More on Moon Phase

[early in]

I thought I would share this little bit of info reguarding moon phase. In the Oct issue of Pa Game News, a feature article (Life & Times of the Whitetail) say's that based on results of a GPS collarstudy on bucksin Pa,moon phaseshowed no affect onmovement and activity.It also mentioned that Maryland, and Texas had the same results from the same type of study.I thought this was interesting.

[John Deer]

I attended a whitetail seminar just last night and one of the topics was moon phase. They showed a graph that listed new moon, first quarter, full moon, and last quarter. They stated that the light from the moon affects melatonin (sp?) output. Melatonin affects the sex drive of the deer and therefore, moon phase would in turn affect sex drive of deer which affects how much they're up on their feet. Supposedly, the less light the moon gives off, the less the sex drive of the deer, and the less deer activity we would expect to see. They said that the effects of themoon phase on melatonin output are about a week delayed. So, the most activity would be expected to be between a full moon and the last quarter. The least amount of activity was observed between new moon and first qaurter. They refrenced Studies done by David Morris (of Tecomate, South Texas), and Charlie Alsheimer. It seems to me that in my experience in the field, these things seem to hold some water. I believe I've seen more deer activity toward the last quarter moon phase when I've been in the woods. just my .02.

[Huntinman23]

ORIGINAL: John Deer

I attended a whitetail seminar just last night and one of the topics was moon phase. They showed a graph that listed new moon, first quarter, full moon, and last quarter. They stated that the light from the moon affects melatonin (sp?) output. Melatonin affects the sex drive of the deer and therefore, moon phase would in turn affect sex drive of deer which affects how much they're up on their feet. Supposedly, the less light the moon gives off, the less the sex drive of the deer, and the less deer activity we would expect to see. They said that the effects of themoon phase on melatonin output are about a week delayed. So, the most activity would be expected to be between a full moon and the last quarter. The least amount of activity was observed between new moon and first qaurter. They refrenced Studies done by David Morris (of Tecomate, South Texas), and Charlie Alsheimer. It seems to me that in my experience in the field, these things seem to hold some water. I believe I've seen more deer activity toward the last quarter moon phase when I've been in the woods. just my .02.

i never pay attention to the moon phase but i might start i will still go hunting but i might just start paying attention to it and see if i see more deer

[virginiashadow]

I've noticed more daytime movement when the night is darker....don't know why but the waning moon seems to be better for me.

[Tribal]

i never pay attention to the moon phase but i might start i will still go hunting but i might just start paying attention to it and see if i see more deer

lol Me either I hunt whenever I can regardless.

[John Deer]

I hunt whenever I can too. But, I thought this might be something I wouldconsider looking atif I was trying to schedule vacation to hunt, or if I was going to schedule a hunt in another state, or something like that.