I know a few serious trophy hunters who SWEAR by the Moon Guide. Personally, I've never used one myself. But Todd conned me into getting one and now I've got it sitting on my desk, staring at me. Essentially this little gizmo tells you the times when the moon either peaks overhead or underfoot during the day. These times correspond with the height of deer movement for the day and also effect how far they'll move to bed and/or feed. On certain moons the deer will be more inclined to feed within daylight hours, on others they won't move far from their bedding area despite their desire to feed. Anyone have any experience with anything like this, or put any stock in it? For $10 it was worth a shot, I guess....
I have a Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer watch that keeps track of it for me, and vibrates to let me know when to wake up from my nap in the climber. I only wear it when hunting, and keep it in my bow case with a earth scent wafer to keep it from smelling. It tracks sunrise/sunset times, moon phases, peak game movement times based on moon position as you describe with the Moon Guide........except it's electronic and wakes me up. It works, and I do believe this stuff affects game movement. I had several encounters last year that were very shortly after the vibrate alarm went off even during odd hours of the day, including one specific doe that I was at full draw on when it went off. :d You guys should get these in the shopping cart. I bet they would sell like hotcakes. I love mine.
I have found that my own natural, uh, 28 day cycle is a more reliable predictor for me seeing deer. Can't explain it. Maybe I'm tied to the moon?? How's that for TMI? :D
I believe it has a big effect on deer movement but so many things can affect it and throw it off a little. Like fronts moving in, temp. and all the variables. If they all line up though, I will stop at nearly nothing to get in the woods. If the tables tell me I need to be in the woods I will make an extra effort to be there, but I still do the dawn and dusk thing. When it gets real cold sometimes I just use the table and hunt once a day. I believe it helps me see more deer at times. I hate the moon when it's full and shining all night though, seems to really curtail daylight activities. lp
Thanks there rick james, think I'll look into that watch, where did u get it? As for the moon cycle, I've read a couple of interesting articles, & this next moon will be the 2nd full moon of the fall equinox, which is supposed to coincide w/the rut. And I'm starting to hear of reports of deer chasing & moving around in odd times. This past Mon, I just seen an 8 ptr in the middle of the city by the dump @ 1230 in the afternoon. I think it's just about here.
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Amazon.com has some and you might check ambientweather.com They're an internet store and sell a lot of great stuff. I bought my last Leupold scope there. Sportsman's Guide might have them also. I've been thinkin bout gettin one but ther're still down my list a bit. (specially since that new Hoyt came out) lp I looked at Justin's link, I was thinkin that was one with a barometer on it but it's not. Looks like a good deal. Casio makes good watches also, what I'm wearin. They have a watch with a barometer and altimeter on it I would like to own. lp
