Moon Phase vs Rut?

[Bonasababy]

It's changing day length--photoperiod--that is normally the cue for cervid rut timing. Moon phase can affect activity but not the timing of the rut--if that's what you are asking for.

Deer go all night when the moon is full or nearly so as the peak of the rut starts. With elk I would expect that to be driven by human activity and disturbance as well.

 

[Wolfshead]

For what it is worth, it has been my experience, that during a full moon, deer seem to get out of their beds later than normal.
How scientific this is? Not very, but it seems to always be the way.
The rut is a different story as that is a bit more unpredictable.

 

[rogerthat]

Not sure if the op posted this but is this a mule deer or whitetail hunt? Bow or gun? State and terrain type? Heavy cover or open terrain? Style of hunting? Glassing? Tree stand? I think all that info would be considered if I were planning the hunt

 

[Richard22]

The theory is that fish and game are more likely to move and feed when the moon in directly overhead (moon transit) and underfoot, which roughly 12 hours later. A full moon always rises around sunset and hits its peak around midnight, which leaves another major feeding period around noon the next day, plus and minus roughly an hour for each yielding two, two-hour feeding periods. It points to why many claim the middle of the day is the best time to hunt during a full moon.

The US Naval Observatory offers a great website for identifying both solar and lunar data for anywhere in the world for any given day. I like to use it to determine what I think are the best times to be in the deer woods. That is, those days during the season when the moon, whatever its phase, will be high in the sky during the early morning or late evening. Favorable weather on those days will just make game animals move even more, such as a cold, crisp morning or evening when the moon is high.

Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day

This data service provides times of Sun and Moon rise and set, transit, and the beginning and end of civil twilight, as was as Moon phase information for one day.

aa.usno.navy.mil

 

[brymoore]

Not sure if the op posted this but is this a mule deer or whitetail hunt? Bow or gun? State and terrain type? Heavy cover or open terrain? Style of hunting? Glassing? Tree stand? I think all that info would be considered if I were planning the hunt

You forgot to ask for my blood type which is O+.

Son and I have late December Coues rifle tags in Arizona. We’ll hunt by glassing from high points and stalking. Terrain will be rolling hills/mountains.

 

[Bambistew]

At one point in the past, I went through all the bucks I killed and charted them against the moon phase (it was like 30+ bucks). This was mostly whitetails in MT, but also included a half a dozen muledeer in MT and CO. More than half were shot within a couple days of a full moon. All were shot during some phase of the rut i.e. end of Oct through end of Nov so in the rut. I don't believe the moon phase BS, its all about the rut that time of the year. If its hot and full moon or no moon, they aren't moving. Almost all of the biggest bucks I killed were during full moon phases plus or minus a few days. If anything I'd rather hunt a FM during the rut than any other time if we're going on anecdotal evidence

Elk are a little different, but not much. I've had some absolute killer hunts during full moons.