I posted a "rut schedule" earlier this year based on moon phases here:

http://forum.hunting.net/asppg/tm.asp?m=743530&mpage=1&key=2004&#743530

To add to this info, I've found a moonrise and moonfall schedule that relates to when Drury schedules his own hunts (per the link above). It basically says that the best times to hunt are when there's a rising early afternoon moon or a falling morning moon. You should hunt these periods in conjunction with high pressure systems.

Based on what the moon schedule is for Pennsylvania, I've listed the following dates as what should be the best times to hunt based on Drury's expertise:

10/18 - Moonrise @ 1242
10/19 - Moonrise @ 1347
10/20 - Moonrise @ 1440

10/27 - Moonset @ 0649
10/28 - Moonset @ 0755
10/29 - Moonset @ 0922
10/30 - Moonset @ 1007

I know I'll be taking some vacation during that second string of dates since that also coincides with the seeking phase of the rut. Now all I need is to have a high pressure system fall within these dates!

Does anyone else have any speculation on what dates are supposed to be good this year? Anyone have any thoughts into how reliable these predictions are?

mrfritz44:
I've got a friend who says when he followed the lunar schedule hunting as you describe, he saw more game movement than ever, not just deer. He's used a similar calculation every year with success since then, so I think there is something to be said for it.

A quick question though. Are you supposed to hunt during the moonrise / moonset? For example, you mention that moonset is at around 10:07 on the 30th. Does that mean you should be in the woods for this time? Or would hunting that evening be good too. I guess what i'm wondering is if the whole day is good for hunting when these conditions occur.

(BTW: I'm in southern NY and so the times you mention are very close to what it is here. Thanks for the info!)

I'm not really sure to be honest. This is the first year I'm really into the science of hunting in this way. Other years, I just hunted when I could and as much as possible. I've had a lot of unproductive hours on stand and want to narrow it down a little.

Can anyone else comment? Somebody must have seen Drury videos.....

I'm not really sure to be honest. This is the first year I'm really into the science of hunting in this way. Other years, I just hunted when I could and as much as possible. I've had a lot of unproductive hours on stand and want to narrow it down a little.

I wonder how the full moon will effect the last four dates you listed as having early morning moon setting times? I would think these 4 days could be the best of the year (depending on the weather) since it will be close to the time of year where bucks are aggresively searching for does nearly all day.