Originally Posted by
trmichels
There really is a lot that afects deer, but the average hunter should pay most attention to the weather. Her is an axion I coined back in th ealry 1990's
T.R.'s Game Animal Actvity Axiom:
If it is too hot, too cold, too wind or too wet, or there is too much human beavior or predatory behavior - the animals are not going to do what they normaly d. That, if you think about it, is just common sense.
Originally Posted by
Mojotex
Rain ? Sleet? Snow? Be in the woods when it quits !
I agree. Weather plays a bigger part than anything else.
Originally Posted by
nwwaterpolo11
So you're saying that solunar tables are a crock?
As they said, available moonlight may affect how much they move at night but the weather plays a bigger role in what they will do during legal shooting hours.
One morning last year I slept in because it was my wife's birthday and I wasn't going to hunt (I also enjoy domestic tranquility). It had rained all night and the weatherman said it would quit at about 10 AM. I knew that the rain had kept them bedded down all night and they would be hungry enough to move when the rain quit. The Mrs. was watching the weather with me and she said, "You're going, aren't you?" I went and it was a good thing I got a doe about lunch time or I would have never heard the end of it. I was home in time to cook her dinner.
I have a buddy that has an app for his "smart" phone that tells him when the deer will move based on lunar tables. He'll say, "They'll move about 2 o'clock today." He didn't get a deer last year. I consider available moonlight to be a minor aspect of weather conditions. If the weather is nice and they have plenty of moonlight the deer may be up all night and bed down all day. If it's overcast and windy all night, the moon means nothing.