Good info on Buck Movement

[Florida]

Very interesting. I thought the moon phase data was a head scratcher..hmmm

[ Post made via Android ]

Every scientific study I've seen said the moon has no effect. All photoperiod. They are controlled by light. Doesn't the moon cast light. Hmmm

[ Post made via Android ]

I don't understand how it is photoperiod, in fact I would venture to say that it can't be. There are places I hunt that are separated by less than 30 miles as a crow flies and the peak rut activity and mean conception dates are 4 months apart in the two areas.

I think it could still apply. Just because the deer are on a different schedule 30 miles apart doesn't mean there isn't a schedule. I think the timing is based on light, but in the southeast the amount of daylight that triggers breeding varies seemingly randomly.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Hawthorne]

I've met Bill Vale through a friend of mine an had several talks about the moons affects on deer. He calls it ambient light. He has a calendar for it. His calendar has more to do with how much ambient is in the atmosphere or not. Basically there are times during the day based on his studies where it looks darker to a deer than what it really is. This doesn't mean the deer moves very far from his bed but he just feeds around the bed. When the new moon phase hits is when they really move a lot.y buddy swares buy the calendar. I noticed a difference with his time frames this year my self.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I've shot most of my nice bucks in the morning and a few was the morning after a full moon. This is what I believe. Big bucks are the first back to their bedding areas. They can sense sense the sun coming up before a human can see it. Its called astronomical twilight. Well if you have a full moon in the morning or even a last quarter it disguises the arrival of daylight keeping the big bucks out later. Alot of people think they are feeding but I think the light of the moon is stalling them. Sounds crazy but I've heard some accomplished hunters say they wait for the last quarter to hit their morning spots that's when the moon is over head.

[ Post made via Android ]

[TNstalker]

Hawthorne

Ur thoughts are a lot like what bill has based his calendar on. Look him up check out his thoughts on the ambient light.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[DaveT1963]

I get Bill's calendar every year and last year both Oct bucks were killed during off times according to the calendar. My experience goes along with this study that it doesn't matter Moon phase, position of the moon or most weather, bucks move early and late in the day irregardless. I do believe pressure restricts how far they will move during daylight but they still move fit the most part.

[ Post made via Android ]

[PK_]

Pk.. Good point. My thoughts on this are, is it possible that there are 2 sub species of the whitetail in this area. I believe I read somewhere this is what causes situations simular to yours. At some point northern whitetails were transplanted or migrated south causing ruts simular to northern deer patterns. On the flip southern deer rut later.

[ Post made via Android ]

From what I have read, those transplants and their genetics died out quickly due to disease. The theory I see fits the best is that the peak rut will coincide with the fawns being healthy enough to survive the more stressful part of the year for that particular area. That is why the deer closer to our shorelines breed at different dates due to hurricane season and flooding. Other parts of the state the biggest stress period may be drought at a different time of year. I hunt some areas where I have seen rut activity from early sept through gobbler season in April. I am guessing this area of the state has no defined rut due to no major defined stress period?

Different parts of the state rut anywhere early as July or as late is February.

Idk...

I quit trying to figure it out and just use it as a guide.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Stanley]

Pk.. Good point. My thoughts on this are, is it possible that there are 2 sub species of the whitetail in this area. I believe I read somewhere this is what causes situations simular to yours. At some point northern whitetails were transplanted or migrated south causing ruts simular to northern deer patterns. On the flip southern deer rut later.

[ Post made via Android ]

From what I have read, those transplants and their genetics died out quickly due to disease. The theory I see fits the best is that the peak rut will coincide with the fawns being healthy enough to survive the more stressful part of the year for that particular area. That is why the deer closer to our shorelines breed at different dates due to hurricane season and flooding. Other parts of the state the biggest stress period may be drought at a different time of year. I hunt some areas where I have seen rut activity from early sept through gobbler season in April. I am guessing this area of the state has no defined rut due to no major defined stress period?

Different parts of the state rut anywhere early as July or as late is February.

Idk...

I quit trying to figure it out and just use it as a guide.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Interesting........ the rut is all about procreation and survival of fawns in that environment. If the moon has an effect on that, it would be a lint factor.

[JoeRE]

Stan that is a good point. We often forget what are the "big factors" and spend time debating other things that everyone could probably agree are very small if anything at all.

There is no doubt the desire to move at dawn and dusk is 10 times greater than any impact the moon may or may not have...and that is coming from someone who does think he sees variations in movement due to certain moon conditions. The deeper I dig, I am not surprised at all that a correlation between movement and any moon condition cannot be proven. We are talking tiny secondary factors if anything.

I bet every hunter in the world will agree that weather conditions will affect their prey yet am not surprised that no correlation between movement and various weather conditions has been proven. There are too many variables. Pressure level and change in pressure, humidity, wind, precipitation, temperature, cloud cover, incoming weather conditions of all kinds, outgoing weather, time of day, time of year etc......no study has dialed in close enough. You start isolating variables, you end up with not enough data to prove anything. You don't isolate all those variables, you just get a big fat unchanging average.

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.brothersofthebow.com/When_Bucks_Roam.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiWsqL9h_3KAhUY22MKHQMSCiAQFggUMAE&sig2=O1CEWhCo1ikR9bmqwqwe6g&usg=AFQjCNH7uourlcIjXueXAGyzvvLhw072rA

Written by gene wensel

[ Post made via Android ]

Thanks for posting that. I have a lot of respect for the Wensels, they are very intelligent and detail oriented hunters.

[mainebowhunter]

The article written by Gene is what I getting at when I posted about disappearing bucks, roamer bucks. Good article. I have noticed the same thing myself and always made me wonder...where the heck they go.

[Hawthorne]

Stan that is a good point. We often forget what are the "big factors" and spend time debating other things that everyone could probably agree are very small if anything at all.

There is no doubt the desire to move at dawn and dusk is 10 times greater than any impact the moon may or may not have...and that is coming from someone who does think he sees variations in movement due to certain moon conditions. The deeper I dig, I am not surprised at all that a correlation between movement and any moon condition cannot be proven. We are talking tiny secondary factors if anything.

I bet every hunter in the world will agree that weather conditions will affect their prey yet am not surprised that no correlation between movement and various weather conditions has been proven. There are too many variables. Pressure level and change in pressure, humidity, wind, precipitation, temperature, cloud cover, incoming weather conditions of all kinds, outgoing weather, time of day, time of year etc......no study has dialed in close enough. You start isolating variables, you end up with not enough data to prove anything. You don't isolate all those variables, you just get a big fat unchanging average.

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.brothersofthebow.com/When_Bucks_Roam.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiWsqL9h_3KAhUY22MKHQMSCiAQFggUMAE&sig2=O1CEWhCo1ikR9bmqwqwe6g&usg=AFQjCNH7uourlcIjXueXAGyzvvLhw072rA

Written by gene wensel

[ Post made via Android ]

Thanks for posting that. I have a lot of respect for the Wensels, they are very intelligent and detail oriented hunters.

Your welcome. Cool stuff to talk about in the off season

[ Post made via Android ]