every person, and different situations.

First example: Last year I pulled the plug after one night due to rain. It wasn't because of comfort, but because the trail back to the truck was very steep and duffy. We didn't want to attempt it wet with our packs.

Second example: If I was on an out of state hunt that I had spent a lot of money and vacation on, I would be more reluctant to give up.

 

[justinspicher]

I think it'll just depend on how much you feel like dealing with and how wet you can stand getting. I don't think the early season is really the issue, it's more like the spring is when it's the worst.

 

[Lawnboi]

My buddy though it would be a good idea to bring a book last year, which was full of rain.

Only thing that that book got used for was wiping his ass, after he forgot his TP.

Nothing beats sitting out a storm, snow or fog in a tipi with a glowing stove and some comfort food.

I think everyone at one point has turned tail and ran from the rain. I did once. Now I enjoy a nice challenge, if I didn't like being miserable I wouldn't backpack...

 

[5MilesBack]

hiking back to the truck everyday, i might as well basecamp and get up early everyday.

I always have a back-up plan, or two or three, etc. Last year I had some pretty ambitious plans for packing in DEEP and covering a bunch of normally unreachable country. However, when the weather had other plans (CO's flooding rains for days on end) I ended up spending the whole season hunting out of my wall tent. The normal CO afternoon showers aren't as big a deal, but last year's 13+ inches of rain just weren't normal. It's a lot easier living in a wall tent in those conditions than under a tarp or in a tent barely big enough for 2 small kids.

Even when I've packed in, I still almost always have a base camp set up as well to come back to, to resupply, get a good nights sleep, or just to have as a backup plan.

 

[IanF.]

I spend most of my time hunting coastal BC, but I'm home at night to dry out. Good gear makes a big difference. I'm learning that picking your days and weather can be the best tool and knowing when to pull the pin and call it a day. If you can't get or stay warm you need to change something. May not be ideal for your situation but consider a good base camp where you can get warm and dry?

Very best,

Ian

 

[Tim in Wa.]

For sure a backpack-able shelter that has enough space to move around + heat makes a huge difference !
Tim

 

[boom]

i hate the rain. i've since upgraded to better hunting rain gear. but that just protects me while i scurry to the truck

 

[BroodBuster]

Backpacking in the rain doesn’t bother me a bit. In fact I’d choose hiking in the rain way before the heat and the bugs.
Having said that though backpack hunting in the rain really sucks. Mainly due to the fact that hunting mule deer at and above tree line is really difficult. With a thick cloud cover they can be pretty much anywhere doing anything. With a hot sunny day it’s much easier to know when they’re feeding and where to look to find them bedding or catch them as the sun hits or leaves the mountain side.

Last year it was stormy all week and I must say I didn’t deal with it particularly well. I spent most of the week under a tarp stoking a fire hoping a big deer would wander thru camp. The few times I made it to the ridge line to glass I got chased off by lightning.

Since I have a multi season tag this year my plan is to cherry pick a sunny week

 

[Short on cache]

We did a 10 day backcountry hunt a few years back and it literally rained everyday! It usually faired off in the eve so we would build ricks to dry stuff buy the fire at night. Quitting just wasnt an option. That being said I learned some peices of gear that had to go and be replaced with better stuff! The better your gear is made and modified to what youre doing the more comfortable, or bearable, you can be. On the up side, we killed a nice 6x6 the last 30 min of the last eve, persistance paid off!

 

[rodney.black]

How long I will ride it out really depends on the particular hunt for me. If it is just a local hunt I will still usually ride it out but occasionally I will head home and come back out when the weather improves. I don't feel bad about that because it's local. Why be miserable when I can go home and get work done to free up time to come back out when the weather is better.

If I have traveled far / spent money to be there, I will not leave unless my well being is in jeopardy... and then I still may not leave...

 

[GoatNuts]

I too hunt and backpack in WA and rain is something that you've gotta just plan to encounter. My tips are:

1. Keep a dry pair of socks inside your tent at all times that stay inside as "sleeping socks." Even with quality "waterproof" boots eventually your feet are going to get wet and its always nice to put on a dry clean pair of socks each night. I also try and keep my thermals dry and in the tent at all times. I hang my damp socks up in the inside of my tent so that the air circulates over night to aid in drying.
2. Keep all of your gear that stays at camp out of the elements while your sleeping and/or out in the field at all times. I keep mine stuff in UL dry bags in my tent vestibule.
3. At night, when you go to bed take your soles out of your boots and hang them up or slide them in your sleeping bag to dry out, and leave you boots opened up to let air circulate.
4. I like to bring a small cheap tarp for the campsite, but last year's 50 mph winds during a major storm told me that the tarp was not mountain quality.
5. If you get a break in the weather around camp during non-hunting and non-sleeping hours use it to your advantage. If the wind is blowing and/or the sun is out get everything hung up on a clothes line to dry out. If you can get a fire going, do it, and use that to dry out. When the rain returns it sure is nice having a brief moment of dry gear.
6. Before setting up camp, take a few extra seconds to REALLY look for any evidence of water pooling or dried up run-off areas- avoid them when pitching tent..
7. Everything gets packed in UL dry bags and my pack has a rain cover.
8. Quality rain gear goes a long way, but eventually.....

GoatNuts