Moon Phase Whitetail Hunting

[fvigo]

Hi all,

I just read a review in the lastest issue of Muzzleblasts on a book entitled "Moon Pase Whitetail Hunting". The book is basically about the effect on moon phase on deer movement and behavior.

Just wondering what y'alls experience is with the moon's phases effects on hunting. I have never paid attention to them and think there may be some merit to this issue. Heck, I don't know much, I am starting my third season of hunting and the young age of 34. Thanks

 

[roundball]

Hi all,

I just read a review in the lastest issue of Muzzleblasts on a book entitled "Moon Pase Whitetail Hunting". The book is basically about the effect on moon phase on deer movement and behavior.

Just wondering what y'alls experience is with the moon's phases effects on hunting. I have never paid attention to them and think there may be some merit to this issue. Heck, I don't know much, I am starting my third season of hunting and the young age of 34. Thanks

I'm convinced that it can/does influence their movement...I've hunted the same stands under the same conditions on the same farms for a few years now, and have definitely noticed travel pattern shifts depending on the phase and the moon's location from one week to the next...the same families of deer that appear right at black dark one week, will show up 30-60 minutes earlier before dark another week, then even earlier in mid-afternoon another week, etc.

All that being said, I don't look at a calendar and decide if I'll go deer hunting or not...I simply hunt every morning or afternoon that I can until my tags are filled or the season ends.

 

We always cringe if our elk season starts on a full moon.Always heard that after feeding all night in a full moon they will head back into the timber before the sun comes up.Not sure if the same is true for deer or not,seems like we see them all times of the day.Just noticed you said whitetail.Wonder if its true for all deer.

 

[roundball]

I believe many if not most animals are influenced in a similar way...I don't think that only whitetails would be influenced by it

 

[Slowpoke]

Of course it plays a part in deer hunting, in fact....it determines where and when I hunt. During a full moon or last days of waxing or waining, I hunt bedding areas.... any other time, it's feeding areas.

Of course... I'm not the best deer hunter in the world so what do I know. :rotf:

/Only 15 days till opening day in South Carolina !!!!!

 

[Stumpkiller]

Oh sure. It definately makes a difference. If only I had the luxury of choosing time of day and phase of moon to hunt. We get a week for muzzleloading, sunrise to sunset, take it or leave it, and share it with the late bow season. I hunt as much as I can and hope to find a straggler who left his Farmer's Almanac on the back of the terlet. :winking:

Figure on the nights when the moon is full the deer are spending the following day hunkered down and chewing cud.

To borrow from Jimmy Buffett: The moon is always rising somewhere. :hatsoff:

 

[playfarmers]

Having to work for a living limits when I can hunt, so I just hunt when I can. Around here weather plays a big role in how I hunt. If a big snow storm roles in, we still hunt the thick stuff. I also think the moon has an efect on them, and I change my tactics as I go.

 

[rudy parnell]

I am fairly sure that Deer don't "chew cud". However, having challenged you on previous ocassions...I have chewed more than my share of "Crow". Please enlightened me, "Ole Sage".

 

[roundball]

http://www.virginiagarden.com/deer.html

 

[Pork Chop]

Why Roundball, it was quite neighborly of you to serve up that Crow Cud Pie! :rotf:

 

[bob1961]

do ya ever notice that when the full moon is out that ya don't see as many deer during the day..............bob

 

[roundball]

Why Roundball, it was quite neighborly of you to serve up that Crow Cud Pie! :rotf:

I do what I can... :rotf: :rotf:

 

[rudy parnell]

Roundball, "sage". Thank you for stepping in. I should have know you were lurking. I have learned a lesson and for that I am thankful. Just a thought, I have cleaned many a deer...I knew that an animal had to have chambers in the stomach...I just don't remember ever seeing the divisions. Never could confirm that an animal was "chewing cud". :cursing: I quess I just need to get out more often. Anyway, to the original subject of this thread...I have continually witnessed the visable rut that takes place in the heartland...Kansas and Nebraska and Missouri. There is a correlation with rutting behavior and moon phases. Go out to hunt every year and try to hit the rut...I think it is the second full moon after the "equinox". Anyway it will fall the first half of November in most cases and in most states out that way.

 

[roundball]

Go out to hunt every year and try to hit the rut...I think it is the second full moon after the "equinox". Anyway it will fall the first half of November in most cases and in most states out that way.

I read an article years and years ago that said:
"if you can only deer hunt 10-12 days per season, make it the 10-12 days during the pre-rut and rut, first half of November".

I was lucky that I earned enough vacation to take those two weeks so I tried it one year in the early 90's and was shocked at the bucks I saw during broad daylight, and have done it every year since then...bucks wandering through the woods all day long scent checking for does is the way hunt !

And it's the most beautiful time of year with the fall foliage here in NC, the weather is almost always perfect, see bucks most every day, fill all the buck tags in two weeks, etc.....then go after does and squirrels on Saturdays from Thanksgiving through New Years...

I'll be 'living' in the woods again this year from November 4th through the 18th...work a couple days then back in the woods over Thanksgiving holidays...

 

[nchawkeye]

Francesco...I have hunted deer for over 35 years...The days up to and including a full moon I usually see deer...the 5-6 days after a full moon, I see less deer...I think that the deer get used to feeding under the light of a moon and it takes a few days to adjust...Now...Like someone mentioned, if deer aren't moving much, move closer to the bedding area...And...If its during the rut...Forget it..go hunting...Weather can also affect deer movement...If you have a front moving in, deer feed up...So it does affect the number of deer you might see...But for most of us, we go anyway, because it ain't about the killing...Its just going...

 

[Stumpkiller]

Thank you Roundball for the link. Deer are, in fact, ruminants, with split hooves, and therefore "clean" animals according to the Book of Deuteronomy (for all you old testament types out there). Something else to remember: ruminants generate internal heat while just digesting. On SUPER cold days the deer will shelter on the leeward (preferably south facing) side of ridges and ruminate rather than move around like we single-chamber tummy types must do to stay warm. I used that assumption to kill two bucks in the last two unusually cold winters.

 

[shmrck1]

roundball,
Sure glad you get to do that for sure,
and I agree with you 100% about the pre-rut
and rut periods for deer hunting. I'm sure there
is no moon phase going to change the urge that a
buck gets during the rut. I for one think that
for want of another word bucks go a bit crazy
during this time, and will let their defensive
guards down big time and the moon has nothing to do with it.
However, having said that, and the rut
aside, I feel the phases of the moon effects
all creatures, even humans.
Ask any policeman about crime on the
nights with full moons. I don't think it's an
old wives tail.
Moon phases, good or bad, won't keep
me from hunting. My idea is to get in the woods,
if I harvest a deer,which I have many times,
great. But if I don't, I still had a day in the
woods....And thats great also. IMO
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[roundball]

:thumbsup:

 

[Lone Carabiner]

IMO the the best hunting will be during a no moon or little moon time when it has been very overcast/rainy and clears early the following morning particularly if it has rained most all the previous day. And the colder the better, the deer will be moving and the rut will most likely be on.
Deer will feed at night during full moon unless the weather is bad.

 

[musketman]

Below is a link to the moon phases for November 2006, you can scroll month by month to see what phase the moon will be in during your local hunting seasons...

Moon Phases

As for the moon and hunting, I feel the deer will use the moon to feed an night and hide during the day if a full moon (or nearly full) befalls during hunting season...