backpack hunting and rain

[Becca]

AK weather can be fickle, and we have had our share of trips where it rained for days. The most frustrating thing to me is lack of visibility....pretty hard to hunt sheep when the ceilings are low and the air is saturated with moisture. Still, I can't think of very many trips where we have come out early due to rain...often it's just not possible due to logistics-- either fly outs, or a factor of distance from the road making an early bail out impossible.


Pretty sure it rained 7 out of 8 days on this trip in 2011.... We couldn't see the mountains well enough to really hunt sheep, but Luke did fill his caribou tag in the fog and pouring rain on the final day.


We also saw a few solid days of rain on the 10 day hiking/packraft trip we did in 2010. I think I spent most of that trip with wet pants, socks and shoes between the rainy portions and the pack rafting.



For me at least, a huge part of getting through rainy trips is mental...if I know I have a reliable dry shelter, all my gear is in dry bags and a dry change of socks and base layer to wear for 8-10 hours in the evening I find it a lot easier to tolerate being damp to wet all day long.

On mountain hunting trips where I am wearing hiking boots, I have had pretty good luck keeping my feet dry (boots are leather, and treated with obenhaufs) by using gators over my rain pants and boots. Summer hiking and pack rafting trips I am typically wearing saloman trail runners and sometimes will have wet feet in the daytime for the duration of the trip. This is where knowing I have dry socks to wear at night makes a big difference...besides letting my feet dry every night, it just makes it mentally easier to know I will have warm and dry feet every night.

With regard to water leaching up your sleeves, I often wear short sleeves and a vest instead of long sleeves under my raincoat to prevent this. Or, if I really want to wear long sleeves roll them up 1/4 of the way on my forearm and then close the Velcro of my rain jacket tight at the wrists.

 

[Bonedalien]

in last years insane CO rain season I was realy glad i threw my Kindle in the pack at the last minuet.

 

[Beastmode]

Some of the best hunts I have been on have been right after rain lets up. Deer come out from everywhere to feed.

 

[todd kelly]

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.

Recently when I've been in my tent and it's pouring out and I really don't want to get out of the fart sack, I just think to myself, what would Aron do? Get out and stop being a puss.

But really, no reason to wait out the rain in your tent, only fog and heavy winds keeps me inside. Good rain gear is a must (i really like the rubber cuffs on the yukon jacket, they work great at sealing off the wrist, and a good brimmed hood keeps the rain off the face while glassing) , a roomy tent helps, those lil tents are great for packing, but when it's been raining for days the extra room is a must when getting dressed and undressed and laying everything out to dry.

I've been out bear hunting 10 days so far this spring, and out of those 10 there has only been 2 hours where it hasn't rained or snowed. This guys definitely wasn't taking the day off because it was raining.



[video=youtube;tMnX_IOfdeo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMnX_IOfdeo[/video]

 

[tttoadman]

The best way to spot a tourist in OR and WA is the umbrella in their hand!!

I just hunt in the rain. Your sound and your scent is completely dead. Put the rain gear on and get out there.

I did stand next to a big pine tree and shield myself from the blowing hail for about an hour last year, but I was also in a great spot to shoot something.

I should add that you cant wait until mid day to get the gaiters on.

 

[rodney.black]

The best way to spot a tourist in OR and WA is the umbrella in their hand!!

I just hunt in the rain. Your sound and your scent is completely dead. Put the rain gear on and get out there.

I did stand next to a big pine tree and shield myself from the blowing hail for about an hour last year, but I was also in a great spot to shoot something.

I should add that you cant wait until mid day to get the gaiters on.

My favorite time for spot and stalk with my bow is after or during light rain. Makes it so much easier to sneak around undetected.

 

[BRobertson]

I have spent a big percentage of my hunting life in a place that it rains 200 inches per year, so I guess I got used to it a loooong time ago!!
Bob

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

When the rain is nonstop and the ceiling is to low to glass anything it gets old fast rereading the single magazine that is in my pack. This year I'm taking a iPad Air, I haven't weighed it yet but I'd say it weighs close to that of a magazine. I think it will improve the mental game if the poor weather goes on for more than a couple days. I have a years worth of EHJ down loaded, family and hunting photos and videos, as well as Inreach maps. It'll be in my pack for some multi-day preseason trips to see if it'll make the cut for hunting season.

 

[charvey9]

Fall storms aren't that bad, but spring hunting in the PNW can be miserable, especially when you get up above or around the snow line and have to deal with that mix of pissing rain and wet snow all day. Its not just that it is raining while you hunt, but it has been raining every day for a month and EVERYTHING is wet. Building a fire can be very difficult, if not impossible. You can get some dry tinder by shaving bark, but getting anything substantial to take flame is often more effort than it is worth. I plan on not being able to make a fire, and gear up accordingly.

With good gear it is still miserable, but you can stay dry and make it tollerable. Keeping your core dry is the priority, and I've never had a problem as long as I regulate layers as needed. When hiking, I just have rain gear over my base layers and never have a problem. The best rain gear is worth its weight in gold. I used Sitka downpour successfully for a few seasons, and this year swapped it out for KUIU Yukon and Chugach. The KUIU is lighter, has better venting, and so far performs a little better than the Sitka. I've hiked around in the rain for several days, and as long as I'm able to keep from overheating/sweating I stay dry.

I have a pack cover, and cuben fiber stuff sacks to keep my extra gear dry. Once I get my tipi pitched, I can stash my extra gear without worry of it getting wet. Good, waterproof boots are a must. I've only had my Kenetrek extremes for a few months now, but they are truly waterproof. I just spent a weekend wading through the swamps of the spring melt, where the boots were submerged for long periods of time. Bone dry. I believe wearing good gaiters over the boots and rain gear also help out quite a bit. Maybe they will wear out in time, but for now I don't even carry an extra pair of socks.

The only thing I haven't figured out yet is gloves. Cold wet hands are my kryptonite, so I pack 3 or 4 pairs. The problem with waterproof gloves is they are so damn big/puffy that you have to take them off anytime you need to do anything and then end up putting wet hands back in the gloves and they eventually get wet from the inside out. I'd pay a small fortune for some waterproof, yet dextrous gloves that would keep my hands dry.

Here is a few shots from so far this spring. The snow is decieving, its been raining on me about every mintue I've been up there so far.

 

[fillthefreezer]

Fall storms aren't that bad, but spring hunting in the PNW can be miserable, especially when you get up above or around the snow line and have to deal with that mix of pissing rain and wet snow all day. Its not just that it is raining while you hunt, but it has been raining every day for a month and EVERYTHING is wet. Building a fire can be very difficult, if not impossible. You can get some dry tinder by shaving bark, but getting anything substantial to take flame is often more effort than it is worth. I plan on not being able to make a fire, and gear up accordingly.

With good gear it is still miserable, but you can stay dry and make it tollerable. Keeping your core dry is the priority, and I've never had a problem as long as I regulate layers as needed. When hiking, I just have rain gear over my base layers and never have a problem. The best rain gear is worth its weight in gold. I used Sitka downpour successfully for a few seasons, and this year swapped it out for KUIU Yukon and Chugach. The KUIU is lighter, has better venting, and so far performs a little better than the Sitka. I've hiked around in the rain for several days, and as long as I'm able to keep from overheating/sweating I stay dry.

I have a pack cover, and cuben fiber stuff sacks to keep my extra gear dry. Once I get my tipi pitched, I can stash my extra gear without worry of it getting wet. Good, waterproof boots are a must. I've only had my Kenetrek extremes for a few months now, but they are truly waterproof. I just spent a weekend wading through the swamps of the spring melt, where the boots were submerged for long periods of time. Bone dry. I believe wearing good gaiters over the boots and rain gear also help out quite a bit. Maybe they will wear out in time, but for now I don't even carry an extra pair of socks.

The only thing I haven't figured out yet is gloves. Cold wet hands are my kryptonite, so I pack 3 or 4 pairs. The problem with waterproof gloves is they are so damn big/puffy that you have to take them off anytime you need to do anything and then end up putting wet hands back in the gloves and they eventually get wet from the inside out. I'd pay a small fortune for some waterproof, yet dextrous gloves that would keep my hands dry.

Here is a few shots from so far this spring. The snow is decieving, its been raining on me about every mintue I've been up there so far.

this is exactly what im talking about.
alot of the replies seem geared toward day hunting, which is no big deal in the rain.
i have a hard time hiking in a rain jacket, i have to slow WAY down. im a sweaty guy by nature so often im just as wet underneath.
the wet hands thing is also my struggle. then they get COLD. and then your sleeves wet out.

seems like no one has any great tips haha! just tough it out...

 

[Justin Crossley]

I have been stuck in a tent for a couple days before due to nasty rain.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

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.

I agree, for me it's the truck, canopy & Little Buddy heater. & hopefully I can put up a tarp and get an outside fire going.

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

Truth there for sure. Ideally a fairly large tipi tent that you can stand up in w/ a stove and enough room to stockpile limb wood to dry out.
I think we all can deal with being wet during the day, but it sure is nice to have a dry camp & bed to come back to in order to dry out.

I think the worst case is charvey's "fireless" spring bear hunt pics above.
We all know that good rain gear doesn't breath that well. Sweat condensation is a bitch. And day after day of not getting gear dried out can take a toll on you physically & mentally. This is when gear & clothes are put to the test. Gear WILL be wet and must function and keep you warm despite this. IMO, it's all about layers. Add & shed as necessary. If the rain stops, sun pops out, and/or a breeze comes up... this is your opportunity to air & dry gear out, even if it's simply draped over pack as you continue to trudge on. For this weather I like OD green synthetics & fleece as they absorb UV well & dry fast.
Me, I'm getting too old for that hard core hunting. I like my truck canopy, dry bedroll and fire.
Hunt'nFish

This is more my style

 

[Beendare]

Its rare to lose more than one day in the lower 48 to weather. Alaska is a whole different ballgame and its tough to one of those hunts with the clothes on your back.

Elk/Deer; Best time to be out is right after a storm goes through.

I used to only hunt rainy days here in Ca for hogs as you have a better chance of catching them out, yeah, you get a little wet.

My best advice is don't do what I do- wait until I'm wet to dig out my rain jacket!

 

[fillthefreezer]

well, i know this thread never really took off, but its still a subject of thought for me.
ive been continuing research on it have found some ideas im curious if anyone does.
bring a small tarp, UL, for hanging up high in the breeze to dry layers under.
use an UL windshirt over a light poly shirt. foregoing the hardcore raingear, knowing that while hiking, youre going to get wet. be it from sweat or rain. and instead obviously choosing layers based on the temp, but mostly for their drying times.
some people have claimed to don a synthetic puffy over the above combo, once in the shelter or stopped during a dry spell, and having dry gear in .5-1hr.

 

[tttoadman]

I would also be interested in any ideas on gloves. I wore my light sitka gloves all day in the rain and snow last year. When i found a legal bull at dark, my hands were too cold to adjust the scope on the gun(turns out the scope had a problem also). I was barely able to get the scope turned up to 6 and verify that he was legal and get a shot off. It was that take a leak when you are on the river fishing kinda cold. You don't realize how disfunctional your hands are until you try to do something like adjust a scope that is tight. I had the big puffy gloves in the pack, but I didn't realize how bad my hands had gotten.

My binos were completely fogged out. I am also looking at a bino harness to use in the rain(Kuiu ??). I keep looking for something that will hook to the shoulder straps on the pack and not have to go all the way around. I think I am just wanting a little too much.

 

[chippewawarrior]

Ttoadman, chilly grip gloves...

 

[Ray]

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

I grew up working construction, fishing, and enjoying the outdoors in the Aleutian Islands. To say its wet is an understatement.

The only way I have ever found to handle the water up the sleeves is to go full logger and cut the sleeves of your shirts down to mid forarm. Any time you raise your hand up above the level of your elbow will result in water running down your forarm and into your clothing. If you wear gloves then you have to keep them inside the rain coat and hanging down, or outside the coat and raised up. Its all very awkward, and there is no real solution other than spare clothes and a way to dry them out.

When I know I am going to be getting wet I wear a short sleeved shirt and fleece jacket under the rain gear. If its cold then a long sleeve wool shirt under the fleece. Back in my Adak construction days fleece was pricy and we just wore torn up carhart sweat shirts. A lot of them. Now days I have several cheap fleece pull overs or zip jackets that get abused. I frequently have used my hands to "squeege" out the water from the fleece sleeves while fishing in heavy rain. Fish juice does not squeeze out as well as water though and it gets kind of gross after a few days.

 

[fillthefreezer]

hmm, so 3/4 length sleeve cheapo fleece may be in the future...

 

[Becca]

We are just home from a fairly rainy 6 day hiking and pack rafting trip, and we got a chance to try out a new glove system that I think is going to be my go to for most future trips where wet weather is expected. We are using 5mm neoprene diving gloves, which are high enough to go up several inches past the wrist and then you tuck your raincoat into the glove and secure the whole thing with an elastic/Velcro wrist strap. Here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/NeoSport-Wetsuits-Premium-Neoprene-Finger/dp/B003554DYG

After two days on the river paddling and no wet sleeves I am totally sold on this set up. Also picked up a set of merino "liner" gloves to wear inside...I found I only felt like using them inside the neoprene while hiking, to ward off the slightly clammy feel of the neoprene. For hiking I also found I didn't need to do the wrist gaskets like I did for paddling, the neoprene gloves kept me plenty dry just tucked into my rain jacket with the Velcro of the raincoat wrapped tight. We sized up on the neoprene to accommodate the liners, but I still felt like I had decent enough dexterity to run zippers and open snacks

I had previously only worn short sleeves inside my raincoat while pack rafting (sometimes with a vest to keep my core warm), but I often found that I would get chilled. This new glove set up kept my full sleeved merino base layer dry, which means I can wear it even while paddling.

I am still a fan of the chilly grips for many applications, but they do eventually get wet and stay wet in rainy weather. This new set up is a great option for situations where I want my hands and sleeves to stay dry.

 

[bcimport]

Kayaker neoprene gloves have been great for me in the rain. Very good dexterity and you stay warm. Everything I have ever worn on my hands leaks and gets wet. These get wet but maintain warmth.

As for dealing with the rain, a thin book, rest and a positive attitude. Spent 36 hours stuck in my Akto two seasons ago, snow, rain, wind repeat. It's still better than being at work.