Independent Study

[Double-D-Team]

Ok, I would like your input.
1.moon phase hunting
2.apps with minor and major movement times.

How many use a moon phase guide to plan your deer hunting and how many hunters use an app for movement times?
I have found that most hunters believe the moon plays a part in hunting on average.
Most trail camera's provide a moon phase when the picture is taken. Moon phase apps and guides are sold every year. There is big money put into this every year.
I've seen blogs from professional hunters and Biologists claiming pro and con.
So what's your take?
Thanks in advance.

 

[TNGunsmoke]

I use a solunar app, mainly just to get sunrise/set times. But I do look at the movement times and daily percentage. Percentage does not hold water in my opinion, both bucks I killed this year were on 9% days, and the doe was on a 45% day. The times seem to be closer, but they are usually closer to dawn/dusk when deer are more active anyhow.

 

[TNRifleman]

Listen to episode 81 of Deer University done by Miss. State.

80,000 foot view of the podcast is that moon phase doesn't affect movement almost at all. It is basically dawn and dusk and the rut that increase movement. All backed with a ton of tracking data.

 

[Double-D-Team]

I use a solunar app, mainly just to get sunrise/set times. But I do look at the movement times and daily percentage. Percentage does not hold water in my opinion, both bucks I killed this year were on 9% days, and the doe was on a 45% day. The times seem to be closer, but they are usually closer to dawn/dusk when deer are more active anyhow.

Thanks for your input.

Listen to episode 81 of Deer University done by Miss. State.

80,000 foot view of the podcast is that moon phase doesn't affect movement almost at all. It is basically dawn and dusk and the rut that increase movement. All backed with a ton of tracking data.

I did see that blog The Southern Outdoorsman by the biologist from Miss St. Very interesting. Thank you.

I use a solunar app, mainly just to get sunrise/set times. But I do look at the movement times and daily percentage. Percentage does not hold water in my opinion, both bucks I killed this year were on 9% days, and the doe was on a 45% day. The times seem to be closer, but they are usually closer to dawn/dusk when deer are more active anyhow.

Thank you for your input

 

[Double-D-Team]

I use a solunar app, mainly just to get sunrise/set times. But I do look at the movement times and daily percentage. Percentage does not hold water in my opinion, both bucks I killed this year were on 9% days, and the doe was on a 45% day. The times seem to be closer, but they are usually closer to dawn/dusk when deer are more active anyhow.

Thank you for your input.

 

[@fulldraw]

If you try to predict deer movement and hunt based off those predictions you're gonna be unsuccessful most of the time. I'm not saying the moon doesn't play a role because I've seen instances that match movement times based off moon positions. What I'm saying is deer also move when you don't think they will or come from directions you think they won't. Best way to hunt is hunt as much as you can or whenever you can and enjoy it. If you're meant to kill a deer that hunt it'll happen.

 

[mike243]

Wouldn't make a difference to me, I will go as I can. I couldn't imagine waiting till a certain time to go out and expect to see a deer, what about the old wife's tale if the cows are laying down the deer are 2? reckon I could just look out the window and if the cows are laying down I will to

 

[TNGunsmoke]

Wouldn't make a difference to me, I will go as I can. I couldn't imagine waiting till a certain time to go out and expect to see a deer, what about the old wife's tale if the cows are laying down the deer are 2? reckon I could just look out the window and if the cows are laying down I will to

I always heard that if the cows were laying down, the fish weren't biting. If the cows are feeding, the fish are too. And that usually pans out for me.

 

[Double-D-Team]

If you try to predict deer movement and hunt based off those predictions you're gonna be unsuccessful most of the time. I'm not saying the moon doesn't play a role because I've seen instances that match movement times based off moon positions. What I'm saying is deer also move when you don't think they will or come from directions you think they won't. Best way to hunt is hunt as much as you can or whenever you can and enjoy it. If you're meant to kill a deer that hunt I'll happen.

Totally agree with that answer. I'm very old school. I enjoy the hunt. Thank you.

 

[BSK]

My ex-boss developed and sold one of the "Moon Calculators" based off his own research. However, my data did not match his. For years I tested the deer observation data against the Solonar Tables and found no correlation (hunter-collected deer observation rates outside of the predicted peak periods were the same as during the peak periods).

Still to this day I analyze hunter-collected buck observation rates by moon conditions. And as for "moon conditions," I look at the percent of the moon's face that is illuminated as well as whether the moon is waxing or waning. With 37 years of data, there are differences. However, when you look at the data during the "best" and "worst" times, they are only about +/- 10% from the average for all data. That's not enough of a difference to matter, in my opinion.

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

I pay close attention to the moon during the first few weeks of season and again the last week or two. During the rut I couldn't care less about it as I'm not concentrating on trying to kill a deer coming to food. But, during the early season I've seen entirely too much correlation between what the "moon guide" says and what my eyes see to believe it has no effect on when deer feed. My experience is 100% based around hunting deer in and around big ag, so YMMV.

 

[Double-D-Team]

Thank you. What I'm doing is take the trail camera pictures which gives me time of day, moon type, and I'm using the huntstand data on minor and major movement times of 742 pictures collected on one farm. Like I said independent study.

 

[Double-D-Team]

I pay close attention to the moon during the first few weeks of season and again the last week or two. During the rut I couldn't care less about it as I'm not concentrating on trying to kill a deer coming to food. But, during the early season I've seen entirely too much correlation between what the "moon guide" says and what my eyes see to believe it has no effect on when deer feed. My experience is 100% based around hunting deer in and around big ag, so YMMV.

Thank you for your input.

 

[deerhunter10]

It's hard to think it doesn't have anything to do with it. But I have never ever seen enough correlation between the 2 to prove the moon does or doesnt. That's with my eyes and with cameras. I think there's something there but it's not nearly the factor people make it out to be.

 

[Ski]

There absolutely is credence to it but not in the way people expect and not to the scale they expect.

If you're expecting to see a dramatic difference in distance and time of movement then you're going to be disappointed. GPS collar studies will confirm that.

However, if you're set up 50yds from a crest where you suspect a buck is bedded or staged, with plans to kill him as he sets out for the evening, then your success will rest inside a tiny window of time. Minutes and feet make the difference. If he moves 10yds/minute as he browses his way down the trail and shooting light ends at 5:45pm, then he has to be on his feet headed your way by 5:42pm if you want a 20yd shot. If an overhead moon urges him to move at that time then you kill a buck. If a low moon keeps him in his stage until 5:43 or 5:44 then you don't kill a buck.

That is the fringe many of us regularly hunt on. And while moon position isn't by itself a deciding factor, it is absolutely one of several criteria that if stacked up simultaneously make for a higher odds sit. And in a tight game like that odds are everything.

 

[Snake]

I always heard that if the cows were laying down, the fish weren't biting. If the cows are feeding, the fish are too. And that usually pans out for me.

I've always heard if cows are laying then deer ain't moving. Told my cousin once after he'd told me that ...I said those cows will get up when they get hungry and so will deer and they got to eat every day . May be at night mostly but they are going to eat ...with that said I hate hunting during a full moon . It does kinda make sense that animals could feed during the night at a full moon .

 

[Double-D-Team]

It's hard to think it doesn't have anything to do with it. But I have never ever seen enough correlation between the 2 to prove the moon does or doesnt. That's with my eyes and with cameras. I think there's something there but it's not nearly the factor people make it out to be.

Thanks for your input

 

[Double-D-Team]

If you try to predict deer movement and hunt based off those predictions you're gonna be unsuccessful most of the time. I'm not saying the moon doesn't play a role because I've seen instances that match movement times based off moon positions. What I'm saying is deer also move when you don't think they will or come from directions you think they won't. Best way to hunt is hunt as much as you can or whenever you can and enjoy it. If you're meant to kill a deer that hunt I'll happen.

Thanks for your input.

 

[DoubleRidge]

For our area of northern middle TN historically I take vacation days to hunt as hard as possible the first three weeks in November....may shift this plan into the last week of November based off drought, weather forecast or lack of acorns...but for the most part Nov 15 to 17 is the peak of the rut bell curve in my area....so I'm hunting the days going up the curve and the days going down the curve as much as possible...now if I only had a couple of vacation days set aside for the rut...I'd pick my days off during this same time period when there was a front or significant temp drop forecasted.
Moon phase or any app doesnt factor into choosing which days to be in the woods. I want to hunt the rut when the most mature bucks are the most vulnerable.

 

[tree_ghost]

In my experience the moon doesn't have any major effect on deer movement. Now if your trying to dial in to the minute details of a hunt then maybe you would consider it as a small factor for deer movement.

Weather patterns + time of the year + strategy = dead deer IMO

 

[BSK]

Thank you. What I'm doing is take the trail camera pictures which gives me time of day, moon type, and I'm using the huntstand data on minor and major movement times of 742 pictures collected on one farm. Like I said independent study.

That's a great start. let us know what you find.

 

[Double-D-Team]

For our area of northern middle TN historically I take vacation days to hunt as hard as possible the first three weeks in November....may shift this plan into the last week of November based off drought, weather forecast or lack of acorns...but for the most part Nov 15 to 17 is the peak of the rut bell curve in my area....so I'm hunting the days going up the curve and the days going down the curve as much as possible...now if I only had a couple of vacation days set aside for the rut...I'd pick my days off during this same time period when there was a front or significant temp drop forecasted.
Moon phase or any app doesnt factor into choosing which days to be in the woods. I want to hunt the rut when the most mature bucks are the most vulnerable.

Thank you for your input. I agree with the first few weeks of November. This also coincides with muzzleloader season and my favorite time of the season.

 

[BSK]

I've always heard if cows are laying then deer ain't moving. Told my cousin once after he'd told me that ...I said those cows will get up when they get hungry and so will deer and they got to eat every day . May be at night mostly but they are going to eat ...with that said I hate hunting during a full moon . It does kinda make sense that animals could feed during the night at a full moon .

I helped out a little when the TWRA was doing night-time thermal imaging deer censuses years ago. We drove around at night, sitting in a high perch mounted in a truck bed, and counted deer in open areas (usually ag fields) with thermal imagers. Later, we went back and looked at the data collected on full moon nights versus new moon nights. No difference existed between the two (same number of deer out feeding). I think the lack of difference is because their night vision is so good they only need starlight to navigate at night. We humans place a lot of emphasis on full moons because it helps US see at night. Deer don't need moonlight to see at night.

 

[Double-D-Team]

In my experience the moon doesn't have any major effect on deer movement. Now if your trying to dial in to the minute details of a hunt then maybe you would consider it as a small factor for deer movement.

Weather patterns + time of the year + strategy = dead deer IMO

Thank you for your in put.

 

[Double-D-Team]

That's a great start. let us know what you find.

It will take some time but will do.

 

[BSK]

For our area of northern middle TN historically I take vacation days to hunt as hard as possible the first three weeks in November....may shift this plan into the last week of November based off drought, weather forecast or lack of acorns...but for the most part Nov 15 to 17 is the peak of the rut bell curve in my area....

Our local timing exactly. In a decent acorn crop year, you better be hunting the first three weeks of November. In an acorn failure year, shift your hunting to the last three weeks of November.

 

[Lost Lake]

I don't use apps, and I certainly haven't studied moon phase hunting that much. What I have noticed during October is very late morning movement during a full moon, almost to the point that I don't care if I get in a stand within the first hour of daylight.

I've also enjoyed many a moonlit evening from a treestand as the sound of approaching deer kept me pinned down right at last light in my tree, hoping I wouldn't educate them by climbing down.

I hate hunting in October during a full moon.

 

[philsanchez76]

I love talking about this stuff. There is always something to learn and I try to keep an open mind. I also did my own super limited trail cam study 2 seasons ago. And the only 2 factors that I could see had any real sway (outside the rut) were temperature and wind direction. Temperature drops usually brought more overall deer on the cameras and certain wind directions seemed to bring more bucks on the cameras. those are the only 2 correlations that presented some kind of pattern. I could not find any useful pattern out of moon phases/positions. These are just my super basic observations.

 

[Gravey]

I look at wind direction and if any rain. Never paid attention to the moon.

 

[Double-D-Team]

Our local timing exactly. In a decent acorn crop year, you better be hunting the first three weeks of November. In an acorn failure year, shift your hunting to the last three weeks of November.

That makes sense 4 sure.