This Saturday, September 19, 2020, is opening day for archery
season in the majority of our county located in Zone C, as designated
by the Florida Wildlife Commission. It’s been a long time coming and
I know a good many of you are just as excited about it as I am.
We’ve been having quite a bit of rain this year, so we can expect to
find the woods a bit soggier than usual. I hope that when driving into
your site, you’ll be wary of standing water and slick trails; what a
shame it would be to get stuck in the mud and not make it to your
stand for the first morning’s hunt. It stinks…. I’ve done it.
According to the Accuweather.com forecast, as I type this, Hernando
County is expected to see a 35 percent chance of rain opening day.
That’s a bit drier than I had expected, but I’m still going to plan for the
rain to be on the safe side. Now, a lot of folks really like those PVC
rain suits, the camo ones that you can buy at most any outdoors
store, or even the plastic ponchos so readily available at the Army
Surplus stores. I prefer to pack along a warm camo hoodie and just
get wet. Not telling anybody else how to hunt, but I will give you the
reasons why I do things the way I do.
A big reason is that rain suits are so noisy. The patter of rain on
either the PVC suit or plastic ponchos really distracts my ability to
hear. When the woods are wet, the woods are quiet, so I don’t want
anything distracting my hearing. Not as big of a problem with the
suits, as the ponchos, is that the sheeting of the poncho really gets in
the way of my bowstring. If you’ve ever tried to shoot a bow while
wearing a poncho, you’ll sympathize.
The warm camo hoodie, I put on when the rain begins, is quiet
and its easy to shoot while I‘m wearing it. Even more importantly, it
keeps me warm. Too many folks overlook the fact that even though
the temperature may well be in the eighties, once we get wet, our
body temperatures can still turn hypothermic. It really helps to have
along an item of clothing to prevent that, because after the rain stops
and the deer begin to move about feeding on the new-fallen acorns, it
does you no good to attempt to draw and fire accurately if you’re
trembling from a chill.
On a separate note; while out and about the properties upon
which you’ll be hunting, remember this, “If you take it in the woods,
carry it out of the woods.” While you’re at it, if you come across
someone else’s trash, do the right thing and pick it up. Let’s show as
much respect for the land upon which we hunt, as much as we do the
game for which we hunt.
As always, if you have any comments or feedback, give me a
shout at [email protected]. God Bless and Good Hunting!
