Phase of the moon
Colorado
I have heard that some people prefer to hunt when the moon is in a certain phase for elk and deer. Any input on that? Thanks.
Hunt when you have the most time to hunt. Time kills animals.
We need a thumbs up emoji...........
Whatever moon phase is Sept 10th - 30th is my favorite for elk. Whatever the phase is Nov 5th - 20th is my favorite for whitetails and whatever moon phase it is Nov 20th -Dec 10th is my favorite for Muleys. Unless I can't be hunting those times, then my favorite moon phase is whatever days I can hunt.
Not saying the moon doesn't have some effect, but I don't plan any hunts around it.
I am not a fan of hunting elk in a full moon, but I will choose it every time over working for a living.
As others stated, hunt all phases when you can. I like dark of the moon but experts claim they have found not much difference in elk movement regardless of moon phase.
As others stated, hunt all phases when you can. I like dark of the moon but experts claim they have found not much difference in elk movement regardless of moon phase.
I killed my bull on Sept 2 last year. The moon was 86% visible.
I had at least five bulls screaming around us that evening. Moon phase? No idea, but I was there and that's why I got my bull that night.
Some elk dont seem to care, some are religious about it. Ive found front range elk to follow the "moon rules", western slope elk care less. Killed lots of elk on big moons out west. Ass handed to me every time in similar situations on the front range. I have a spot to hunt on each side. Out west i dont care what the moon phase is when planning a hunt. On the front range i will be cery selective according to moon phase. Just personal experience.
I have had my best luck with most daytime activity during the last quarter of the moon (last week leading up to a full moon). That said, if it is 85 degrees and dry, they won't be active, and if 20 degrees and weather changing, they are, so weather plays a bigger role to me.
Weather and human activity. But hunt when you can and keep notes, then after the season check the moon phases. It might surprise you.
Scott
Other factors affect movement and activity more, but I do pay attention to it and may hunt differently during different moon phases.
With the moon phases the way they are this year during the season, it's hardly worth buying a tag and going.
Agree with dinkshooter. With the moon phases, forest fires and global warming I recommend everyone turn back in their tags, especially the high preference point tags. Elk hunting will be awful for a long time. So don't even consider applying in the draws for the next 10 years or so.
Every so often, the topic of hunting moon phases comes up so here is a bit of info regarding that.... I went thru this little exercise a few years ago [2014] with another guy who ran my numbers.
Me and my buddies have taken 22 elk [archery] in the past 10 years - 2004 thru 2014
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
cnelk, I'm not going to pretend I know what Chi squared, 2 degrees of freedom, or the 2 tailed value of P means, but one thing jumps out at me. If I am reading your post correctly it shows that you guys didn't kill any elk when the moon was between 50% and 90% visibility. That amount of light represents 7 days, or 1/4 of the total days in a moon cycle. Assuming you hunted an equal amount during these times, that's pretty interesting. If one was going to do a thorough study of this I think you would have to consider whether the moon was waxing or waning. This has an effect on when the moon is actually in the night sky. There are quite a few days when the moon is big enough to give off quite a bit of light, but it's only in the night sky for a short period. It's interesting, but the bottom line, as others have said, is go hunting as often as you can, whenever you can.
As my uncle used to say - " I catch most fish (trout) between 10 A to 2P" As it turns out, that's when he usually had a line in the water. 'Hard to say what has been most productive - way too many other factors to consider.
This was the view while packing the first load back to camp that night...
This was the view while packing the first load back to camp that night...
Still looks pretty full...
Still looks pretty full...
In 2011 I killed this bull at noon on September 13th. Full moon was on the 12th.
You have to be in the field to harvest. I find that we kill more animals when the moon is waning to no moon. The experts can say what they want, I know what I see, and the elk or way less active in day when they can feed and rut in the moon light. The last couple years we have been cursed with super moons!
I killed this bull late afternoon of the 15th in 2008. Full moon was the 15th.
Killed this bull morning of full moon- August 31, 2012. Like I said above, I wouldn’t schedule a hunt around a full moon
Hunting pressure and weather take a much bigger role
Cheesehead Mike - thats quite the bull you killed on Sept 21 :)
Love the pre-packaged elk
Yeah, something funny going on here... ;^)
I killed this bull late morning of Sept. 6, 2017. Full moon was the 6th.
I killed this bull early morning of Sept 21st, 2013. Full moon was on the 19th.
I killed this bull early morning of Sept 21st, 2013. Full moon was on the 19th.
I hate hunting the period around the full moon! ;^)
Cheesehead Mike you seem to kill a lot of bulls around the full moon. Maybe the moon phase effects you and not the elk. You might have a super power or something brought on by the moon. Just a thought.
Yeah maybe that's it Elkoholic... I have been known to be out late howling at the moon ;^)
Thanks starbux.
I kind of have a theory regarding the full moon; it's not quite as scientific as cnelk's but it's more based on anecdotal evidence. I think a full moon sometime during the first couple weeks or so of September can jump start bull activity. I think it's possible that the elk will be more active during the full moon night and that will get the bulls fired up and get them in the rutting mood. Once they get fired up and more in the rutting mood it's easier to get them fired up and responsive. I don't have any science behind it, it's just something I've noticed.
