The moon and elk

[dnovo]

What are your thoughts on moon phases and elk hunting? This year the new moon is Aug 28, and the full moon is sept 13, which is in the middle of muzzleloader season in CO. Would the moon affect your trip planning?

[COOCH]

It does for me.I prefer to hunt the first or last quarter phases if given a choice.The full moon seems to give the elk lockjaw during shooting hours IMHO

[zwickeyman]

dnovo,

Pay more attention to the position of the moon than the phase. If the moon is straight up or straight down the Elk will be feeding. Even if the moon is straight down at 1PM, they will up out of their beds milling around and feeding close to their bedding area.

Make notes of the local Whitetail when you see them out in the fields in the day time. Check the position of the moon and by September you will be a believer.

[T Lail]

I tend to agree with David.....I believe in the moon position after several years of following it...may seem dumb, but it seems to work for me....

[zwickeyman]

T Lail,

Most people will say I'm full of C#$$P and that's OK. My main hunting buddies are firm believers after years of proof.

In fact, old school says the worst hunting is when there is a full moon out all night. The deer are to bed right at daylight, true. But when the moon is straight down, say noon, the woods come alive.

[cacciatore]

THIS IS VERY INTERESTING!!!

[COOCH]

Zwickeyman I do understand wat you are saying and have observed the same thing.I've just had better success first or last quarter.Maybe I'm just superstisious.

If I have a tag in my pocket I will be out there regardless of what the moon is doing,that is the persistance in me.

[zwickeyman]

Jeff, I hear you. I'm a before daylight to after dark guy.

[raghorns]

Ok, call me dumb, but what do you mean by the moon being straight up or straight down?

I think there is definitely something to the moon's affect on game movement....would like to learn more.

Driving to work before sun up, some mornings I would start seeing rabbits moving, then there is a coon, then the deer and all types of game moving. Then the next morning nothing /even though the weather was the same...is that moon phase?

[FerretWYO]

There is some interesting information here. The moon position has merit. My last four bulls have been within two days of the full moon. It can do some interesting things with elk movement.

I have seen several times where bulls seem to be a little braver right at daylight or dark. They have been able to see all night and you can get them farther away from the cows.

If you are hunting under the full moon keep these things in mind.

1. Be out of bed and where the elk are at shooting light you wont have a lot of time to get on them before they bed.

2. Put them to bed but my recomendation is dont bump them off thier bed. If you do they could move a long ways and it could take days to find them again.

3. Hunting starts again a noon. This is related to the moon position thing I guess. It is almost a gaurantee the the cows will get up between noon and three each day. The advantage you get here is they will tend to be scattered out allowing you to stock one elk rather than 20. Anyone who has been elk hunting more than once nows that more make tougher work.

4. When the cows are up in the afternoon the bulls will often stay bedded most of the time the cows are up. This means that he is going to talk trying to keep track of his cows as they get farther away. This is about the only time you will see a mature bull let cows out of his sight for any amount of time.

5. The later is gets in the day the more a heard bull is going to gather up his heard. He knows the full moon will have other bulls corousing looking for cows.

[twitchstick]

I'm right with you on this one ferret. They hit thier beds quick in the mornig but the action can be good as long as it dosen't get too warm.

[T Lail]

I am going to start keeping closer tabs and notes on this and see what is what....this is  interesting and I wonder how the biologists feel on this .....  

[acolobowhunter]

I agree.  Over many years of chasing these critters, I have found during a full moon you can hear the bulls bugling all night, then at daylight they are bedded.  I think there is something about the moon phase.

[JJB2]

You can definitely time the midwest whitetail rut by the moon phases.  There have been some interesting studies done on its effect.  I've also noticed that the position of the moon within the cycles also impacts time of movement.

[durp]

ive killed more bulls at mid day than any other time...i like to locat at daylight then wait till things quiet down..then move in on a lone bull...moon phase don't matter doing that way.

[PAPA BEAR]

i hardly ever hunt a full moon,they just bed down way to early.i'd rather hunt them out of the rut than put up with a full moon.seems every time our hunts were at the peak of the full moon they just get lockjaw at first light.guess if i had to hunt full moon or not hunt i'd hunt full moon though.out of curiosity ferret,what altitude do you hunt generally? i have always wondered if big altitude differences make a difference during a full moon (other than temps)
 durp....i like yer style.     last few years i have been tryin to adopt that techniqe.