Full Moon Strategy
 

What are your full moon strategies when hunting? I've read that the best time to hunt is 9-3ish because deer feeding patterns are off. It is seeming to be more and more true as I haven't seen a thing in the past two weeks morning or evening. What are you opinions?

Hunt a 10 till 2 hunt.

I live in MD and this past weekend was our early muzzleloader season and the amount of shooting was way off. The only few deer I seen and the one my son killed were all after 9am so Id have to agree with the later movement theory. One of the deer seen was a really nice 10pt that bedded along the field edge for only about 15mins and was back on his feet and moving again at 945am. I got to my stand early both days about 45mins prior to legal shooting light and was covered up in deer both days but as soon as it became 10 mins or so away from being able to see to shoot they migrated away and didnt see anything again until after 9am. Id say go in late and leave early.

Interesting. So the deer are "sleeping in" after partying all night under the light. I will pay more attention to this from now on, especially when I still hunt during the gun season.

Yea it's a theory I have never really tested. My buddy who has hunted for 20 plus years says it every year. The full moon jacks up deer pattern and movement. He says to hunt midday-ish.... I have consistently NOT listen to him all the while not seeing anything during "normal" hours. Meanwhile I see em all as I am driving out of the area 10-11 in the morning....

This weekend I walked in at 10:30. Heard a shot around 11:00 and a couple in the middle of the day. The check station had no animals checked out when I passed it at 10:00. I only saw one hog at 11:30. When I returned to the check station, there were 3 bucks and 3 hogs taken. All in the middle of the day. This is strong evidence for the theory.

I have a question about mid-day hunts (or 10-2 etc ). I have a couple areas that I hunt. One I believe the deer just bed in the thicker vegetation along the ridgeline. There are some dedicated bedding areas that are private. The deer generally browse the ridgeline which is public land. There is another area I hunt however that is about 900 acres. There are a few really good spots to hunt and several choke points made by fields and bodies of water. On the southwest side of the land are crop fields(private)The deer move from these and travel north to their bedding areas(private)The patterns are pretty deliberate. In the mornings the wind has to be SSW because of the travel direction and then generally NNW in the evenings. My question is: What am I hunting at 10-2? The SSW or NNW? On "normal" days deer have pretty much make it to the bedding areas by 10-11 (latest) and generally come down off the edge around 4-after dark. Sometimes earlier. With this type of pattern how would you hunt this midday? Am I making sense?