BetterBirddogs

How do you guys and gals hunt the moon phases. Lookin for some advice.

Jimmy S

I hunt whenever I can. The moon phase is never a factor.

rozman62

I hunt in all moon phases. They move less in the day in a full moon. I do not incorporate any moon phase as a strategy to hunt by.

BetterBirddogs

I don't either but just was wanting to hear what you observe as far as deer movement goes in relation to moon phases.

Gangly

if a bright moon is out and no clouds are present, you can bet money that the deer movement will be FAR less during the following afternoon, at least in my experience.

Kathwacckkk

I have to agree that I hunt when I can. Everybody seems to want to hunt on the second full moon after the equinox. That would be around Nov. 13 this year, if I am not mistaken. I do not put as much credit into moon phase as others. As previously stated, when the moon is full, I believe the deer move more at night as they can see easier. This makes most of them go nocturnal. I would rather have a new moon the last weekend in October, which just so happens to fall this year.

Robow45

I read or heard that you should sleep in the day after a full moon and hunt the middle of the day

MadOtis

I'm beginning to put more faith in what time the moon comes out rather than in moon phase. I've done a little bit of unscientific testing that seems to corroborate this over the past two years. I set out two game cameras for a three week period on two different trails that lead from known day-time bedding areas on our lease. I then took the times off of each image (the ones that contained deer) and charted them against a published "moon calendar" found on the internet. in approx. 80% of the times, the deer were moving one direction or the other on one of the cameras within +/- 1 hour of the moon chart's "peak" times.

So, rather than hunting moon "phase", I hunt moon "time" instead. If the moon is up early in the evening, I'm on stand before dawn. If it's up when I get up to go out in the morning, I'll go back to bed and go out after daylight and stay on stand longer into the afternoon. I basically try to plan on spending at least the daylight portion of the "peak" from the charts in the woods.

Cheers!

sjsfire

I like to hunt the no moon phase but that is not possible all the time. Seems to me the deer are moving good in the morning. I only firearm hunt so I'm stuck with what ever phase the moon is during the Illinois firearm season.

turkeyslayer15

i hunt when ever i can moon phases dont matter to me. although i see less deer movement during the full moon but at the same time i remember what a pro hunter told me, and that is deer have to move every 3 to 4 hours whether its just getting up and laying back down in the same area or going to feed and come back they have to get up. early season i havent seen it as much but during the rut ive seen that to bemore true