I hunted a Southern Utah unit several years ago during the full moon with sunny, 80 to 90 degree daytime temps. The elk didn't do squat all day until just before and after sunrise. They were busy all night long! I caught up with my sleep during the day on that trip!
I hunted off and on during a 3 week period in Wyo this year. The only conclusion I could come up with in particular area in Wyo was when the wind howled the elk didn't do squat all day. I was hunting pretty much non-pressured elk and on calm days the elk were a lot more vocal....full moon or no moon.
A lot of guys hunting elk here in Colo at 9,000 to 11,000' elevation tend to think moon phase doesn't seem to matter. Colo often gets afternoon rain showers in Sept and it is a lot cooler with more water avialable at high elevation than elsewhere.
Another factor in Colo is hunting pressure. In OTC units with lots of hunters elk may be more inclined to be active at night...possibly a little more active at night if there is a full moon and lots of hunting pressure?
Last year I got in an arguement with a guy that was adimate that everything hinged around the estrous cycle of cows...and this happens the same week or 2 every year irregardless of moon phase and weather.
With all that said, I'd have to say it really depends on the area you are hunting and a lot of different factors like weather, elevation, hunting pressure, etc.
I guess I could stay in camp until the moon phase, weather and estrus were perfect but that's the one place I've never killed an elk.
I know moon affects deer...even during the rut. Not sure about elk but I will try and catch a better phase than I did this season....just in case.
Sure, I hunt everyday that I can and have killed on every phase of the moon. But I cannot reconcile the fact that many of my success picture had the moon hanging in the sky and I see many other pictures with the same background.
Now does this mean that the moon controls everything? Absolutely not, but All things being equal I will always prefer to hunt on the dark of the moon. Do not try to discredit this statement with well that is an Easterners point of view. I have lived in the West and Alaska for a total of 15 years and have made a number of forays when I did not.
Since we have little control of how the moon phase aligns with season dates and other schedules we have to look for opportunities where the moon phase actually may determine or help assist in defining when, where, and how we hunt.
Here is a snippet from Guy Eastman's blog: Here we go again!!! "Sitting in my office watching the computer screen on Weather.com anxiously waiting for the go ahead to hit the hills after big Wyoming bulls. It’s just unfortunate that the full moon this year falls right on the 13th of September. I’ve learned this lesson before. I try to stay away from a full moon elk hunt if at all possible. The good news is my favorite time to bowhunt bugling bulls is right after the full moon phase which is, well the day after tomorrow in fact. To add to the anticipation there is a cold front moving into the heart of my elk hunting country on Wednesday that should drop the evening temps down into the 30s and the high will only be about 60 degrees. Perfect for a rutting bull to pull all the stops lower his guard down and let me get close…hopefully. I guess this is one of the benefits of being a resident, I have the luxury to to be patient. To wait out the pit falls and hit the hills when everything is just right…after the full moon phase-check, cold front on the horizon-check, forest fire smoke in the air-check, hunting during the week-check. We are good to go.
Best of luck to all of you this fall and I hope you’re chasing a big bull of your own this week. Send me some pics if you connect. I’m off!!!"
Guy
Well he may be selling adds or TV spots but I am convinced that when the moon an other contributing factors line up that you have one of those great days afield.
Make no mistake, I am not an expert elk hunter so you should not pay a lot of attention to what I say but I would suggest all of you to start to monitor the weird times that you see deer and elk moving then look to see where the moon is hanging.
X2 Lungshot: The last two elk I've shot were between 11:30am and 12:30pm both during week of the full moon! So... Do I think it effects their behavior? Yes! But not enough plan hunts around the moon phase.
X2 Chasin bugles: Bottom line I'm with you lungshot, I hunt elk anytime I can hunt elk. That being said, I prefer to hunt the rut during a full moon phase(2 days prior - 5 days post, to be exact).
Great news is that the September full moon is the 13th and I am planning on being in the woods the 12th-24th.
Just some thoughts
Last year in a gen unit a bit early with full moon I had elk already bedded at 7am.
cnelk's Link
Since you asked... I went thru this little exercise a few months ago with another guy who ran my numbers.
Me and my buddies have taken 22 elk [archery] in the past 10 years
16 harvests were in a moon phase of 50% visibility OR LESS [some were new moon, 1st quarter, etc] 6 harvests were in a moon phase of 90% visibility OR MORE [very near or at full moon]and quick research shows 3-4 days on either side of the full moon date have > 90% or more. Shall we say 7 days are 90% or more visibility? And approx 14 days have < 50%
Category Observed Expected # Expected
1 <50% 16 11 50.000%
2 >90% 6 6 27.273%
3 50-90% 0 5 22.727%
Chi squared equals 7.273 with 2 degrees of freedom. The two-tailed P value equals 0.0263
According to the analysis we did better than expected when the moon was dark, about what you would expect near a full moon, and less than you'd expect (zero) when the moon was out but not bright. It shows some evidence that it's better hunting during darker moon, but I wouldn't schedule a hunt around it.
Good luck
A full moon is underfoot at noon which makes it a secondary feeding time at noon. A new moon is overhead at noon making it primary feeding time and should be better than full.
I know thus is feeding and not rut info...but if the cows get up and mill around to feed the bulls will likely get more active and vocal.
First quarter is overhead in late evening so that makes for some active animals on the pm hunt.
I'm not drawing conclusions...just stating some facts.
On the deer feeding times calender, they have 5 star days. I wonder if elk are mire active on these days?
HUNTING THE FULL MOON
While the weather encountered during the fall can be unpredictable, the factor that arguably hampers the elk rut most is heat. Hot, “Indian Summer” days in the fall coupled with a full moon can spell disaster for conventional dawn and dusk elk hunting tactics. The window of opportunity during this time can be very small. Even when you have a solid idea of where the elk will be found at first light and are able to position yourself as close as possible to set up, it can be very frustrating to find the elk already on the move and headed back to bedding grounds. What is the best option for overcoming these difficult scenarios? I like to call it “Midday Madness.”
Dirk Durham Extreme Elk magazine