Moon and deer movement question?

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fredhill
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby fredhill » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:58 am

Murry's moon guide has this coming Wed-Sat (Aug 8-11) as good moon overhead in morning and underfoot in evening times. if you are doing any glassing or next week camera checking you could compare your observations.


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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby Stanley » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:02 am

hoyt wrote:I knew an old deer hunting about 50 yrs ago that deer hunted by the tides. I know the moon controls the tides, but if I was going to make a real wild uneducated guess, I'd guess the deer movement has more to do with the tides than the moon. Didn't animals come from the sea? Except for more light on full moons, could it be an embedded instinct to feed on certain tides? Just throwing this out there...of course I have no idea.

You may be on to something.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby dan » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:46 pm

Stan,
Not all that many years ago, I would of agreed with your logic about mornings... However, hunting every day morning and evening when I was younger taught me that morning hunts rarely panned out, and most of the time I would kick the buck out of the bed going in while its still dark, or they would come thru to there bed while its to dark to shoot... I stated to realize it was much smarter to hunt evenings when over 90% of my daylight sightings of big buck was...
So, I was pretty surprised when my friend Andrae kept shooting huge bucks in the morning, and a lot of them outside of the rut... I was over at his house interviewing him for a video one day and asked him flat out, how can you kill bucks like that in the morning? He said its all about patience and hunting the right days, I already new about hunting mornings after a stormy night, but he did not shoot his bucks after storms. I said "what day is better than another?" He said "Dan, your still not using the moon guide, are you?" I said something like pixie dust or voodoo, or something like that... Much the way your thinking right now Stan... He told me to come in the house he wanted to show me something. Andrae runs a lot of cameras in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin... He had all his big buck pictures with dates and you could go back over the different states and dates and look at how daylight pictures peaked when the moon was over head and underfoot... There were a couple of exceptions, but there was a very defined curve to the graph where ever the moon was over head or under foot.... Andrae, is not selling any kind of moon related guides, books, etc, and is not sponsored. And the cameras don't lie... Since, I gave it a chance, I too, am seeing better activity on the moon times.
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby rizzo999 » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:17 pm

fredhill wrote:Murry's moon guide has this coming Wed-Sat (Aug 8-11) as good moon overhead in morning and underfoot in evening times. if you are doing any glassing or next week camera checking you could compare your observations.


Thanks. I'll have to check this out this week.
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:04 pm

backstraps wrote:Here is some info from the email I got back:




Nobody really knows how or why moon cycles effect mammals, but even people are effected by the moon.

There have been quite a few studies showing crime rates and child births peak around the full moon.

The moon effects tides, and different relations to tides effect how/when fish feed.

Many telemetry studies indicate deer movement and feeding can be directly related to the moons position, but
an explanation of how is still a mystery. Has to do with electromagnetics and gravitational pull.


This is true.. Talk to ER doctors and prison guards..many of them will tell you there is a correlation with how busy they are based on the moon phase.

There was a patient at a clinic I interned at that would come in with horrible migraines, but they only occurred during full moons. No joke, he walked in the door on day, and jokingly I said 'I didn't know it was a full moon again already' (not realizing almost a month had passed), and I looked at the calendar, and sure enough - full moon.

No explanation for how or why tho.. Sorry I can't help ya with that Stan..

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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby Stanley » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:08 pm

dan wrote:Stan,
Not all that many years ago, I would of agreed with your logic about mornings... However, hunting every day morning and evening when I was younger taught me that morning hunts rarely panned out, and most of the time I would kick the buck out of the bed going in while its still dark, or they would come thru to there bed while its to dark to shoot... I stated to realize it was much smarter to hunt evenings when over 90% of my daylight sightings of big buck was...
So, I was pretty surprised when my friend Andrae kept shooting huge bucks in the morning, and a lot of them outside of the rut... I was over at his house interviewing him for a video one day and asked him flat out, how can you kill bucks like that in the morning? He said its all about patience and hunting the right days, I already new about hunting mornings after a stormy night, but he did not shoot his bucks after storms. I said "what day is better than another?" He said "Dan, your still not using the moon guide, are you?" I said something like pixie dust or voodoo, or something like that... Much the way your thinking right now Stan... He told me to come in the house he wanted to show me something. Andrae runs a lot of cameras in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin... He had all his big buck pictures with dates and you could go back over the different states and dates and look at how daylight pictures peaked when the moon was over head and underfoot... There were a couple of exceptions, but there was a very defined curve to the graph where ever the moon was over head or under foot.... Andrae, is not selling any kind of moon related guides, books, etc, and is not sponsored. And the cameras don't lie... Since, I gave it a chance, I too, am seeing better activity on the moon times.

I'm going to try and keep track of sightings and the moon charts this year. I wonder if you could do it with squirrels, feral cats and skunk sightings also? I don't see why not.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby dan » Mon Aug 06, 2012 8:57 pm

I'm going to try and keep track of sightings and the moon charts this year. I wonder if you could do it with squirrels, feral cats and skunk sightings also? I don't see why not.


I assume it effects all animals, but I am only concerned about shooter bucks... I think you should chart and log the activity on your cameras thats the best unbiased research you can do...
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby Stanley » Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:44 am

dan wrote:
I'm going to try and keep track of sightings and the moon charts this year. I wonder if you could do it with squirrels, feral cats and skunk sightings also? I don't see why not.


I assume it effects all animals, but I am only concerned about shooter bucks... I think you should chart and log the activity on your cameras thats the best unbiased research you can do...

I do have one card I didn't format from last year Sept 25th - October 26th the camera ran longer but the card filled up and no pictures after that unfortunately. Where would I get the moon data from that period last year?
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby dreaming bucks » Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:51 am

this link gives you all the moon transit times........... just put in your area, and the dates, it's real easy....

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby dan » Tue Aug 07, 2012 8:35 am

Stanley wrote:
dan wrote:
I'm going to try and keep track of sightings and the moon charts this year. I wonder if you could do it with squirrels, feral cats and skunk sightings also? I don't see why not.


I assume it effects all animals, but I am only concerned about shooter bucks... I think you should chart and log the activity on your cameras thats the best unbiased research you can do...

I do have one card I didn't format from last year Sept 25th - October 26th the camera ran longer but the card filled up and no pictures after that unfortunately. Where would I get the moon data from that period last year?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8790
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Stanley
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby Stanley » Tue Aug 07, 2012 8:59 am

I'll do some crunching and see how it plays out. Thanks for the moon thread archive. Post up my findings later.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby Stanley » Tue Aug 07, 2012 11:09 am

I finished my documentation log from the camera card I had from last year. The dates were August 25th through September 26th. I had originally said Sept 25th through October 26th.This camera doesn't spell out the month only the day and time.
Findings:
I had no buck sightings from August 25th through Sept 2nd. I had doe or buck sightings every day. This is typical from what I have experienced in the past. Bucks don't show up right away after setting the camera up, does will.
Findings:
September 4th and 5th were a bust no buck pictures (supposed to be best days). September 22nd and 23d were also a bust no buck pictures. September 16th, 17th, and 21st had the most buck activity. I saw no increased buck activity (I documented all bucks big and small) on any of the projected best moon days. I was hoping I would but just didn't happen. After completing this review I don't think it proves or disproves much of anything. I don't set the cameras up where I hunt and they are quite a distance from bedding areas. Conclusion: For this review my findings aren't in favor of the moon charts working or doing anything.



Best days to hunt according to the moon chart
Overhead: Red

Mornings:
SEPT 3
SEPT 4
SEPT 5
SEPT 19
SEPT 20

Evenings:
SEPT 3
SEPT 4
SEPT 5

SEPT 19
SEPT 20
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby dan » Tue Aug 07, 2012 11:44 am

I would like to see it done on a bigger scale, and using exact times. Thats how we looked at it on Andraes properties. Peak camera activity times correlating with peak moon (o/h-u/f) phase times.
Andrae always has his cameras in the same spots (mostly food plots) except a few he moves around. However, the properties the cameras are on, are managed, and the deer move in daylight a lot easier than they do in some other locations that receive pressure.
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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby utica19 » Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:15 pm

How can I go about finding out the predicted o/h u/f moon periods for this upcoming season? Do I need to buy Murray's moon guide, or could I find it elsewhere?
Thanks

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Re: Moon and deer movement question?

Unread postby dan » Tue Aug 07, 2012 1:26 pm

utica19 wrote:How can I go about finding out the predicted o/h u/f moon periods for this upcoming season? Do I need to buy Murray's moon guide, or could I find it elsewhere?
Thanks

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Either buy the guide, or wait till I post the dates... ;)


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