ndncreek

i agree with trmichels the moon won't have much effect on elk.the elk will be SCREAMING all night long. you won't sleep, the moon will probly keep you more awake knowing the elk are in rut and YOU CAN HEAR THEM. i'm assuming that you have a rut hunt? all the elk have on their minds is all the cows they can steal for them selves. they are gonna be up most of the night rutting, fighting, eating, bugling etc. etc. wish i was going with you!!!

trmichels

You guys got it right

T.R.

cherokee_outfitters

This is what happens in my areas of colorado atleast. When the moon is 3/4 to full the elk feed during the night more so than normal. Which causes bedding late into the day and the evening activity is less before the shooting hours have ended. But the main reason I love the full moon is the elk tend to feed into the late hours of the night. Thus making there second feeding of the early morning hours later. Which in fact makes them stay out in the open morning almost an hour longer. Elk tend to feed into the dark hours and up before daylight feeding again without the moon. With the moon at it's brightest this changes their habits just enough to make a better morning hunt than an evening hunt. It's more of a biological thing with the digestion before the elk starts to feed again. Mainly on areas where elk feel the pressure of predators. I've seen elk feed all day in other areas without pressures and safe times to feed. Just like cattle they chew their cud inbetween feedings. I prefer the full moon when hunting. But I also prefer the morning hunts to evening ones too.

GreatHunterWannabe

My thoughts exactly!

skeeter 7MM

Common sense goes a long way when it comes to hunting, you shouldn't need an expert to tell you this if you've hunted the NA deer speciesfor a few yearsto know more light at night can equal reduced productive hours during hunting hours. Full moon provides the most twilight lighting therefor stands to reason it will effect game to some degree.

In terms of rut it doesn't effect the timing.However itdoes effect what we see as hunters because when activity levels are higher at night due to the full moon or twilight lighting condition changes it can negatively impact our findings or sightings in hunting hours. Weather can also effect whathunters oftenpreceive as delayed rutting. If the weather is warm during the day the animal activty is reduced therefor we think rut is late. In fact they are active during the cooler periods which is often in the dark. Rut is happening we just aren't preevy to the action as much as if was normal or cooler.