Full Moon: Good or Bad?
Illinois
Contributors to this thread:
i can see no reason to even give it a second thought. if you can hunt, do so! I've had some great hunts during full moons. had i paid attention to the moon guys I would have not hunted. during late October and November anything can happen at any time and you have to be out there to participate. Forget the moon-Just hunt!
The last couple of days I've been seeing deer in the afternoon from a little after 5 till dark. Had 8 doe come out into a cut soybean field yesterday at 6:05, but too far.
Haven't hunted mornings in a few days, will start back tomorrow since the Minor feeding time is right at daylight.
I hunt the full moon just like the rest..if I feel like going I go.
Good and bad, they do tend to feed or be active longer at night on a full moon, but they still have to eat so maybe morning activity can be down but it will also make them more likely to move mid day or later as well so all day sits, which I normally do anyway when the rut is in, will work well. But, I am hunting anyway regardless of the moon phase if I have the time to hunt, so really does not bother me.
for you guys with smart phones there is a good appI found time2hunt it tells you alot and its been on so far and it helps pass the time in a tree.
Don't like it but still hunt if things are right.
I slept in this morning because of the full moon. Thought I would try mid day like they talked about above. I watched the only water hole in the creek for a long way from 11:45 to 2:30. Nothing but squirrel after squirrel after squirrel after... you get the idea. So much for mid day movement.
Yesterday afternoon, every squirrel within 300 yds came to the water hole along with 7-8 coons and two fawns. Two does and a fawn didn't come in to drink -probably came in after dark.
A guy who works for me said he saw more deer out feeding this morning than he's ever seen on his drive to work. He had to take his son to school early and drove around until 7:15. Said he saw a mature buck bedded in the middle of a beanfield.
Can't believe how much the leaves have dropped in the last week.
IF you buy into the hype that it is bad as many think you may think again...
The eight primary moon phases are inclusive of the New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, and the Waning Crescent. Each phase lasts approxiametely 3 days. I have ranked the moon phases in regard to my hunting success during each particular phase. A “successful hunt” is defined as hunts in where I viewed whitetails while hunting from a stand location. The rankings, in regard to all whitetail deer movement, are as follows:
ALL DEER MOVEMENT (Does and bucks.) Ranking Moon Phase Successful Hunts Unsuccessful Hunts Success Percentage 1 Waning Crescent Phase 36 11 77% 2 First Quarter Phase 41 13 76% 3 Full Moon Phase 52 20 72% 4 Waxing Crescent Phase 35 14 71% 5 Last Quarter Phase 42 19 69% 6 Waning Gibbous Phase 32 16 67% 7 New Moon Phase 26 16 62% 8 Waxing Gibbous Phase 24 16 60%
In addition to studies encompassing all deer movement I recorded whitetail buck movement specifically, during particular moon phases.
WHITETAIL BUCK MOVEMENT Ranking Moon Phase Successful Hunts Unsuccessful Hunts Success Percentage 1 First Quarter Phase 23 26 47% 2 Full Moon Phase 32 40 44% 3 Waxing Crescent Phase 20 29 41% 4 Waning Crescent Phase 19 29 40% 5 Waxing Gibbous Phase 15 25 38% 6 Waning Gibbous Phase 22 36 38% 7 New Moon Phase 14 29 33% 8 Last Quarter Phase 18 41 31%
I have recorded fifty six seperate National Record Book buck sightings over the past five years. These animals were bucks possessing antlers which would exceed the minimum Boone and Crockett score of 130 inches. The following data demonstrates Pope and Young buck movement during particular moon phases.
POPE AND YOUNG BUCK MOVEMENT: Ranking Moon Phase Number of Pope and Young bucks seen during phase. 1 Full Moon Phase 12 bucks 2 Waning Gibbous Phase 9 bucks 3 Last Quarter Phase 9 bucks 4 First Quarter Phase 6 bucks 5 Waxing Crescent Phase 5 bucks 6 Waning Crescent Phase 5 bucks 7 Waxing Gibbous Phase 4 bucks 8 New Moon Phase 3 bucks
Looks like the FULL MOON might be your buddy!!!
Just like November 8 - 14 is the date range in the last 50 years that the most recordings of B&C and P&Y bucks. looks like this Connecticut resident will be planning all his future Calhoun county trips during that time...
Oh and I have attached a Connecticut FULL MOON buck!!!
The buck is not mine but is a local CT resident who shot it yesterday. Not bad for a New England buck!!
I know hunters who use things like the moon phase, wind, temps, etc as a way to talk them out of or justify not going hunting when they want to sleep in, have something else that they can't decide whether they want to do, etc. You either have a postive and optimistic attitude about hunting and see the "glass half full" about going hunting and see things like moon phase/weather as reasons to go hunting or you see the "glass as half empty" and take things like a full moon as a sign that you won't see deer that day and prioritize other things to do instead of hunting. I once read a story that in the state of IL since they implemented deer hunting, that there hasn't been a day where NO DEER were reported or checked in. So, on any given day, you can kill a deer, but you must go hunting to do so. If I have time to go, I go and take environmental factors into considerations on my odds of seeing/encountering/shooting a deer on that specific hunt.
No B&C is 160 typical, 170 all time
You can't kill a deer if you don't hunt. Screw the moon!
moon phase depends on the deer some may feed all night depends if it cloudy or not other may cruse at any time of day because of rut so just hunt and have fun cause you just cant figure them out
Most of you have more experience than me. But with tempature, the moon phases, swirling wind and all the other stuff it seems like there are very few "perfect" days to hunt. My perfect day is when I get to hunt. The one place I know I will never shoot a deer is at home in bed or on the couch watching football. In fact this year I almost slept in because the early October high was going to be almost 90. Glad I didn't, shot a doe and a nice 10pt that morning.