Thoughts? Debate-
Weather fronts and a wind that changes after a few days will always get the deer moving.
Example: you have 5 days of south winds. The wind makes a 180 and starts blowing north. That first cold front will have just about every single deer up on their feet, whether it's changes bedding location or to feeding earlier. I don't care whT time of day it is. But as everyday passes with that same north wind. The deer activity will drop each passing day, until you have another switch in wind. Some guys will see different things. And that's the beauty of it.
Once I determined I could get time away, even during the worst conditions, I knew my chances were better than if I stayed home. Heck, the deer have gotta be somewhere and they've gotta be doing something. Many times I took my chances that they would walk past the stand I choose. Sometimes it worked, many times it didn't. None the less, I got to be out in the woods and in a stand with my bow. For me, that is what bowhunting has always been about, the experience and not necessarily the event of killing something.
I have gone bowhunting too many times to count. I have come home tired, wet, half frozen, disappointed, and kicking myself for picking the wrong stand or missing a shot,...but I have never had an unsuccessful bowhunt. Like I said, whether I brought home another buck or not, for me it is about the experience.
If you only go hunting when all factors are perfect, I don't think you are going to get too many hunts in during the year. I suggest going whenever you can and perhaps chalking up most hunts to enriching learning experiences. As the years and these experiences pile up they will come to mean a great deal and will probably comprise the majority of your outdoor memories.
I had a spring turkey tag (5 days for me) during the full moon this spring. The ONLY Toms (several) the 2 of us saw were mid-day. A gobble at sunrise was rare. Gobbles at noon made me laugh out loud at one point, there were so many. Got my Tom at 4pm (at the major Solunar time).
Feathers is talking about moon overhead/underfoot in relation to feeding. Google it on deer behavior. Deer biologist are paying more attention to this, also more studies are being taken on this theory.
Casekiska summed it up well. I like the way he writes things up. We all have a schedule and a life to maintain. Hunt when you can. Or miss out on it all.
Considering a deer can see well enough in the dark to run full speed through the trees, I figure they can probably feed just as well in a new moon as a full moon.
During a new moon, when there's very little moonlight at night, I do tend to notice that activity can be good any time of the day, morning, midday or late afternoon. What I've also noticed, during the first quarter moon period and up until a full moon, is that deer tend to be more active in the afternoon hours, especially in open areas, when the moon is straight up an hour or two before sunset. And during a third quarter moon, when the moon is high in the early morning hours, deer sightings are up in the morning hours, as it seems they stay in their feeding areas longer and move back to bedding areas a bit later, or will get up and feed again in that 8-10am timeframe.
But, one thing to note, the moon is just one variable, and weather is more important, along with the ever changing food sources throughout the fall. So the moon tends to be more of a factor during those long periods of sustained weather patterns.
I agree, that you shouldn't schedule your hunts around the moon, but understanding how the moon affects movement can help you decide which stand to hunt, either one on the field edge, or the one back closer to their bedding. But there's one exception, I will try and avoid at all costs, scheduling an out of state hunt, or taking a week off from work to hunt around the full moon.
This year the full moon falls on the September 30th. My preferred weekend to hunt will be the 24th, and a few days after. I generally like the last two weeks of October, because the does are still in their feeding patterns and bucks are looking for them. Some of the early mature does will be coming in, and the nicer bucks will be tailing them. The moon will also be good for evening hunts close to field edges.
Finally, I've read some of the recent articles in magazines indicating the moon doesn't play a factor in deer activity. They all tend to be studies on deer in enclosed areas and tend to be in the South. They also tend to be focused on the bucks and during the rut. To me, studying bucks, even outside the rut, will not give adequate results, because older bucks tend to be more nocturnal. The key is the does, and not during the rut either, because an estrous doe is going to avoid the open food sources and not in her normal feeding patterns.
In conclusion, new moon to me means more daylight movement. Full moon means less.
On a similar note I will NEVER again waste a week of vacation on the second or third week of October no matter where the moon is because on my hunting properties I've seen firsthand the "October lull".
And +1 Crusader on the lunchtime quickie! (I work 2000 feet from home)
Does have to fawn when the winter is gone, and the spring is here. They have a window of when the fawn is not born too early and may die of cold, and not too late, and not survive the winter. That means deer rut at a certain time every year, and the further north you go, the later the deer fawn, and the later the rut because of it.
As far as the moon goes, I like it as dark as possible at night. See more daytime movement in my 37 years when there is only a sliver. That being said, I will be hunting every day I can, and 28 days straight from October 25th on. I hunt hard, meaning I sit long days. You can get aggressive, and rattle and decoy, but I'd do it during any moon phase.
Two Feathers's Link
The link is to a website for deer feeding times. I got it from someone else on the Bowsite. The site, like me, gives value to the moon being directly above and directly below for getting deer up to feed. Later, when I checked their chart, they predicted a good evening hunt last Saturday. When the moon position coincides with first light or evening, I expect to see deer.
During the rut the bucks are more concerned with finding receptive does than they are of feeding and are moving more. But the does still feed with the moon and the bucks will be close to the does.
Take it for what it's worth - good luck!
When did he "debunk" his theory? I must have been absent at class that day.
Real interesting responses regarding the moon and the effect of deer outside the rut. You guys are a wealth of knowledge/experience.
skookumjt's Link
I think what happens is around the end of October beginning of November, there are times when does are more active in daylight, or they were more active in the early morning hours just before sunrise, from feeding, and you'll see a buck out in the open scent trailing a hot doe, a few hours after she left. You may have left your stand and it's 10am in the morning, you see that, and go down the road a few miles and another buck runs across the road.
Now you think to yourself, the rut is 'ON', when in all reality it's really not. Sure there's heightened activity in your general area, but that doesn't mean all across the state or region it's 'ON'.
IMO, I do not believe in peak days or weeks when it comes to the rut. Deer are not like sheep, in that one male can't breed a harem of females. Their gonads are the size of ours, and is probably only good for once or twice a day. From my experience, the trickle rut is much more common, and obviously is based on the buck/doe ratio. But with the fewer doe numbers in the area I hunt, the supposed 'peak rut' is highly overrated. I also think that November time-frame, say the 2nd-10th, or whatever it is, some of the mature does have already come in and have been breed, and hunters are starting to see bucks cruising for their next doe.
The whole seek, chase and breeding phases are also hogwash. I've seen mature bucks hanging with does as early as October 19th or 20th, which I read is about the time some of the first mature does start coming into estrous, even in the northern regions. I've been very successful rattling in mature bucks from the 19th through the end of October. I've also seen more bucks in daylight on trailcams during this time.
To me, the last 10 days of October has been a bit more predictable then the first 10 days of November. It seems with November rut hunts it's either hot or cold and is specific to particular areas.
One last note, I primarily hunt the Western farmland zone, some public and private, and my experiences may not be the same across the state or region. I have hunted out of state in November before, in areas with much less pressure, and the food sources are not as scattered in nature, and it's a completely different experience.
But I have seen on occasion bucks scent checking a group of does the first weekend of November, and the fact that he doesn't smell a hot one in the bunch, means the mature does likely came in already and the young ones haven't yet. It's not that the 'peak' day is just around the corner and they're all going to come in together.