njbuck22

I personally havent had all that much luck where i hunt during the full moon. The deer seem to stay up all night doing what they do and the morning hunts are worthless. In the afternoon there is some activity. I havent hunting hard during the middle of the day during the full moon, but the few times i have, ive seen some deer.

KS227

Ken,
You really don't need to spend the money on the wheel. Guessing you like to fish; well it is the same theory as the best times to fish(lakes and ponds anyway, I don't know saltwater AT ALL). You can basically go by the sonolunar table in the local paper. Just try to get the major and minor times in the table to be during legal shooting hours. Definately worth paying attention to.

archer58

I used Jeff Murray's wheel for 3-4 years and honestly didn't think it worked very well. I wantedit to...but it didn't.Possibly because I hunt the woods, and not near fields where activity would be more visible. I primarilyhunt oak flats and edges of bedding areas. I tried the transition zones as Murray suggested with little result.
I found that weather had a bigger influence, and early season(Oct.) the weather is pretty fickle here. If it was warmer than normal or humid or any condition that was off for the time of year ..nothing.
The other thing I noticed was that acording to the wheel the best times to hunt were after OUR bow season closed. This was during the breeding phase of the rut.

I'm not sold on it but if anyone can tell me if I was reading it wrong , I'd love to hear more.

ben673

Alshimer's rut perdiction in Deer and Deer Hunting mag. is usually pretty close for my area in here in Missouri. If the moon is full and up most of the night you need to hunt the mid day or at least sit till noon. If the rutting moon(the second full moon after the fall equanox) is before or after 11/1-11/12 I think you get a (trickle rut) so the rut activity maybe hot on 10/25 or on 11/25 or any time in between. If the rutting moon falls between 11/1 & 11/12 you get the classic rut with hard chasing for a week or so after the rutting moon. The best time though, is still usually between 11/1 and 11/10, the rutting moon usually just determines which 3 days are the best in that window. This year it should be about 11/1,11/2, and 11/3. This doesn't take into account weather and hunting pressure, if those 2 things aren't inline the moon doesn't matter much.

Ken Catch

Fishing is a job for me so the moon is definitley a factor. I'll be using the solunar tables for sure this year. Thanks for the reply