Moon Phases
 

I'm in VA, Bow season just started, for the past two weeks prior to opener, had seen a quite a few deer, moving into a clover field in early afternoon, Not Now, I noticed when the deer where coming out the earliest was when the moon was up prior to sunset, is the lack of movement in the open due to the current moon cycle? shift in feeding times? Or did the deer have the bow opener marked on their calender? Am hunting private land with only a couple other guys so I don't think its hunting pressure?
any opinions?

RE: Moon Phases
 

I'm from Va also, the southwest part. I live on the borders of Ky., Tenn. I have also noted that the deer are not as regular in the fields as they have been on diffrent nights. Pre rut syndrome? Winter coats? ( It was hot down in these parts till Monday 70's the high 40's the low for all week with rain.) The weather and change of Season
will mess up everything. Stay in the wild.) That will tell you when they move and where. Home work is the best part. Like my old teacher said if you don't do your home work you won't get results. What part of Va are you from?

RE: Moon Phases
 

thanks for the reply Hawk, to answer your question I'm in Chesterfield near Richmond, Got some nice pictures on the Camtaker of about a 3.5 year old 10 pointer,now I'm trying to read between the signs to get a pattern on him. Good luck

RE: Moon Phases
 

As a deer researcher I can tell you that moon position has little to nothing to do with hourly deer movement. The full moon doesn't occur until October 21, so that doesn't work either. What does determine deer movement on a daily basis is the weather. If it's too hot, too cold, too windy, too wet, or too bright, the deer won't do what they would normally do. blackhawlk is sright, the more time you spend payting attention to the deer, the more you'll learn. Write down the temp, dwindchil, heat index, wind speed and direction, precipitation and the times and places you saw deer, and you will begin to be able to predict deer activity.

T.R. Michels

T.R. Michels