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Deer Hunting by Moon Position

2K views 21 replies 20 participants last post by  Justducky 
#1 ·
I was wondering if anyone here subscribes to the moon position philosophy? Hunting when the moon is overhead or underfoot? And if you do, have you ever purchased this: http://www.moonguide.com/? I've only recently learned about it. Seems it's like anything, some use it, some don't. Curious on anyone's experience with it...
 
#2 ·
Nope. Never heard of that and I been hunting for over 40 years.
 
#3 ·
No great insight here. There are just too many factors to consider. I'm sure moon phase is one but my philosophy is hunt whenever I can as my free time is my limiting factor. I'd have a hard time sitting inside on a beautiful evening or morning when I could be in the woods.

Having said that I have looked at moon guides and remember a few evenings that the moon was "bad" and I didn't see any deer. But small sample size and I've had more success timing things like cold fronts and weather patterns, food sources, and of course rut peak than moon phases. YMMV
 
#6 ·
When I first started hunting about 30 years ago, I tried to plan my hunt as far from the full moon as possible. My experience was the animals would feed more by the light of the full moon and not move as much during legal hunting hours. That worked well for me for along time. As my life got busier I have only been able to hunt when time allows. Other than archery season being about a month long, our gun seasons are only 5 to 9 days at a time so I don't do that any more.

Key
 
#8 ·
Did not watch the linked video but The old black draught calendars had the moon phases and critter activity levels way back then 50s-60s. Local news stations post activity times too. Not something I'd pay for. Do I believe in it, yes. Do I hunt by it exclusively, no.

Papalote
 
#9 ·
I know I was pretty happy to be hunting last year with no moon at night. I don't get to take advantage of it very often. They're more apt to stir early in the morning if they can't see at night. Gigging fish at night on the river is the same way. If the moon is up they run from you long before you can get close.
 
#10 ·
Around here the rut is in full swing the week of Thanksgiving -- every year. i don't think the moon has anything to do with it. I don't think they are observing the holiday either.
 
#13 ·
I have pondered the thought as of late. I am blessed to be able to shoot doe with nuisance tags over the summer at a 500 acre ag farm. So I have been walking that farm for three months now, couple times a week.
The moon is waning now but for the last 10 days very bright at night. Funny thing, best time to take the deer is about an hour before dusk, hardly seen any.
When we had no moon at night, the dusk was loaded with deer in the bean fields. Also the deer were fawning like crazy a month ago....

Is there a connection? When the moon is bright and fuller are they feeding mostly at night? Then laying around all day?
 
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#22 ·
Yes, I'm pretty mindful of moon position, and always check what time the moon will be rising on the days I plan to hunt. If its rising around midnight, I try to change to another day because, I want good hunting time while the moon is rising or up for a few hours. This has worked well most of the time, as deer and elk usually feed when the moon is up.
 
#15 ·
I know I have used Moon phase and positions for some fishing adventures but not really considered looking at for hunting. I would imagine you can find some game information on the net to prove that it would work. As stated by others, I only have a few weekends to hunt during the season so I cannot be choosy as to where the moon is. I ground hunt and track the deer I shoot so not waiting for them to come to me. I also use game cameras to let me know there habits as the season approaches, but their habits always seem to change or become unpredictable during the season.
 
#16 ·
It seems people have been trying to tie both animal, and human, behavior to different aspects of the earth's only natural satellite for eons. Could it have an effect? I don't know, but I would think it's possible. It does affect the tides and such.
However, when it comes to hunting I would think that if does have an effect it would be so tiny as to be inconsequential. There are so many other factors at play that it would just be lost in the noise.

Vooch
 
#17 ·
in SC we have the longest season i think in the world, aug.15 - jan1 with no overall limit so i have hunted and killed a lot of deer in my 57 years. i do hunt by the moon, i hunt in the mornings on the week of a full moon. i hunt in the evenings on the black of the moon. and any time there is a moon in the sky during the day i stop what i am doing and go. i had a uncle who hunted by the high tides, high and low tides. he killed about 15-20 deer a year, he is dead now i i am sure the deer don't miss him.......
 
#19 ·
I hunt deer for only one week in January. This is the peak of the rut where I hunt. I schedule my hunt the week before the full moon. I do see more bucks during hunting hours verses the full moon period. This works for me. I do use full moons for bedding bass and shell crackers.
 
#20 ·
I had a six hundred acre track of land that I hunted for about 15 years or more. I had deer pattern there pretty good. I knew when to expect deer to show up at given stands. I knew where there bedding areas where and avoided them. All of my buddies would stay home during full moon times believing deer only traveled at night. I also pattern trips to my stands for feeding purposes. We are allowed to use bait in North Carolina. One day during a full moon I went to my stand to feed it. I got there at 3:30 and found 5 deer already feeding on what was left. I went to another stand and found the same activity. The next day I hunted my best buck producing stand. I got there at 3:eek:o pm and at 3:15 I had 2 nice 8 pointers walk right out to the corn pile. I took my best buck that day with my Marlin 30-30. I encourage one of my buddies to hunt his stand early. He hunted the next day and arrived at his stand at 2:30 pm, He got his biggest buck that day. Yes I believe Moon phases coincide with deer activity. I hunt full moons regularly now just much earlier.
 
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