Dufus1964

I have researched this issue. One author, I forget who, had kept a log for over 40 years of hunting. He recorded the moon phase and compared that to the lunar tables. He said that the only statement he could make about hunting by the moon phase was that he saw significantly more deer activity after a dark night and less after a bright night. None of his data corresponded with the tables. As far as predicting the rut, most state wildlife authorities have on their websites a page where the rut is predicted for different areas withing that state. The biologists have the ability to predict the peak rut by estimating the birth date of most fawns born in a given year, and then backdating the gestation period of whitetail does. I have tracked this here in southern Alabama and Mississippi and those guys are right on the money. During the rut, all projections are out the window, bucks may move at any time, best to hunt all day if possible.

The rut seems to be tied to the length of day versus moon phase. However, look for the 2 week period before and after the predicted rut and if you have a full moon during this time, hunt all day every day around this period. Deer movement seems to be predicated on the brightness of the night before, storm fronts, and other environmental factors rather than the moon phase.