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Weird Wet Fall Hunting

Rattler

By Rattler,
in General Hunting

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Rattler Newbie

Rattler

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With all the rain we've had this year, this has got to be the weirdest fall hunting I have ever experienced in my nearly 50 years of hunting. 

There was and is virtually no fall color on the trees this year.  I think the leaves were too wet to dry out and turn colors.  Half the trees have shed their leaves while the remainder still have green leaves on them.  Many trees still have green leaves on them right now.  It makes for a weird day of grouse hunting and many of those days are wet too.  Turkey hunting has been a bust as well.  I haven't seen a single turkey this fall at all.  I can't see very far in the woods with all the leaves still on the trees.  I have only bow hunted once this year, as I prefer sunny fall days where the ground has noisy leaves that tell me a deer's coming.  There hasn't been one day like that this season when I could've gone hunting. 

It feels like the Catskills have become a rain forest this year.  Even hunting for furry predators like coyote, coon and fox is a bust so far.  I'm told we hit the average yearly rainfall total by September's end and October has been another above average month putting us on track for a record rainfall year.  All this rain is really making for a weird hunting season so far.  I can only hope we get all the precipitation we are going to get while it's still too warm to snow.  If it means we won't get much snow this year I'll be grateful, but right now I'm amazed.

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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I was up for the fall peak, a couple weeks ago, and the Adirondack colors were also not as vibrant as usual.    There seemed to be an abundance of grouse up there this year.  I am taking my scattergun the next time I go up there over Thanksgiving.   The turkey hunting was not bad at home in the southern zone.  I killed my first of that species ever (a fat young hen) on my second time out last weekend.  She made (6) good meals for our family.  With a crop full of corn, even her drumsticks were tender.

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Five Seasons Grand Master

Five Seasons

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Been a tough fall for sure. A few of those "perfect days" mixed in with a lot of wind, rain and even a heat wave. Probably saving a lot of deer for the orange army if the weather breaks by then. I know I really could have used some of this rain in the summer when my lawn and vegetable garden was dying. 

I'm really curious if this will translate into a lot of snow this winter. This next week in 8F doesn't look like it's getting any better. 

Edited by Belo
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phade Mentor

phade

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As I spent 15+ hours in the stand this weekend, another rain-fest...I got to thinking about how the state numbers will shake out. There have been some really good bucks killed in October this year, but I am curious to see if the overall archery count is down or less than expected because of the weather. Saturday was ridiculous and Sunday outside of the last hour, was a light rain that just wouldn't quit, even when radar showed clear.

Leaves also seem to be holding on later than normal. I exited a stand yesterday way early because it was so dark due to canopy cover. Usually at this time of year it's no longer an issue.

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Don_C Collaborator

Don_C

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I drove down to Pittsburgh over the weekend and the hills were very muted in color with a lot of green mixed in. It looked very strange, like a photo filter was over the landscape. 

The local channel 2 weather guy in Buffalo did a segment on this a couple of weeks ago. He said the precipitation levels combined with warmer temps and lack of sunlight during September were going to cause a very dull and unimpressive fall like we have never seen.  It seems he was correct. 

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airedale Grand Master

airedale

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17 minutes ago, phade said:

Leaves also seem to be holding on later than normal

That is a fact that the leaves are not even close to being off the trees around here. I did a lot of Coon hunting in my day and and having the leaves off the trees was a big advantage in being able to spot the treed Coons. Season started the last week of October and the leaves were almost always pretty much off the trees. Snapped the photo below just now and it can be seen the leaves on my place are still mostly green and not close to coming down yet.

 

Al

002.JPG

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grampy Veteran

grampy

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In the 50+ years I've been stomping around the farm property, I've NEVER seen it this wet, this late in the season. My hunting partner who's lived on the farm his entire life, said the same thing. Many of the tractor roads are under water in the dips. Woods roads are so muddy they are almost impassable, for even 4WD, ATV's!!! Almost got stuck yesterday as the thick mud just bottomed out the frame! Normally dry hay fields, have pockets of standing water. The oaks and maples on south facing slopes, are still holding leaves. Buckthorn and underbrush bordering the swamps are still full with leaves too. And the swamps are all filled with water. All this does make hunting the rut different, if not more difficult. As some movement patterns have been altered. For us and the deer!

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Swamp_bucks Mentor

Swamp_bucks

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I agree when i was in my stand yesterday usually by now theres just a little beech tree here and there with leaves left.  But pretty much every tree was still holding leaves and all the understory was nice and green.   Apple orchard at the lease has standing water in it looks like a little pond right now have been there for 5 years never seen it before.   Just be nice if it would not rain for a sunday or saturday night so i can get out and not get soaking wet. 

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