Contributors to this thread:
How much do you think moon phase effects the elk hunt? Do you think it is better hunting on a full moon or a new moon or does it make a difference?
I prefer the new moon to hunt. This year archery in Colorado opens just after the new moon. Muzzle loader will have the full moon and the new moon will be at the end if archery. This should make it good for the archers. Elk on a full moon are more active at night, just at daylight and just before dark . Some say they will move around a little mid day on the full moon also.
This is an annual thread. You should do a search and you'll get more opinions than you'd ever imagine.
cool When I figure out how I will do a search,new to site. thanks for the info.
So, what does better hunting mean in terms of the moon question? Are people looking to find out if there is more day time movement? Is there something more?
685, top left corner of this page is a "search" button. Click it and you'll be taken to a page where you can type in "Moon" and "Elk" and you'll be directed to all the past threads on the subject.
Huh: Rut trigger, daytime movement, nighttime bugling, length of time moving between feeding and bedding, all are somewhat affected by moon phase.
Others will probably argue, but in my opinion, you will see much more daytime (early morning/late afternoon)movement during the 5 days before & the 5 days after a new moon.They will feed thru the night & be back in the timber during the daylight hours during the full moon phase.They are still there, they just dont stay out as late in the am or come out as early in the pm.As Jaquomo said, do a search & ye shall see! Good Luck!
I hunted a full moon last year in UT during the tail end of the rut. It was about 70 to 85 degrees everyday and it was some of the toughest hunting conditions imaginable!
On the warmest days the elk seemed to almost bed right at daylight and most of the time didn't seem to get out of their beds until close to dark. I found a few bulls that got out of their bed during daylight to stretch or move to a different shaded bed but there certainly wasn't much movement! One thing I noticed was on cooler days when there was cloud cover or rain/snow they all of a sudden went nuts!
With conditions like that the elk bedding in the coolest spots they could find..mostly in fairly deep timber on the north facing slopes or in pockets of cool zones on that particular mountain.
I mostly laid around all day watching and waiting because I really didn't want to spook the elk out of the country by pushing them out of their beds.
My buddy has the same tag I had last year and I have a feeling things will be somewhat different. He will have the new moon phase and it will be interesting to see what happens!
Whatever conditions you may have, be patient and use your head to figure out a strategy that will work!...mine FINALLY worked out the 3rd to last day of the season!
I think the moon effects them some. However, I think weather and temperature affects daytime movmement much more than the moon. If it is cool and cloudy, they will keep going until later in the morning and start up earlier in the evening. If it is hot and sunny, they will bed up quickly and stay put until late. Just my 2 cents from 20 years of chasing the wonderful beasts. :)
Jaquomo_feral and others- I guess I asked the question because I have a dataset that I could ask this question of....I could have an "answer" for you this winter. Granted the answer will be from one year and the number of animals around 10 or so. More to come in future years.
So far, we have movement, moon, behavior (tough, but maybe doable), weather and temperature. I can ask all of that of the data.
Huh: Would be very interested to see what you come up with and how it correlates with the observed data many of us have recorded in journals over the years.
Are you refering to 10 different species or 10 individual critters? Are you observing wild animals in a natural environment?
Please check back with us and let's do it.
I've seen some of the best rutting activity around the new moon, so given a preference of hunting during a full moon or a new moon I pick new, but I also believe that temperature and other weather factors are probably more important.
Nick
I think weather has more influence, things just seem to kick up a notch when the first cool weather hits. But a full moon all night doesn't help. Combine hot days and full moon nights and they can be bedded by sunrise and not get up till sunset.
OTOH, I have to hunt when my schedule fits and I like to hunt the peak of the rut, full moon or not. May not even be better hunting, but sure is fun.
I always look at this from the standpoint that it doesn't matter what the moon is when I'm elk hunting. The only thing that matters is what the dates are that my tag is good for, and how many of them I can hunt. I believe the moon does affect the elk, but I've just got to deal with it as it is.
Good for me this year, the moon is waxing from a new moon when I start my elk hunt. Hopefully, I'll be done before it gets to almost full.
"I mostly laid around all day watching and waiting because I really didn't want to spook the elk out of the country by pushing them out of their beds."
I never understood this strategy and I'm not sure what it means.
You know where elk are presumably, and you lie around watching and waiting for them? Huh?
What if its cloudy??????
Heading out to Colorado the first week during the full moon and was worried . Any imput would be great.
Here is my professional amateur opinion: elk must eat, drink, and sleep every day. For the most part, they have to travel to do each of these things. In addition, in September, bull elk like to have sex with cow elk, which causes them to take risks that they normally would not take. Therefore, they are huntable and killable every day of the season. Someone has killed an elk in every single daylight hour of every single moon phase that there is. THose people are no different than you. Hunt your ass off for whatever time that you have to hunt. Getting it in your head that a certain time of the month is not prime for killing an elk will only give you reason to not hunt as hard as you could. As far as taking time off during a certain moon phase to increase your odds, I have not seen a pattern that cause me to sway one way or the other. Second half of September, regardless of the moon!!!
I have had some of my best elk hunts during a full bright moon.
I have had some of my worst elk hunts during death dark moon......
Get out and hunt!
Good luck, Robb
I like to hunt and fish during a new moon and if I have limited time to hunt I p;an it around that time. Does it make a difference maybe not but it makes me happy that way.
Not saying that the moon doesn't impact elk behavior to some degree, but the full moon seems to be more of an excuse for many. Kinda like the "they weren't rutting" excuse I hear all the time.
Two things that I believe to be true:
1. The elk rut the same time of year every year, regardless of the bugling activity that you hear (or don't hear).
2. The moon is half full or better for two weeks out of every month, so as far as elk being able to see at night (which I think they can see pretty well regardless of the moon phase), they will have plenty of light at night for most of the month anyway, so who cares whether the moon is actually full or not?
I've killed bulls during every moon phase, and lots of others have too. Yeah, maybe the elk you leave the night before move out of the area by morning on a full moon (if that really is the reason), but maybe more elk move in from another area over night than would not have been there otherwise.
good luck!
I've hunted the same 2 square miles the last 3 years. Full moon has had zero effect.
BullSac is right on. I believe the full moon affects elk movement but it does not make them unkillable. I've had some of my best hunts during the full moon and have had some great midday action during that time.
If I were planning a good elk hunt, like my buddy and I did when he drew 61, I sure wish we would have looked at the moon phases before attempting to draw. Was full bright moon during the peak of the rut. the elk shut down early in the AM... limited our hunting times...
Once again, don't know that you can blame the moon for everything bad. Peak rut does not necessarily translate to peak bugling. Lots and lots of factors aside from the moon will cause impacts to the hunt, good or bad.
good luck,
NM_alazan, Bullsac, Mike the CH ~ all right on target! Just like their arrow will be this fall!
God bless you HUNTERS and may your aim be true and your arrow hit where you aim....
No excuses.
I love hunting the new moon when it falls with the beginning of the rut(10th-18th) here in Idaho BUT a hot cow will make a bull crazy no matter what the moon is doing. I like just being in the woods no matter what the moon is doing,never know when lady luck will smile your way.
