What side of a weather front?

[Swamp_bucks]

What side of a weather front has given you the best results for hunting?  
 

I tend to like the before side a little bit more.  Seem to have pretty decent action in the areas I hunt when a system is moving in.   I do think it depends a lot on when the temps drop in correlation to a storm. 
 

how about yourself? 

[wolc123]

This is a long one and I am stuck in CLT airport, bored after missing a connection earlier tonight, so bear with me.  If all goes well, I’ll be back out hunting for opening day of ML, up in the NZ tomorrow.
 

The only before/after weather front-related deer harvest, that I recall,  happened just after the front passed.  I hunted that day, thru the driving rain storm, in a box blind, with my short, smoothbore 12 ga.  I carried that gun, because I don’t like scoped guns in the rain.  It was raining hard when I walked in, and I still-hunted my way back to the blind. 
 

The high winds and rain lasted about two hours and I saw zero deer activity during the storm, from the warm, dry, and very comfortable blind.  It stopped suddenly, almost as if someone had thrown a switch. The wind dropped down to less than 5 mph, the rain stopped, and the sky cleared, over a span of less than 10 minutes.
 

I left the blind, and climbed up into a nearby tree stand. I had just got up into the stand, when a young buck came out of the heavy clover and started feeding on clover, about 90 yards away.  
 

That was farther than I had ever shot that gun, but the he was standing broadside and I had a very good rest.  Range is just one of many variables, when it comes to making a shot.  If my freezer is empty, and the others are favorable, I am not opposed to pushing that one a bit.  I settled the open sights, where I thought I should.  My first shot missed clean.  
 

The buck raised its head, then resumed feeding.  I guessed that I had aimed too high with that first shot.  It almost looked like I saw a patch of mud fly, in the short cut clover behind him.  I lobbed a second one, aiming significantly lower.  That one struck him in the shoulder blade - DRT.  
 

I can also recall one mature doe harvest, right in the middle of a similar storm, from the same box blind.  That one happened on opening day of gun season.  It was not raining, when I walked back in the dark, so I had my rifled and scoped, 12 ga Marlin bolt action.  
 

I headed for the blind that morning, because I saw the storm was predicted later.   That blind has nice 3 ft overhangs, so hunting with a scoped gun in the wind driven sleet and rain is not an issue.  About an hour into it, near the peak of the wind and sleet, a doe and fawn walked past, about 50 yards out.  
 

As I always do, when I have antlerless tags, I aimed for the largest one in range first and fired.  Both ran into the thick brush.  I was not able to get off a second shot, with the slow cycling bolt action.  I found the doe, double-lunged and dead, about 50 yards into the brush.  
 

One week later, on a lovely clear morning, the fawn (a fat button buck) emerged from that cover, to feed on clover, and got to join his momma in deer heaven (my food supply), using the same gun from the same blind.  He was also double-lunged, and died right next to his momma’s gut pile in the “sanctuary” brushy cover area. 
 

There was about a foot of powdery snow that morning, and I found just a single drop of blood in the snow, near his tracks where he stood at the shot.  No more blood was visible on the tracks leading back into the brush.  Hot blood drops from a high lung hit often cutright thru powdery snow, leaving no trace on top.  
 

That was not the first, nor was it the last time, that a button buck got reunited with his momma in deer heaven, with some help from me. One other time, I did that in the afternoon with momma, when my buddy got the bb in the morning.   He had also shot at and missed the momma in the morning.  She came back out to the bb’s gut pile at milking time, in the late afternoon.

Several other times, the pair made the “deer heaven” trip together, arriving just seconds apart, from slugs from the same magazine, when I was hunting with my fast-repeating pump guns.  

Usually, I only hunt from box blinds if the weather is bad.  My favorite ones are two-story , with an open top-floor, providing unrestricted 360 degree visibility.  I built those fit the specific reason of being able to get out there immediately upon the cessation of a storm, or to have shelter handy, if one pops up.  
 

Come to think of it, thats exactly what I did with that “milking day” afternoon momma mentioned above.  I had been upstairs earlier, but shot her from downstairs, under cover, after it started pouring rain.  That counts as another mid-storm kill.  
 

The only reason that I hunted from my box blind on the lovely day when I killed that button buck mentioned above, was that I had killed a deer on each of my three previous hunts.  There was not much room left in our freezers, so I picked that spot based on comfort alone.  There’s always room to squeeze in another button buck, if I still have a tag.  
 

Certainly there have been storms after I have killed deer, but I can’t remember any immediately after.  I definitely do with lots of fish though.  They always bite like mad, right before a storm.  

Edited October 14, 2022 by wolc123

[Larry]

Don't care what side of the front I hunt. Best time to hunt is anytime after Halloween UpTo the start of gun season then all bets are off. When there are lots more guy's out. Don't over analyze just get out and hunt it's really that easy. We wast to much time over thinking this there deer they have to do things by instinct.

[Robhuntandfish]

got my best buck 1 hr before a 10-12' snowstorm hit that night.  But i have also seen a lot of deer after a rain/thunderstorm.  I think during storms they have the sense to protect themselves and hunker down if they can so would make sense to see increased activity after. 

[mowin]

Definitely before the front.  But as Larry mentioned, once the rut kicks in, just get out and hunt. 

[The_Real_TCIII]

For me its after, YRMV. Especially after a snow storm


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[DirtTime]

9 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

got my best buck 1 hr before a 10-12' snowstorm hit that night.  But i have also seen a lot of deer after a rain/thunderstorm.  I think during storms they have the sense to protect themselves and hunker down if they can so would make sense to see increased activity after. 

10-12'?

Well, that's not going to be conductive to any hunting after that. Unless you have a pair of ultra-mega-neversink snow shoes.

[Robhuntandfish]

48 minutes ago, DirtTime said:

10-12'?

Well, that's not going to be conductive to any hunting after that. Unless you have a pair of ultra-mega-neversink snow shoes.

whoops.  Not feet but inches.  It was enough for us to close transp the next day whick worked out for me to process the deer!  My buddy Corey drove out to help me load it and by the time we were headed home could barely see.  Glad it went right down soon after the shot. 

Edited October 14, 2022 by Robhuntandfish

[Five Seasons]

Don't care what side of the front I hunt. Best time to hunt is anytime after Halloween UpTo the start of gun season then all bets are off. When there are lots more guy's out. Don't over analyze just get out and hunt it's really that easy. We wast to much time over thinking this there deer they have to do things by instinct.

It isn’t though. Most people have work and family obligations and a finite amount of free time. So maximizing odds is important to some.


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[stubborn1VT]

Before a snow.  After a rain.  Don't ask me why.  Just my experience.

[BizCT]

1 hour ago, Belo said:

It isn’t though. Most people have work and family obligations and a finite amount of free time. So maximizing odds is important to some.


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That's me. Each week I try to pick the best time for 1-2 sits based on weather, history, etc. and then plan everything else (work meetings, family time, etc.) in the other times/days. Then when November hits, I try to add a sit per week and sprinkle in 5-6 vacation days to add more woods time.

[Swamp_bucks]

17 hours ago, Belo said:

It isn’t though. Most people have work and family obligations and a finite amount of free time. So maximizing odds is important to some.


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Yea this is my issue. Chasing 3 kids around working full time with a bunch of OT and being married. My early season I have to be selective on when my sits occur.   
 

my favorite time to hunt is quickly becoming 10/20-10/30 I’ve encountered more mature deer in those 10 days than any other stretch of time in the season.  Especially if I can get in on a weather front.

[Chef]

What side of a weather front has given you the best results for hunting?  
 
I tend to like the before side a little bit more.  Seem to have pretty decent action in the areas I hunt when a system is moving in.   I do think it depends a lot on when the temps drop in correlation to a storm. 
 
how about yourself? 

The cold side


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[crappyice]

For me its after, YRMV. Especially after a snow storm


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This one came after obviously on your persuasion a few seasons back


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[phade]

For me I think after. Used be in the before category and I think it’s hit or miss. After seems more reliable to see increased movement.

[Larry]

Hunt November I still work but take most on that month off only work 3 days in November 

 

[Kmartinson]

Both sides,  but I won't hunt October mornings unless there is a heavy front moving through. Otherwise I hunt evenings until Oct. 25th then it's on til gun season.