Barometer and deer sightings

[PrairieShadow]

I was reading in the general discussions page about barometer readings and how it effects deer movement. I thought we should start a log of what the reading was and whether it was rising or falling and what deer activity we saw.
 
Ill start.
 
10/27/08
30.68 and falling.  Didnt see any deer until right at the end of shooting time. a doe and 2 fawns. Movement was very minimal at best.

[69Viking]

What are you using to measure the pressure?

[PrairieShadow]

the reading came off of the NWS website.

[69Viking]

I'll have to get something to measure it since there is no internet close to where I hunt in Alabama!  I've always wanted one of those hand held weather meters like they have on the Weather Channel, one that can measure temp., pressure, humidity, and wind speed.  Just another toy that costs some dough!

[howhill1]

try this
 
http://www.ehow.com/how_2032261_make-barometer.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

[howhill1]

heres one with pics
 
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Simple-Weather-Barometer

[shaman]

Deer Hunter's Weather Station --$139




I've got no idea how good it is, but I saw this on Accuweather the other day.


One thing I can tell you:  I've seen and killed deer as the barometer was rising, as it was falling, and as it was going nowhere.  Barometrics, as far as I'm concerned, is only an excuse for bad luck-- not an indicator. 

I've seen deer come out and feed just before a big front comes through. I've seen them come out just after.  I've also seen them get up from their beds in the middle of a 3 day rain.   About the only thing that I have seen consistently make them crawl in a hole is the first 12-24 hours of a massive multi-day storm.  After that, hunger overtakes all other motivations.   I don't have a setup like Charlie Alsheimer, but I do have a good view of my pastures  and the neighboring ridges from the house. Even when I'm not hunting, I'm glassing the ridges for a mile or two around my place and watching the deer and turkeys.

It goes back to the axiom:  Nobody kills a deer laying on the couch.

If you're looking for a near-sure-fire way to play the weather:  stay inside and watch the radar as a mass of rain is beginning to leave your area.  Be on stand as the rain lets up. Within an hour or so, the deer will be out  If this coincides with a morning or evening hunt you're in for good hunting.

The converse is also true: If rain is predicted to start mid-day, the morning hunt may be hot as deer eat in anticipation.  The afternoon may be hot if rain is expected to start overnight.

But then again. . . if the rain's been coming down for a day or so, and it's showing no sign of letting up deer seem to just shrug it off and go about their business. A cloudburst will put them down, but those usually don't last very long.

BTW: I hardly ever hunt extreme weather anymore , but it's only because I don't have to. About the only time I go out in the worst of it is Opening Day. I have a very high average of killing deer in inclement weather compared to good weather, so I probably should do it more.  What keeps me home is knowing that I'll probably have the freezer full by the end of season anyway. 

[69Viking]

Shaman, good post.  You sum it up pretty well from what I've experienced too.  I love it when it storms all night and ends just before day break, those morning hunts then can be really exciting.  Nights like that I'm usually up an hour early waiting for it to stop so I can head out! 
 
I will say this, when you are at camp for a few days and don't have an accurate source of weather something to monitor the pressure can help you know when the storms are coming.  Other than that what you summed up is really accurate.  Good luck hunting everyone, I finally get back out next weekend.  2 weekends of not being in the woods has been killing me, got the itch bad!

[shaman]

I completely agree.

I've got a barometer, a thermometer,  . . .and a laptop with a Verizon air card.  That's how I get the radar now, but up until a year ago, I was getting it via dial-up at deer camp.  If you go on Weather.Com and get their radar loop and the Hour-by-Hour, that pretty much covers it.

I've also been a daily listener to KIH42 (162.55 MHz), the National Weather Service station out of Covington, Kentucky since before it officially went on the air 30-some years ago.  Those NWS broadcasts will give you current conditions and includes barometric readings and trends.  They also broadcast the tornado warnings-- In the Ohio Valley that can be mighty helpful during deer season and especially turkey season.

Back in the days before Internet, and cell phones , etc.  I used to call my Mom back in Cincinnati whenever I went into town for groceries and have her watch the TV for me and then I'd call her back as I was leaving for camp and she'd give me a pretty good digest of what to expect.

Another thing I can recommend is:



The Weather Wizard's Cloud Book: A Unique Way to Predict the Weather Accurately and Easily by Reading the Clouds (Paperback)
It's a great book.  Generally speaking, you can read the clouds and tell what's going to happen. It will also give you a pretty good idea of what the barometer is doing, since a lot of cloud formation is due to barometric changes.  I've done a lot of adventuring out away from all contact-- heck, down in the hollers of southern KY, you can't even get GPS.  Knowing what the clouds are trying to tell you has been a lifesaver over the years.

I frequently find myself saying:  "Ya know, if I hadn't read the forecast, I'd say we're going to have rain in 8 hours."   And then we have rain, even though the Weather.com says the rain % is only 20%

[PrairieShadow]

I wasnt saying to stay on the couch if the barometer had the wrong #'s for hunting and i certainly wont. I just thought it would be a good lil unscientific experiement to see if anyone could come up with some correlation between the pressure and movement.