Is it Going to Rain on the Opener?

That’s a good question.

First off, let me give you the latest outlook from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC).

As you can see western KY has got a bullseye on it. The eastern half is not as blessed. My guess is that we’re probably going to see rain. If you squeeze Wunderground.com, you see a lot of rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but none of it is particularly hard rain, just on and off showers.

I can only think of a few times in my career having to deal with rain on Opening Morning, and a few more where rain moved in later in the day. Twice since 1990 there have been roaring thunderstorms. The last one in 2006 was a doozy. I knew the rain and wind were going to be there. I rigged for it. I was up a tree when it hit. It was all cool until the lightning started. By then, the tree was swaying too much to attempt to get down. I stayed up until 1000 and then came out, just as the front blew through– dropped the temp 20-some degrees. It’s been 14 years since it rained on the Opener; we’re overdue. However, it’s still a 1 in 8 shot every year. If you were to exclude 92-96 from the figuring, then it’s only rained 1 in every 12 Openers. It rained on 3 out of 4 Openrs in that period.

What to do?

I’m all for getting wet. I’m not going to let rain mess with the parade. I don’t like it, but then nobody asked my opinion. I don’t like hunting in rain. I especially do not like rainy Openers. It makes for a muck of things at camp. We have a small space and not a whole lot of room for drying our gear indoors. I also find that bucks move less when it is raining. Most of our big ones have been taken on mornings where we could see stars on the way to the stand. Still, one has to play the cards one is dealt.

Here is an orange poncho I found on Ebay on the cheap. It is waterproof. It will fit over a backpack. It is KY-legal for their hunter orange requirement. It ain’t pretty, but hunting in rain never is. It may rain, it may not, but at least I am prepared.

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