I was going to go hunting for a deer later this week, but the weather report says rain. I am tempted to not bother, but I reflected that when I have been out and had no choice about the matter that I have acutally had some fine success hunting in the rain.
I used to hunt a flat bit of ground on the west side of the island, not far from where I made a campsite. Open bush mostly, and where it wasn't you could still duck through some tunnels the deer had made. Deer trails in this place all seem to lead in one direction, to and from one clearing and over to one more smaller spot that I used to sit and wait for a deer to come out in the evening. I used to sit there under a bank, half-asleep cradling my rifle, with my one rule that I couldn't look until it was twilight. Then I would look over the top. A third of the time I would catch a hind feeding fifty metres away just outside the bush, or just inside. I never managed to shoot one, as chance would have it, but I liked knowing I could catch one out anyway, and never felt bad about it.
When the weather was bad, driving rain and wind pushing the beech trees around I would stay "at home". But if it was light rain with no wind, I would get bored enough to get out and go and have a look anyway. I realised after a while that I have had the most success at pure bush hunting when I was working in light rain or drizzle, and with no wind.
It seems that the rain meant the deer couldn't smell as well as they usually could. It seemed that they couldn't hear as well as usual either. I wear an old army goretex rain coat that is too noisy in the bush, but it never seemed to matter. They also seemed to be out and about in the rain throughout the day too.
So I have decided to go hunting even if its raining, as long as its hunting rain.
Like eskimos and their words for snow, we New Zealand hunters should have ten different names for rain. Light rain with no wind is called "Hunter's rain.'
