Originally Posted by PastorJim08

Several years ago, I read an article in D&DH by Charles Alsheimer. I'm not going to repeat the entire article here but in essence he said the rut was broken down into three or four different phases. In the northern latitudes the initial stages of the rut, or what he calls the seeking phase, are triggered by a certain moon phase. The moon phase being the second full moon, called the hunters moon, that occurs after the first day of fall. Since that full moon doesn't occur at the same time every year, it makes sense to me that on certain years you would not see the activity at the same time you see it in other years. Thus you would think we didn't have as intense of a rut as we normally have. After I read the article, I also thought about past years and what I had observed in my own hunting experience. Then I went back and checked the moon phases for those past years, and I must say, many times the increase in deer activity and that moon phase did line up. I also checked on the dates when some record bucks were killed in relationship to that moon phase and there were a lot of similarities. I am not sure if all his conclusions are correct but since I read that article, I have watched closely the moon phase each year and I have to say that there is a noticable increase in deer activity about that time every year. You would have to read the entire article to completely understand what he was talking about but alot of his conclusions make sense to me. This year that second full moon, or hunters moon, occurs on November 2nd. So if Mr. Alsheimers conclusions hold true, you should begin to see a big increase in deer activity around Oct. 30th or so. I would suggest that you find that article in the archives of D&DH or google it and see for yourself what he was talking about.

Blessings.....Pastorjim