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Hunting on a full moon.

Shapeshifter

Shapeshifter

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2022
Messages
427
With the exception of a November full moon, I have never really had much luck hunting or even seeing many deer. In my 30 years of hunting I have had better luck in the morning but still not great. I still go out either way because it's what we do, but I realize I don't enjoy it as much. How many of you like hunting on a full moon?
 
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The Drury deercast app says otherwise, I don't pay for the advanced content but the free videos and daily forecast point to good movement during the full moon and the days on either side of it. It's counterintuitive to what I've always believed, but the Drury's put more a lot more deer on the ground than me and much more consistently.

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GeoFish said:
Based on my faulty memory, on a full moon I would see more deer mid day and early evening.
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That's has been my experience also. However it doesn't really matter I'm gonna hunt regardless I just don't expect to see much movement.
 
krub6b said:
The Drury deercast app says otherwise, I don't pay for the advanced content but the free videos and daily forecast point to good movement during the full moon and the days on either side of it. It's counterintuitive to what I've always believed, but the Drury's put more a lot more deer on the ground than me and much more consistently.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
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Drury brothers also hunt well managed farms for years. I think any us could put alot big ass bucks on ground, given a chance to hunt there. Just a thought. As John Eberhart says those are Hollywood deer.
 
Shapeshifter said:
Drury brothers also hunt well managed farms for years. I think any us could put alot big ass bucks on ground, given a chance to hunt there. Just a thought. As John Eberhart says those are Hollywood deer.
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While that's true, those deer are still influenced by things like moon phase just like deer on a WMA or any other piece of property would be, they undoubtedly have less hunting pressure that affects their movement but I feel like if the Drury's or other Hollywood hunters can say that one moon phase creates more movement than others, there's something there for us to try and take away from it

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MSU has run studies every way they can think of to see if the moon impacts movement. Domestic deer, wild deer, buck, does, trail camera studies, photos observation, tracking collar data...they've never found any reason to believe that the phases of the moon correlate with any change in deer activity.

Until they or an institution of similar caliber can prove otherwise, I see no reason to entertain the idea that moon phase matters for anything except fishing.
 
In my experiences in bowhunting 30 years
The only real thing that effects deer movement is pressure.
still Even when pressured the deer move its just not that far.
 
Robert loper said:
In my experiences in bowhunting 30 years
The only real thing that effects deer movement is pressure.
still Even when pressured the deer move its just not that far.
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I'd say the rut kinda makes movement pick up a tad. ;)

Rut, pressure, and a cold front moving in are the big 3 factors for me. Rut makes them move. A sudden increase in hunting pressure makes them move. And a cold front makes them move.
 
I prefer to hunt as often as possible, and do not base my sits on the moon phase. “Ignore the moon, just hunt.”
 
Nutterbuster said:
MSU has run studies every way they can think of to see if the moon impacts movement. Domestic deer, wild deer, buck, does, trail camera studies, photos observation, tracking collar data...they've never found any reason to believe that the phases of the moon correlate with any change in deer activity.

Until they or an institution of similar caliber can prove otherwise, I see no reason to entertain the idea that moon phase matters for anything except fishing.
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And werewolfs
 
Nutterbuster said:
I'd say the rut kinda makes movement pick up a tad. ;)

Rut, pressure, and a cold front moving in are the big 3 factors for me. Rut makes them move. A sudden increase in hunting pressure makes them move. And a cold front makes them move.
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oh definitely I agree brotha. Lol
Im mostly referring to outside of the rut and in the areas I hunt and have experiences in. Rut Rut is as most seasoned hunters know a pretty different time of year that puts bucks on thier feet to breed. Instinctive need to breed takes over most saftey concern.
almost like a 22 year old drunken biy at a bar with beer muscles lmao
But, ive seen and noticed Where im at its super small areas so Pressure even effects movement a bit during the rut.
They still usually wont travel in certain place’s or through certain areas during daylight hours.
They move under pressure but not real far. Our east coast marshes are the toughest because they are all tidal and along the shore.
This is where alot of the bucks bedding is not very wind based. They seem to rely on thier eyes and ears more then their noses.
its worse during full moon.
ive watched bucks get up off small micro Islands and slowly make their way to the transition but never make it there til i could not see.
this shows how they wait til last minutes in the marsh to get up and mist never make it to the mainland til way after dark.
They move but not real far.
During the rut here The bucks chase does so hard the does also take sanctuary out in the middle of the marsh on the micro small brushy islands .
They get so tired of hunter pressure and getting chased by bucks i believe they almost start acting like bucks.
Ive seen bucks stay out near them usually downwind or within sight range and bed til they get up.
its absolutely crazy and also very difficult to get anything close enough to get a shot.
Not taking anything away of know how or ability from anyone but, I crack up when i see some of the celeb hunters of social media have bucks and does come by them all day long in these non tidal marshes out west.
Along our East coast marshes You need to plan out a hunt according to tides moon, or your screwed. It can even be super dangerous if your not prepared.
i will say this. Mud motors work very well lmao
;)
 
If I could only hunt one moon phase for the rest of my days it would be around the full moon and it is not even close.
 
MSU deer lab collars got 1 ping every 30 mins. Im not a moon guy but id say that leaves quite a hole in their data. I do enjoy their podcasts
 
I hunt when my family/work schedule allows. Not knowing enough, it's nice to blame something random like "oh it's a full moon they must be more nocturnal today" when I don't see deer, but I was just out on Saturday for the afternoon/evening and saw 6 deer which was pretty ok for that spot. I realized driving home that it was a full moon and went "huh, guess that screws up one excuse" and had a chuckle by myself.


Moon phase MIGHT matter, but not more than a bunch of other stuff in my limited experience, so I've got one less excuse, one more reason to blame the operator (me) for the errors.
 
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