So I decided to start paying more attention to moon phases this season, and in doing this I got an app for my itouch that gives me the moon phase and all "moony" that stuff as well as sunrise and sunset times. Anyways, on this app it has the "major" and "minor" Solunar Period of the day... What exactly does that mean? I figur4ed major periods where the best time of day to be in the woods and minor was the worst but I really don't know. Thanks, Jake
I've never really paid much attention to the moon phases because when I get to get in the woods,I hunt all day.But my brother has a GPS ( one of the Garmins ) that shows the phases.It also uses barometer of some sort and shows how the game movement should be at such and such time.He says it's accurate and he tightens up when it says movement should be high.
What app did you get? I just started paying attention to it this year as well, and I got Hunt Cal Lite for my iPhone. It shows a graph of peak movement times, and coorelates a major/minor period with them. Very easy to read and understand.
Correct. Basically these charts look at the correlation between Moon Phase (New Moon, Ful Moon, etc), Moon Position (Moon rise, moon set, moon over head, moon underfoot), and sun position. Major Periods tend to be when the moon is Overhead or Underfoot. Minor periods tend to be moon rise/set. Efficiencies are usually measured with combination of higher moon activity (full or new) and also the syncronization of the moon & sun (either rising and setting together, or rising moon at high noon). Here's a few examples... In this day the you have an excellent setup. The sun & moon are in sync. The moon is new. The major times for this day are 11:11am-1:41pm and 11:41pm-1:41am (when both moon and sun are overhead/underfoot). Minor times are 5:25am-7:25am & 5:55pm-7:57pm (when both moon & sun are rising/setting) Here shows an entirely different, but equally good day. Note the sun & moon are fully out of sync (moon sets when sun rises & vice versa, also moon is underfoot when sun is overhead...), & the moon is full. Major times for this day are 10:42am-12:42pm, Minor times are 4:29am-6:29pm & 4:54pm-6:54pm. Here's a day that doesn't look as good. The moon & sun are not fully in or out of sync. The moon is a Waning Gibbous (not full or new). The Major times for this day are 1:38am-3:38am (Moon is over head) & 2:05pm-4:05pm (moon is underfoot). The Minor times are 7:51am-9:51am (between Sunrise & moonset) & 8:19pm-10:19pm (between sunset & moonrise) The final example is a pretty good day. Moon & sun are partially out of sink (sunrises when moon is overhead, sun is overhead when moon sets), but the moon phase is less than ideal (half moon). This same set with either a full or new moon would be dynamite! Solunar charts are just one more tool to use. One more piece of the pie. One more factor to consider. Hunting pressure, rain, wind, food availability, and water access can all effect how & when deer move. All I know is that with all things equal or ideal, solunar times are dynamite!
Wow thanks alot Fitz. That was very informative and slightly confusing lol. But I'm definitely getting a better handle on it. The app is called HuntPro.
I hunted tonight, Major period being 5:11-7:41 saw three does, we shall see. It seems to make sense though.
