A full moon on a clear night may reduce day time movement. Otherwise, it has little effect. Deer rut when they want to rut. Usually within the same 3-4 day window every year. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Last quarter I tend to hunt more mornings and first quarter more evenings . Full moon be on the stand at noon. Mostly hunt when I can.
I haven't hunted the moon but trail cameras tell me in my area to be out there Nov 10-14 every year. Sit as long and as often as you can no matter what time of day it is. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I started paying attention to hunting a full moon about six or seven years ago after reading a few articles. I was checking a trail camera and hung a stand in early October that was a mile and a half off the road. I came to the edge of an old pipeline that I used to access the hunting area, and noticed six deer feeding at 10:30 am. They were actually two groups of three and were 200 yards apart from each other. They had all come out to feed on the pipeline that had green grass growing on it. I had walked about 20 minutes on the pipeline and was a half mile from my truck when I cautiously came over a hill and looking down into the shade on the pipeline below me, there was a 125-130" buck feeding in a low spot that had green grass in it. He eventually left and as I walked back to my truck I thought it would be a good idea to return the next day and hang a stand where the buck had been feeding. It's a 100 mile drive one way but I felt it would be worth it. I hung a stand at 8:30 am the next day and at 10:15 the buck showed up to eat but swirling winds gave me away. Twenty minutes later two does and a fawn showed up to eat in the same place. This really got me thinking about hunting midday on full moons. Since that time, I have rattled in several bucks between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm and seen numerous deer walking through the woods during that time of day. Because my closest tree stand is over a hundred miles away from my home, I usually sit all day when I hunt and I hunt a lot on full moon days because I see enough deer to keep me alert. This past January I was going to hunt on a full moon on he next to the last day of the season but decided against it. The long drive, no rut activity, no crops where I hunt (food sources is the entire woods) and just being burned out on sitting in trees and seeing no deer kept me home. A couple of weeks later I went in and took down my stand and checked the one camera I had in front of my stand. I was only a little surprised, but greatly disappointed that I didn't hunt that day. Two bucks appeared on the camera in front of my stand that day. One at 9:24 am and the other at 2:00 pm, both shooters. One memorable hunt in on Oct 24, 2012 really drove home the point that I should pay attention to moon phases and possibly how they relate to the rut. It was the first day of Charles Alsheimer's rut prediction calendar that was supposed to be a good day to hunt the rut based on the moon phase. I had just started reading his material and we were going to have a cooler day than usual so I decided to hunt. It was five days before the full moon and I talked two friends into taking off on a Wednesday and hunting all day. At 11:00 a doe walked right under my stand. Twenty minutes later a fork horn walked 10 yards from me. At 1:00 pm I rattled and had a 125" buck coming within 30 seconds of touching the antlers together. I shot right under him at 25 yards and a few minutes later got a text from one of my buddies who had just shot a nice 10 point that was cruising through the woods. It was a group text to all three of us and 15 minutes after that the other buddy sent a text that he had just taken a small buck, his first ever. All four of these bucks were cruising midday.
Full moons have always slowed daytime activity in my area. However, I still hunt and pay little attention to the moon phase. Temps, pressure systems (high/low fronts) and time of year matter more.
Mid-late October is always good to me I tried to follow the moon phase, but can't say one way or another if it was any good.
I want to be one of the moon guide followers haven't made the jump yet. I think weather trumps moon. But it is does excite me to see the moon in the sky 2 hours before dark. Deer seem to move a little earlier on those days. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I'm with Sota.....last 3 weeks of season if I am not at work, I'm in a Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
FWIW....The last few days I'm seeing a fair amount of deer during daylight, moon close to full. I don't bother with the moon phases. For me, food trumps everything. If you're talking about the rut , same thing. find where the does are feeding.
I pay attention to it on my HuntStand app... but do not base my hunt around it ever. It's kinda like a novelty item Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I usually follow the fronts/barometric pressure. Definitely the last week of October and the first 2 weeks of November.
I'm not totally convinced about the moon and it affects on how deer move, the thing I think would really help with using a moon guide is it would keep you out of the woods more during season possibly keeping your stands fresher when you sit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think it has a small effect on deer activity but nothing I would base a hunt or don't hunt decision on. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
The moon phase doesn't always jive with my available hunting days, so for me it's a non-issue. If I have a choice, I prefer a new moon/no moon. Talk about dark going in!
I recently started paying more attention to moon phase and pressure regarding deer activity and def see great movement around full moons. I still slam woods regardless if I have the time but a correlation is there with moon phases and its effect on movement. My brother smashed a nice buck walking to his stand at 1:15pm day after full moon last year and it had two others with it
Read Strategies for Whitetails by Alsheimer. Great section on moon phase thought process. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
