Tonight is the full Hunters moon! Im curious to see what everyone's thoughts are on hunting the moon phases? https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsessi...n-hunting-deer
Honestly I've never seen a correlation in the moon phase. I tried to figure it out with game camera photos all it did was leave more questions.
I've had decent success hunting midday close to bedding areas. Hung a stand at 8:30 one morning after seeing a shooter and some does feeding the day before at 11:00 am on a full moon. Sure enough he showed up at 10:15 but the wind shifted 180 degrees while I was drawing my bow and he left. The does came in 20 minutes later. On another hunt with two of my buddies, we all three shot at deer around 1:00 to 2:00 pm. They both connected and I missed. All three deer were near bedding during the full moon and temps of 45 degrees.
I think it gets all the nocturnal beasts all out of whack. Especially with the clear skies we've had the last couple days here. Last 3 days, I've seen deer from 930 AM, all the way til 430PM out in the fields. Add that to the 3 dead trash panda's I've seen on the roads and I'd say something has them moving.
The few days before a full moon, I have found that afternoon activity starts earlier. Starting a few days after the full moon, late morning activity picks up. Think of it like jetlag, spend enough time in a different time zone and it takes a few days to readjust when you come home. I think the extra light at night from a full moon creates a similar effect on deer for those few days on each side of it. I think it starts with earlier afternoon activity because the moon comes out earlier the last few days before a full moon, so it sets earlier in the night time hours, limiting the extra hours of light. As the moon gets full and the few days afterwards it gradually sets closer to sunrise, giving the deer more light for nighttime activity. They stay active longer in the dark, head to bed early, and then get restless and more active in late morning to midday.
There was a very in depth article on this recently and they did conclude there is a correlation, but if I recall correctly, it was more to do with hours underfoot the moon was, etc. There have been full moons forever, I personally don't think it makes a tremendous amount of difference. Besides, I only get so many days a year to hunt and I'm not going to let a full moon spook me!
I used to believe in the moon and would plan my out-of-town hunts based around moon phases. One weekend back in 2012 I believe it was I decided to stay home and hunt local instead of going to my lease. It was the full moon and I wasn't planning on seeing any deer anyways. That Saturday evening myself, Tom Alford and Clinton Fawcett all shot bucks within 15 minutes of each other. Conditions were great - cold front, high pressure, slight NW wind, and the bucks were definitely on their feet. I believe it was October 26th or 27th. After that I really started to believe less and less in the moon's effect on deer movement and more in the basics of what makes bucks move during daylight. Time of year and weather patterns.
William Vale sells a nice moon calender for me it is a part of the program. Temp pressure rain wind sun and moon all play a part. Last Thursday cold front clear day barometer 30 + light steady wind moon was in sinc with sunrise . I saw 25 deer looked like ants crossing the field in all directions. Same field yesterday drizzly rain overcast moon not in sinc with the sunrise I saw 9 deer most of them at sunrise. I will say I usually see some deer movement in the major moon influence time frame. Also closer to the rut the farther they roam the better all the factors seems to workout.
Thank God I'm not alone. Stop over thinking no one can predict deer or big buck movements. Only thing that is always true is you have to be hunting to kill one
Fix, I honestly believe we are just in the right place at the right time!! Especially when a guy like me doesn't have food plots, bedding areas etc, to hunt around and focus on these things. I get up, get out and go bowhunt!!
