(A) Moon Phases

For the last two deer seasons I have purchased Jeff Murray's "Deer Hunters' Moon Guide". I have heard Mark and Terry Drury refer to moon phases in almost every one of their videos. I have also heard Adam Hays, from Whitetails Unlimited and Lone Wolf Tree Stands, swear by this particular product. So, I purchased it so see if it would help me in my deer hunting, especially when I had to plan my days in the stand. Initially I would be very excited about applying it to my hunts but as the season went on I really did not rely on it much. As I was going through my hunting equipment the other day I saw the Moon Guide and threw it in the trash. Then I thought to myself. Did I really analyze how accurate this information was based on my hunting the last two seasons? No, I did not. So I pulled it out of the trash and started comparing dates with moon phases. I can be a very analytical person so this project was fun for me.


The first thing that I did was look at the moon phases and compared them to when I shot my last 10 mature bucks. Then I looked through my notes of my hunting log book to compare the moon phases over the last two seasons when I saw mature bucks on their feet (these deer were seen but not harvested). I was shocked at the findings. First of all, I admitted to myself that I lost faith in this tool because I did not always see mature deer when the moon phase was good for deer movement.

Let me break it down for you then you can come to your own conclusions. I like to hunt around the new moon phase and I have avoided hunting around the full moon if I can. The rut is always the exception though. I learned that 35% of my mature deer sights or harvests were within a couple of days of a full moon. 30% of my harvests or sightings were within 8 days after the full moon. Only 15% were around the new moon. All other deer sightings or harvests were around 5% or less during other moon phases.

This information made me feel a lot more confident about hunting around a full moon. Here is a suggestion though. If you have clear skies overnight during the rut with a full moon, sleep in the following morning. This is a good opportunity to catch up on some sleep and re-energize your body or immune system. Many times the bucks will chase at night under these bright skies and will bed down to rest in the morning. Try to sneak into your stand around 8 am. because those bucks will probably get up and start scent checking for does between 10 am and 12pm once they are rested. Once in your stand, plan on sitting all day to cover the mid-day movement and evening movement.

The next item that I analyzed was the time of day that the animal was seen or harvested compared to the recommended "Moon Times" were listed. I was once again surprised at the results. The suggested deer movement times were within a couple of hours of harvest times 55% of the time. If you expand that to mornings vs. afternoons, the "Moon Times" were correct 80% of the time. Obviously you are not going to see mature deer every time that you hunt. Hunting pressure, the rut, severe weather or high winds will also affect the accuracy of this tool.

The Moon Guide also provides suggested hunting locations such as feeding areas, transition areas or bedding areas. I tried to follow these recommendations as best as I could last season. However based on my notes, these recommendations were not very accurate for me on my farms. Actually 50% of the time that these mature animals were seen or harvested were on days that the Moon Guide suggested I hunt near the bedding areas because activity would be slow. This information also proved valuable because I will probably be more successful choosing stand locations based on wind direction, time of year, weather, and phase of the rut than what the moon phase is. Something else to keep in mind is that most of the farms that I hunt experience very little hunting pressure which could also impact these results.

Another controversial topic about moon phase is how it affects the does estrous cycle. Many experts suggest that the moon phase triggers these female animals to begin their breading cycle. However, I have not witnessed this to be true in my hunting area. The moon phase seems to be at different stages from year to year. What I have found is that does seem to go into estrous about the same time every year which is triggered by the length of day. As you move from northern Wisconsin, south to Texas, the length of the day changes in the fall. The rut starts earlier in the north and ends in the south as the days become shorter each day in the fall. However, the rut can be delayed based on weather conditions. An example would be if the temperature reaches above 55 degrees it will slow down the estrous cycle possibly delaying the rutting activity for some does. These are all things to keep in mind but I will let you draw your own conclusions.

I am glad that I pulled that Moon Guide out of the trash can. It was another reminder that I don't know everything and that this sport is a constant learning process. Will the "Deer Hunters' Moon Guide" always be correct? No. Will you have the same results that I have experienced? Maybe not. Will I be purchasing the 2010 version of the Moon Guide? Absolutely and you should too!