how will the moon affect elk?

willhunt4food · 08-14-2003, 05:49 AM

I' m hunting Sept 5-13. The full moon falls right in the middle of the trip. What sort of affect will this have on the elk (if any)?
thanks for the info,
Will

Wolf killer · 08-14-2003, 08:46 AM

The full moon will have no effect on the elk. They will still be found in the same places. They always bed down during the day. You can catch them in the morning & evening feeding & headed for water.
I think there have been too many articles written by unsucessful outdoor writers on this subject? They always want to blame the moon or the heat for not filling there tags.

txhunter58 · 08-14-2003, 12:22 PM

Go to the " TR Tips section" He has done a lot of study on that very subject.

handloader1 · 08-14-2003, 09:44 PM

According to my calender the 8th -> 13th will be the most productive days. The 11th will be your best day. Take this info. for what it is worth. Good luck on your hunt!!

bigbulls · 08-15-2003, 01:29 AM

I don' t care what all the experts say that say they have umpteen hundred years of experiance with elk. The moon will have some effect on wild elk. Their day to day routien will probably stay the same but they do tend to move up the mountain a bit earlier in the morning than with out the full moon. They tend to come out a little later than they would with no moon. They also tend to be a little more active at night with the light of a full moon and not move around quite as much in the day time.

You should get up and out earlier and stay out as long as you legally can.

trmichels · 08-15-2003, 06:18 AM

Good information here.

The moon WON" T affect the rut. After two years of elk research I can tell you that neither the gravitational pull of the moon, or the amount of moon light appear to affect the rut.

A full moon (without clouds) often causes elk to leave open areas earlier in the morning than normal, and come out later in the evening than normal (because of the amount of moon LIGHT).

Cloud cover often causes elk to come out earlier in the evening than normal, and stay out longer than normal in the morning.

Tha same things hold true for whitetails, mule deer and moose. No matter what the ' theorists' say.

rather_be_huntin · 08-15-2003, 11:13 AM

I agree with TR, not that he needs me to back him up. Simply put the rut is not affected by the moon. However if the moon is out they will be a little more active at night. That means they will bed a little sooner in the morning and get up a later in the evening. But they still should be screaming and responding to calls. Their hormones don' t shut off when the sun comes up. You just have to be a little more aggressive, thats all.

trmichels · 05-01-2009, 01:50 PM

I still think the "phase of moon" has very little to do with the timing of the rut ... for whitetails or elk.

But, moon "light" and the phase of the moon, along with the perigee/apogee - "appear" to be correlated with the "monthly" activites of whitetails - not hourly activity.

T.R.

Colorado Luckydog · 05-01-2009, 06:16 PM

Full moon with cloudy skys= no change at all.

Full moon with clear skys= Elk are more active at night and less active in the day. It sure don't mean you can't kill 'em! Just my 2 cents!

Good luck on your hunt!!

ADV. Hunter · 05-01-2009, 07:01 PM

Agreed

Elk will still be where they are normally but they will be active in the full moon light thus be bedded down earlier they will know (T.R. would know better than I) the moon is out longer and they will move up and down the mountain in the cover of the dark. It works to their advantage and game figures it out.