Moon phases
Whitetail Deer
At age 57 I've archery hunted many years. I normally concentrate on late October and November. My best days are those with a front moving in or northwest wind blowing. I've never really consider the moon phase. I put more stock into the weather then I do the moon. I see this card called "deer hunters moon guide" that retails for around $24. How much do any of you put into hunting particular days that are "good" according to the moon phase. Are there any websites that tell you about the moon phase and if the hunting will be "good". Thanks in advance. the dog
I had a family member swear last week was going to be great because of the full moon. He came home empty handed. I think its BS mostly
We all have our theories. My son and I do best on the dark of the moon and can struggle on a full moon. Deer we see on the full moon are mid day. Maybe it's just a confidence issue. I'll take a cold front, with a day or two of heavy winds and rain...and then the next calm, sunny day after that.
On or near full moon, I see less deer, and the trail cam shows a lot of night activity. However, the 2 largest whitetail bucks I have ever seen, were mid October, 2 hours before dark during a full blood moon. I just hunt when I can and forget about the moon.
Save your money and pay closer attention to temperature and weather fronts.
Many free websites for moon phase and "best" hunting/fishing times.
Personally I don't like a full moon for hunting. However hunt when you can.
I'm with Writer and bowriter on this. While I have started looking at the moon phases, in correlation to sightings and trail cam pics, I have not been able to develop a pattern. I can tell you the best days we have had were during a "dark moon". Still researching. Temp and barometer are huge factors though.
I have found that whatever moon phase corresponds to the rut peaking and my ability to get time to hunt has resulted in me seeing the most activity. I have also found that the hour after sunrise and before sunset have shown better activity than the prime hunting and fishing times my GPS shows ;^)
In high pressured areas, elk move later and earlier with full moon conditions. Makes intuitive sense.
As far as fishing - 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other.
I put a little stock into when the moon is overhead/underfoot as ohio says. Best time is when you get one of those line up with normal "prime times" close to dawn and dusk. Did that last weekend when the moon was directly (over/under I can't remember) roughly 1 hour before dark. Killed my buck about an hour and a half before dark. I've watched it too many times and seen mass movement too many times at an "odd" hour that lined up with when the moon was overhead or underfoot to discount it. Now I definitely pay attention to it. I won't throw all my eggs in that basket, but it is one more piece of the puzzle I will try to add in when I can.
I was told when I first started hunting by my uncle who killed a lot of big bucks in the Adirondacks in the 50's and 60's that when the moon is directly overhead (full) or directly underfoot(dark) there will be good mid day movement a few days either side of those moons. It has been 100% accurate in my 40 years of observing deer movement. Shawn
@Shawn: Please elaborate on your statement above. Which moons are you talking about? The moon is overhead and underfoot everyday.
I did, the full moon and a few days either side of it and the dark moon when it is not visible and a few days either side of that, so like now the moon was full the 16th. It will be dark the 31st or there abouts. It is almost directly overhead and under foot at those times. Shawn
So you're saying that the bucks will be on the move on October 31st. That moon thing does work!
Saying deer will move mid day, nothing to say the moon thing works just those few days all deer movement is pretty good mid day. Shawn
Something to it but haven't figured it out. What I do know is whenever it's colder then the norm on any day it's good stuff! If the norm is 60 on October 8th and it's actually 50 it will be good.
My wife asked me many years ago why I hadn't figured something out to make money with in the hunting industry... Methinks the "Moon Guide" developer's wife was hounding him with similar rhetoric, and this was the best he could come up with ;)
Is there a iPhone app that shows underfoot and overhead?
Flyingbrass - take a look at the Huntstand app. It's actually simply the bets whitetail hunting app you've ever seen - it also has info on when moon is overhead and underfoot.
I like full moons ! I don't have to use my spotlight....................... :)
If the fishin's bad, the huntin's good.
www.timeanddate.com/moon/usa/harrisburg
I use this web site and here is what I have gathered. The MOST important aspect of moon phase is Moon Rise and brightness- for example, If the moon is going to rise and be visible shortly after sunset, the deer are less likely to move until after shooting light is done, you will see less deer in the evening. If moon rise is later in the night or early morning, IE...Sunset is at 6:30 PM and Moon Rise is at 11:00 PM or later deer will be moving more in the last hour of day light. My THEORY is that if the deer know that their shortly after sunset evening feeding hours are going to well lighted by the moon rising, they will wait until after last light to come out and feed. If the moon will not be lighting their shortly after sunset feeding then they will come out the last hour of daylight. Hope it makes sense to you guys and gals...feel free to disagree. I am just trying to make sense of things and just going on what I have observed over the years. I don't hunt enough in the morning hours to make any statements about moon phase on Morning hunts. So if you look at the web site I posted you will see that Oct. 10th through the 17th was not very good for evening hunts.
^^ One of our best evening so far this season was 10/13 so...
I am a big believer in avoiding full moons when possible - not that I won't hunt but it can shut hunting down quicker than anything else.
You really notice it on guided hunts more than any other time. Literally guys will have killed big animals the week before and after your trip and the only difference was the full moon.
Obviously there are guys who kill during this period but I can almost guarantee you if I had data, on the whole, numbers decrease during the peak of the full moon.
Full moon stinks!!!!!! Not just kills the deer hunting, but also kills the fishing.
Moon under foot is the best.
I've never paid too much attention to it. I just hunt when I can, every chance I get in November and December. I'm going to hunt when I can regardless of the moon, so why start the hunt with anything but a positive attitude.
Weather affects my choices of when to hunt more than anything. I'm self-employed, so I always mark off as many days as I can stand through November, and then re-assess as those days approach. If it's going to be 75 degrees with a weird east wind, I won't hunt that day, and will work instead.
If it's November 8, full moon, I'm going to be in a stand no matter what the conditions. And probably all day too
Moon being overhead or underfoot has absolutely nothing to do with the moon phase. Just for clarification. It has to do with when the moon is at its peak in the sky at your location and when it is opposite that point. It could be a full moon, new moon, or anything in between.
I put more influence in fronts and temp.
Under stable weather conditions I prefer hunting 1/4 moons for whitetails.
Will only hunt Africa on dark moon. Also, prefer hunting hogs on a dark moon.
With my work and family schedule I just hunt when I can. If I waited for only a cold front and the moon to be right I would only hu t most likely 1 or 2 times. I want to go out more than that so if the wind is in the right direction for the stand I want to hunt then I go hunt, simple as that. Go when you can and the more you go the better toir chances. You cant kill one sitting at home waiting on the moon.
When hunting locally, I just hunt. Like others, wind, temperature & overall weather conditions as well as other hunter pressure are all significant factors.
The only time I may think of the moon is when planning for an out of state hunt is being done. Then, I look at the phase of the moon. We pick the hunt dates based upon when we think rut activity will turn on, based on a calendar, not the moon. We just note the moon status at that time. The dates are generally selected based on hunting partner schedules & availability as well as logistics of where we are hunting.
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Everytime I've hunted an evening when the moon is visible during daylight hours I've had deer in fields well before dark. Every single time.
Never attempted to make a correlation, just always try to hunt when it happens.
I'm a firm believer in hunting according to the moon phases. Hunting out west I pick my hunts by the moon phase, and pick my strategies according to the moon phase. The deer and elk do a lot more of their watering and feeding at night on full moons, than they do on a moonless night. So on full moons I'll sit water in the middle of the day (they tend to get thirsty in the middle of the day). With no moon I'll sit water mornings and evenings (they'll come to water before going to their beds, or sometimes just after getting out of their beds). While scouting, I've seen it year after year with my own eyes how the moon effects their patterns. On full moons, they're almost back to their beds when the light first cracks. On no moon nights, they'll usually feed and take their time getting back to their beds (for several hours sometimes). It works with fishing too. I keep a detailed log of all the big bass I catch for tournaments. Full moon days are less productive than no moon days. The big fish seem to stay shallower and longer when there's no moon the night before. Take it with a grain of salt, but this has been my experience.
