Does Moon Phase Impact Deer Movement?

[trumperman]

In my experience moon phase controls the time in which they are active not how active they are. Weather has a bigger influence of how active. The colder the weather the less the moon phase influences the time of movement.

This is practically and makes a lot of sense, thanks a lot Plinker147

 

[280remington]

So, are y'all saying if the moon is full at midday, that is the time to be hunting? This is with no snow, no rain, no rut, and average temp.

 

[JSHKS]

I thought some of the old almanac stuff my grandpa's and dad set some stock in was just bull butter.
Want to go fishing, dad would look at it and decide a lot of times. He watched the barometer as well.
If moon was wrong to fish it barometric pressure was right, he would go. His thoughts, they can't predict the weather a year in advance, let alone a day lol.
I started deer hunting pretty hard in the 80's. I was either working on a farm or in an agricultural business of some type, so I was out and about quite a bit.
Working on a dairy I was up early and home late for a spell. As mentioned above a day and late evening spent out driving around will answer a lot of questions.
I would see very little movement of deer through the data out two hours after sunset and drive by a wheat field or alfalfa field and there were large numbers out. More so than normal.
The powers to be here in Kansas say it has no effect on hunting. Maybe not hunting, but successful hunting yes it does, lucky hunting no.
When the orange army gets out and about, I think that has an impact on making them go nocturnal as well.
One day of stupid hunting, I say stupid I mean out stomping basically through the middle of prime habitat and expecting no change in the critters movement. Ask anyone that elk hunts about this.
Jeff

 

[drborsos]

You should be asking a wildlife biologist about cervids and their response to photoperiod. When you do they will tell you about the amount of daylight, the pineal gland, the hormone melatonin, etc., and how it all works.

 

[R2rr]

Absolutely, based on my observations.
These lessons I learned while archery hunting (before compound bows) beginning at age 12. They still hold true elsewhere.
I began deer hunting alone young, and "my" area was an all but un-hunted little ridge with a volcanic bluff nose.
The inside of the bluff was a treed bowl with lots of bedding areas. The outside was a semi-open feeding area.
The deer would move from the bedding area in the AM according to the dawn. I had to arrive before dawn to get in position, in the pinch point under the bluff (they moved around the bluff nose, at/in the tree line).
If the moon was out, and I arrived at usual "clock" time before dawn, I would be too late. The deer had moved to the big open feeding side ahead of me in the moonlight. With no moon or little moonlight, they were always on time (dawn time, not clock time). Every day. Every year. Never failed.
I have applied this "lesson" for 46 more years, in lots of other places, and it always applies.
Note: Full/bright moons they will be out feeding all night, and would sometime go back to the bedding area before dawn. No luck those days unless I bumped them out of the bedding area.
Just my observations.

 

[kolob10]

Moon phases to my estimation have little impact on deer movement. On the other hand, weather has a big impact. All animals need food, water, security, and to remove bodily waste. It becomes a routine unless weather, predators, or age changes the timetable. Just like humans. Do you go out to eat in a storm or impending storm?

 

[mhamlin]

I think there may be more than one answer to this question. I live and mostly hunt in California.We typically don't have any weather events in the southern central valley. Usually it is dry and HOT. If you research the harvest stats you'll see the results for hunt zones D8, D9, and others are extremely low. I've had better success than most of my friends and I know of others that have had more success than I. Hunting in the mountains around the south central valley is usually a dismal experience, from a harvest perspective. There are places in the areas I hunt that harbor a reasonable amount of deer, but the brush and forest are so thick that it is nearly impossible to find deer during hunting season (temps can be 80-100+ degrees). Considering the temps and the low numbers of animals, I am convinced that the moon phases have a dramatic effect on deer movement.

I drew a tag this year that allowed me to hunt several days later than the regular season. Although the mornings were in the teens some days, the afternoons were typically in the high 60's-70's. We saw deer on on the first part of the hunt and I should have had a shot at a decent buck (stereotypical California hunters...another story for another day...). I had to return to work for a couple of days during the season and when I went back to hunt the following weekend, the moon was full. Areas where we were seeing 20-30 deer/day, I saw nothing but tracks...fresh tracks. It was obvious that the deer were following the same paths and patterns, but it was just earlier in the evenings/mornings, before daylight. This experience is consistent with my hunting deer in California for 40 years

This is typical for my experiences in south central California. I have hunted deer and Elk in Colorado, never experiencing this phenomenon. I don't now if the number of hunt-able deer in Colorado have skewed my observation, but I suspect it may be a part of the equation.

What I do know, is that I will NEVER hunt deer during a full moon in California, ever again!

-Mike

 

[Waynzee]

The old saying about fishing also holds true with hunting:When the weather is from the North and East that's when the fish bite the least. When the weather is from the south and west that's when the fish bite best. I don't claim to be an expert on the matter but IMO of 50+ years of fishing and hunting this is a pretty **** good rule to follow here in the Pocono's of PA. for hunting all game and fishing.

 

[Hatrick]

That might work on the lakes up there, but in Cape May, NJ anything southwest sucks.

 

[joep17]

In western Canada weather is always the biggest factor in deer movement. Bad weather they hunker down and when it improves they come out to feed regardless of moon. When weather is consistent, I have seen more at night when the moon is full and less movement during the day.
One anecdotal story from a friend that is a professional guide is that his customers get more trophy bucks during new moon than any other time. With our November season and late November rit I always try to be out hunting if there is a new moon

 

[Jeff Gibson]

The moon effects everything in nature. I've been on a small cattle farm most of my life. The majority of the time cows have their calves within +/- 3 days of a full or new moon. Moon effects how grouchy the wife is. Deer, hogs cattle and women are really effected.

 

[joep17]

My "starter wife" was gouchy during all 4 phases..... the rest of the time she was just plain mean.

 

[Doug Herold]

So when you don't see them out on a full moon, where are they?

Bedded

 

[Larry K]

I think the moon affects how much they move at night vs day, but overall movement is a lot more dependent on changes in feeding areas, other hunting pressure etc.