Vinny_HC

For those of you who hunt by the moon how would you rank the 4 moon times as far as their effect on movement (overhead, underfoot, rise, set)?

I have noticed that many who prescribe to the "first quarter moon being the evening moon to hunt" and the last quarter moon being the "best morning period" means they hunt by when the moon is overhead only and not underfoot, nor rise or set.

Is overhead the best period because I can't see why an underfoot would have any effect?

14 ga

deal, to heck with the moon, hunt when ya get the chance and enjoy the outdoors. mostly like the deal in fishing it is b.s.

cheers

Topgun 3006

Being retired I hunt when the moon is up, down, and everywhere between!!!

Psylocide

Generally, I wait until the sun comes up before I start shooting.

Mojotex

Long story short .... buddy of mine and i kept very detailed records for 3 seasons running. We hunt deer in SE Alabama and put in about 60 days each season. I crunched the numbers and found only a moderate correlation between "moon phase" and deer sighting. Here's that one - Clear night + bright moon, deer tended to move later in the day, closer to noonish. Add abnormally warm weather to that combo and its a tough deal when it comes to bagging deer down this way.

For sure weather was the number one influence, and by far.

I never had, nor have since, paid any attention to the moon phase. Deer or no deer, I always have a good day when I am out in the woods.

BIG TUNA

I have to book my Oct/Nov holiday in Jan/Feb. So every year I spend hours upon hours analyzing the moon and comparing to past hunts, so I can book off the prime week. I end up going back to focus mostly on the amount of daylight time, so I now just pick the same week every year now. Then I hope that there will be barametric pressure changes that week so that they move more during the day rather than just at night. The same week with full moon or no moon, during years with similar weather, was about the action.

fshafly2

Wildlife biologists have put GPS collars on deer and monitored deer movement for months at a time. They have published studies that concluded there is no relationship of deer movement with moon phase or moon position. (Likewise, there are no published studies that have shown any relationship of deer breeding (the rut) with moon phase).
Hunt the moon phase/position if it makes you a better hunter. Otherwise, just hunt.

-fsh

Vinny_HC

That's good point. You can't really refute that kind of evidence (unless they are caged in a game farm or something). Are you able to find that article again as I wouldn't mind referencing it whenever someone slaps me with hunting the moon

fshafly2

Vinnie
Here is a reference to a research study (Measuring Fine-Scale White-Tailed Deer Movements and Environmental Influences Using GPS Collars) that did not find any link between the moon and deer movement:
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijeco/2010/459610/
-fsh

Vinny_HC

Awesome article! I especially like the line stating " Instead, routine crepuscular movements, presumed to maximize thermoregulation and minimize predation risk, appear to be the most important factors influencing movements. "

I wonder why so many swear by the moon so strongly. I wonder if it has something to do with trying to observe a correlation between deer movement and any of the 4 daily major/minor moon periods. If you give yourself a 2 hour window and 4 periods a day it is bound to overlap I guess. One reason I haven't used it much is because the deer don't move around much during the day where I hunt, if at all. I have seen them walk around their bed, etc but not actually travel/seek too much mid day.

Here is another link that agrees with what you sent. It is a video by a guys who did a similar study:
http://www.qdma.com/videos/does-the-...-deer-movement