Ok guys this is my first season trad and I am 3 days into the season. This morning it was raining when I went out. What do you guys do to keep your arrow fletches dry? Thanks.
Raptor Archery makes a side quiver that is in my opinion the best quiver on the market. One of the features of this side quiver, which I rarely use since I hunt in California, is a fleece sock that covers the fletchings and keeps them dry. Ted works and hunt the Pacific Northwest, so he specifically designed the quiver to hunt in the rain. It also has a couple of small holes at the bottom of the quiver that allows the water to pour through in the event of serious rain.
Bow season's too long to hunt in the rain. I wait 'til it ain't raining to go bowhunting. Although sometimes I'll hunt in a very, very light mist. Besides, if it's raining very much, it's very hard to follow a blood trail.
I do not hunt when it is raining...too much chance of losing a less than perfect blood trail...and no worries about wet gear
DDave
The plastic bag a typical newspaper comes in w/a rubber band around the top over my quiver works well to cover the four or five arrows I routinely take hunting.
Many choices and variations of similar will work just fine.
Kris
I treat my feathers prior to season and use a Safari Tuff quiver with fetching cover. If your arrows are tuned well it wont matter if the one on the bow is wet. I have shot plenty of deer in the rain and found them.
Condoms........ They work great.
QuoteOriginally posted by damascusdave:
I do not hunt when it is raining...too much chance of losing a less than perfect blood trail...and no worries about wet gear
DDave
If you live in the Pacific Northwest and choose to not hunt in the rain, you are in effect choosing not to hunt.
I hunt rain or shine-in fact hunting pigs in a storm is ideal-'cause you can find them sleeping in their beds. I use a home made tube quiver to keep fletching dry. :archer2:
I have more than 132 days to bowhunt. I haven't purposely bow hunted in the rain for years.
I have been caught in the rain and in 1982 I shot a Doe during and afternoon hunt and it started to rain. Luckily I saw a flash of white about 100 yards out from the shot and that's where I found the Doe less than 30 minutes later.
What I remember more about that hunt was how difficult it was to get an adult Doe in the back of my blazer solo. Like a buckskin bag full of 120 pounds of jello!
Despite my bias against hunting in the rain I have to admit that the vast majority of my kills have been recovered in sight of the shot with no blood trail needed. I would hunt in the rain if on a NR hunt with limited time.
I use a water proof powder from 3rivers. I got the big jug of it and have been using it for years. It keeps my fletchings dry in all but a huge downpour while on stand. Sometimes ill use a plastic bag to get there. But the powder seems to work most of the time.
Fletch Dry. Had about a 10 minute rain the other evening and the drops just rolled off my fletchings.
http://www.3riversarchery.com/feather-dri+water+repellent+powder_i5086_baseitem.html
as stated there are many options...one more is gerber bottle bags...just slip them on over the fletch and push the nock thru the bottom to hold them on.
i dont recomend them if ur still hunting or stalking...the brush will pull them off...they do work good in a stand.
I like the idea of using a news paper bag. I may just throw one in my hunting bag just in case. I don't like hunting in rain but my best hunting (and biggest bucks) have been right after the rain stops.
The fleece socks on the raptor and chief style side quivers will mash those feathers flat!
If you have a side quiver, a simple foam plug with notches will hold the feathers seperate like in a bow quiver. I forgot to add the how lol, in case you're scratching your melon over this, shove the plug in the open end of the chief or simliar quiver. The notches are along the outer edge of plug. I dont use mine for roving/small game opting out for a backquiver.
Rain and stain if you can find it works. (payless)
As does baby bottle liners. If you're stalking flip them around so the bottom of th eliner is on the leading edge of the feather, works good. You can add a rubber band if needed.
seran wrap and the little rubber bands girls use to hold braids together (buy at and drug store). wrap a piece around each arrow and use the rubber bands to hold it on. when ready to shoot just pull the seran warp off and leav the rubber band (they are small thin and wont hurt anything). One roll of seran wrap last a really long time!
Even when im on stand in the rain I pull the wrap off my knocked arrow and still pay the seran wrap over the fletching loosely to keep my knocked arrow dry.
All that stuff isn't needed if you have tuned your arrows right. Wet feathers don't affect my set up at all.
QuoteOriginally posted by ishoot4thrills:
Bow season's too long to hunt in the rain. I wait 'til it ain't raining to go bowhunting. Although sometimes I'll hunt in a very, very light mist. Besides, if it's raining very much, it's very hard to follow a blood trail.
X2 :thumbsup:
Personally I do not hunt in the rain. It;s just too risky to lose the all important blood trail. Why take the risk?
I love hunting in the rain. It's the best time to stalk because the leaves are quiet. As for keeping fletching dry I've had pretty good luck with a homemade fletching cover made out of a ziplock back.
how about an elevated rest and vanes? I have very limited time to hunt so when its booked and cleared with the wife I'm going. That said, when it rains I have an old tree fort with a shingled roof to hunt out of.
I use a 1 gallon zip loc over the fletching and then zip it shut just enough so it doesn't press against feathers and it doesn't come off..
also string trackers are worth thier weight in gold on rainy days.
QuoteOriginally posted by AkDan:
The fleece socks on the raptor and chief style side quivers will mash those feathers flat!
That's not true at all. I suppose a slight amount of mashing could occur, but nothing that will ever affect arrow flight. I've used it many times in very hard rain and never had a single feather mashed flat nor had a problem with wet feathers. It can make some noise when it leaves the sock, but if it's raining then that noise is far less than the surrounding noise of drops through foliage.
Another option is to fletch with goose feathers or second best with natural turkey feathers. Natural feather oils keep them good longer. But even birds need to preen after torrential downpours. Good hunting, Todd
Light rain is okay but you really need to think about ethical considerations of hunting in heavy rain. Water logged fletching and water saturated arrow pads are not condusive to accurate shooting. Blood trails don't last long in a steady rain. Do yourself and the animals a favor by sleeping in and working on equipment when you have a steady rain or heavier.
A cat-quiver works for me.
A catquiver works for me aswell. I like to hunt a light rain or right after it quits raining.
I've had some luck with Fletch Dry and camp dry which is just silicone. It works ok in moderate rain. I don't like heavy rain due to the poor blood trail conditions. But a steady drizzle is great for sneaking thru the woods
TG, the chief has been my go to quiver for a number of years. Though I've put it aside more recently for a bowquiver slung side quiver fashion for sheep, the chief gets the nod more often than not.
I stopped using the hood after it happened a few times. Mind you my hunts are normally (not always) prolonged hunts I dont return home at night. Be it fly out, hike out, float etc. Once the MC gets high enough that hood has squashed my fletching flat!!
The hood does make a decent spot to stash some small gear when in camp. I've told myself a few times I need to take the thing off. I think this mashing affect may be due to the difference in how we hunt or possibly how much moisture is coming down or in the air itself. I know as a guy who stalks more often than not, they were mashed before I added the plug.
I learned the plug trick after spending a day in camp with Dean Torges and Jay Campbell and complaining about mashed feathers. Listening to the two go round and round made the trip. learning the plug idea has saved my fletching from ever being smashed again. Well that is slightly a farce....on a moose float this year, we tipped the raft. Thankfully we didnt loose much in gear but I did somehow break an arrow right at the quiver?!?!?! anyways, those arrows aftef a few days of snow and than a swim, were mashed flat even without the hood. They were goose-turkey spliced and bounced back nicely once things dried.
I disagree on the rain comments. There IS hunts where SHOOTING is still viable. In my case anyways bou/sheep are wide open critters and I venture to assume some of you have the luxury of hunting vast wide open areas. even moose in the rain is still a hunt, where blood trails are usually measured in gallons not flecks lol. I do agree that in many areas hunting in down pours is not a wise decision. blood trails do exist in wet conditions though it does make things a bit harder, I think the shoot/dont shoot is a personal decision and theirs a host of factors to consider before I did or didnt dump the string. That said I would hardly sleep in! A day in the woods whether I loose an arrow or not is good medicine, rain, shine, or hurricane! I can honestly say these past few years for whatever reason I dont get out as much as I'd like too, so making the best of a rainy day is a heckuva lot better than sitting here at work reading TG not getting paid...thanks Obama! :)