Moon phase
 

Just visited the Naval Observatory site. I hope I understand it correctly. If so the moon phase toward my annual chosen vacation time for rut hunting should be killer!

RE: Moon phase
 

Coug, what have you noticed about hunting on a full moon, speaking of moon phase?? I hear most folks say they don't like hunting a full moon, but myself, I see MORE deer during that phase......What's that all about I wonder???

RE: Moon phase
 

either full moon or no moon are the best ive noticed

RE: Moon phase
 

I like cooler weather an 4 or 5 days before full moon an 4 or 5 days after.

RE: Moon phase
 

How important or how much of a factor it(full moon) is during the pre-rut or rut.............I am not really sure to be honest but..........in the midwestern agricultural areas, I do believe that deer will tend to move more at night with a full moon phase, at least in pressured areas. It makes sense to me that deer would feed more at night under a full moon and would begin to come out to feed later in the evening and return to bedding areas earlier in the morning. Of course this begs the question.....what if there are days/nights of heavy cloud cover and how does that affect or change any habits or tendacies deer might have with moon phases?

In my instance, I seem to see more deer under new moon, first quarter and late quarter phases. I sure wish I had kept a log of every time I hunted from the time I first started deer hunting. In the rut I don't really thinks it matters much with a full moon, but I'd still prefer to hunt with a non-full moon phase.

RE: Moon phase
 

I think it would be interesting to hear from some who have read books or articles on the subject of hunting the moon phases.

RE: Moon phase
 

full moon makes it harder to hunt because the deer tend to stay active more and harder to pattern. It manafests itself in things like getting busted more walking to your stand and getting stuck in the stand late with deer all around. I truly believe in moon phases. Pre rut is more predictable. Basically, in its simplest form, deer get up to eat twice a day; when the moon is straight overhead or underfoot(opposite side of the earth). The get up to "stretch andpee" when the moon is atthe sides of the earth.
Start your own mental list. The next evening/morning to or from work you a lot of deer activity, simply look up. I bet a dollar that the moon is high in the sky. Keep track of it..... you'll be convinced.
The rut is a huge monkey wrench in the theory because the mating instinct overrides everything. BUT,(this is the cool part) if you hunt rut days when the major is say, 7:15 amand the minor is 5:42 pm; pack a lunch and hunt all darn day. Because if your major and minor occur during daylight hours the does will be getting up to eat in prime shooting hours. And as you know when the girls are out the boys aren't far behind. I always, always seek these days for my vacation time.

RE: Moon phase
 

Good reply, Matt! I personally am not able to tell the difference in activity levels, but our critters area bunch less patternable out in the wilderness as opposed to yourmidwest farmland whitetailhunting. My theory is that anything that you believe in strong enough to keep you out in the field from dawn to dusk is a good thing.

RE: Moon phase
 

Gotta love the naval observatory site, I never go in the woods w/o checking it. Not only can it tell you when to hunt, but you can better guess where to hunt...

Full moons in my opinion are easier to hunt cause the deer move between 10am-2pm

RE: Moon phase
 

picked up Jeff Murray's book on moon phase and whitetail hunting. I began to use moon phase as a factor in my hunting last year. Jeff's book does an excellent job on expanding the info I will use next year. Does anyone else use this factor in their hunts. Any tips or suggestions that work for you? Anyone use the moon phase wheel?

RE: Moon phase
 

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.

RE: Moon phase
 

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.

RE: Moon phase
 

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.

RE: Moon phase
 

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.

RE: Moon phase
 

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