Rut weather

[Pancake]

Honestly I dont think it matters what the weather is during the rut. If theres a hot doe, these bucks will go wherever whenever. Ive seen them in all kinds of weather or condtions. For taking a week off during rut, I rather focus on the lunar calendar more than weather fronts. Some pretty strong data linking the start of rut to moon phases vs. sun's positon.

Genuine curiosity, do you have sources for that? I've always heard that the moon has no bearing on the rut, so I'm interested to hear an opposing, data-based view.

https://deerassociation.com/no-link-moo ... 20breeding.

Yes that is correct, my bad. Let me rephrase what I meant- the start of rut is more linked to the suns position/limited photoperiod triggering the preorbital gland vs. moon phase for increased deer movement. Like you were saying based on several theories- Moon phase (or weather) doesnt "trigger" the rut, just seems to affect movement. But I just personally prefer to keep an eye on moon phases over weather during that early november period .Ive Just had a lot of good buck activity and encounters late morning/early afternoon over the years. Maybe theres a correlation, maybe not. Peter Fidducia has a pretty good explanation on all this too.

I’ve always liked reading the data and information the late Charles Alsheimer shared using his lunar information (rutting moon) along with weather to make predictions. It’s having another tool trying to understand deer movement and having no guarantee.

Makes sense! I'll have to check those guys out. I've heard some folks with GPS study access discussing how the moon's illumination does appear to maybe have some impact on movement. I think there might be a correlation to a late-setting full moon with late morning movement. I don't know that this makes sense, but I rationalize it in my brain that the brightness of the moon essentially tricks the deer into thinking that sunrise is earlier than it actually is. So then they get back to bed early, and then they're back up and moving a bit more than usual in the late morning time frame. True? No idea, but it works in my head.

[HuntingHamrick]

The obvious answers are going to be high pressure days with a cold snap compared to the previous few days. I like to hunt the last week of October, and I always seem to do well the day after a hard rain. Not sure if the bucks want to check their scrapes more, or the weather change has them changing bedding areas. Possibly a little of both, but probably never will know for sure.

[Brad]

Honestly I dont think it matters what the weather is during the rut. If theres a hot doe, these bucks will go wherever whenever. Ive seen them in all kinds of weather or condtions. For taking a week off during rut, I rather focus on the lunar calendar more than weather fronts. Some pretty strong data linking the start of rut to moon phases vs. sun's positon.

Genuine curiosity, do you have sources for that? I've always heard that the moon has no bearing on the rut, so I'm interested to hear an opposing, data-based view.

https://deerassociation.com/no-link-moo ... 20breeding.

Yes that is correct, my bad. Let me rephrase what I meant- the start of rut is more linked to the suns position/limited photoperiod triggering the preorbital gland vs. moon phase for increased deer movement. Like you were saying based on several theories- Moon phase (or weather) doesnt "trigger" the rut, just seems to affect movement. But I just personally prefer to keep an eye on moon phases over weather during that early november period .Ive Just had a lot of good buck activity and encounters late morning/early afternoon over the years. Maybe theres a correlation, maybe not. Peter Fidducia has a pretty good explanation on all this too.

I'm curious what moon phases you see facilitate increased buck movement. I knw a couple years back I was seeing a ton more bucks in fields when glassing or driving during the early season with moon overhead on the quarter moons. It was enough to make me believe that there was an influence. I had always heard about the new moon creating increased daytime buck movement. Last Nov 3rd I saw my big buck I shot 4 times total before getting my shot on him. Once in the morning around 9am, then 3 times in the afternoon around 2:30, 4:00, and finally 5:30 when I shot him... now I'm totally convinced I must be in a tree on the first new moon of the pre-rut...

[MichiganMike]

Honestly I dont think it matters what the weather is during the rut. If theres a hot doe, these bucks will go wherever whenever. Ive seen them in all kinds of weather or condtions. For taking a week off during rut, I rather focus on the lunar calendar more than weather fronts. Some pretty strong data linking the start of rut to moon phases vs. sun's positon.

Genuine curiosity, do you have sources for that? I've always heard that the moon has no bearing on the rut, so I'm interested to hear an opposing, data-based view.

https://deerassociation.com/no-link-moo ... 20breeding.

Yes that is correct, my bad. Let me rephrase what I meant- the start of rut is more linked to the suns position/limited photoperiod triggering the preorbital gland vs. moon phase for increased deer movement. Like you were saying based on several theories- Moon phase (or weather) doesnt "trigger" the rut, just seems to affect movement. But I just personally prefer to keep an eye on moon phases over weather during that early november period .Ive Just had a lot of good buck activity and encounters late morning/early afternoon over the years. Maybe theres a correlation, maybe not. Peter Fidducia has a pretty good explanation on all this too.

I'm curious what moon phases you see facilitate increased buck movement. I knw a couple years back I was seeing a ton more bucks in fields when glassing or driving during the early season with moon overhead on the quarter moons. It was enough to make me believe that there was an influence. I had always heard about the new moon creating increased daytime buck movement. Last Nov 3rd I saw my big buck I shot 4 times total before getting my shot on him. Once in the morning around 9am, then 3 times in the afternoon around 2:30, 4:00, and finally 5:30 when I shot him... now I'm totally convinced I must be in a tree on the first new moon of the pre-rut...

I was going to say, for me it seems the day of or 1-2 days following a new moon or full moon. Looked up the calendar for this season:
New: Sept 25th, Oct 25th, Nov 23rd, Dec 23rd
Full: Sept.10th, Oct 9th, Nov. 8th, Dec. 7th

[Brad]

Honestly I dont think it matters what the weather is during the rut. If theres a hot doe, these bucks will go wherever whenever. Ive seen them in all kinds of weather or condtions. For taking a week off during rut, I rather focus on the lunar calendar more than weather fronts. Some pretty strong data linking the start of rut to moon phases vs. sun's positon.

Genuine curiosity, do you have sources for that? I've always heard that the moon has no bearing on the rut, so I'm interested to hear an opposing, data-based view.

https://deerassociation.com/no-link-moo ... 20breeding.

Yes that is correct, my bad. Let me rephrase what I meant- the start of rut is more linked to the suns position/limited photoperiod triggering the preorbital gland vs. moon phase for increased deer movement. Like you were saying based on several theories- Moon phase (or weather) doesnt "trigger" the rut, just seems to affect movement. But I just personally prefer to keep an eye on moon phases over weather during that early november period .Ive Just had a lot of good buck activity and encounters late morning/early afternoon over the years. Maybe theres a correlation, maybe not. Peter Fidducia has a pretty good explanation on all this too.

I'm curious what moon phases you see facilitate increased buck movement. I knw a couple years back I was seeing a ton more bucks in fields when glassing or driving during the early season with moon overhead on the quarter moons. It was enough to make me believe that there was an influence. I had always heard about the new moon creating increased daytime buck movement. Last Nov 3rd I saw my big buck I shot 4 times total before getting my shot on him. Once in the morning around 9am, then 3 times in the afternoon around 2:30, 4:00, and finally 5:30 when I shot him... now I'm totally convinced I must be in a tree on the first new moon of the pre-rut...

I was going to say, for me it seems the day of or 1-2 days following a new moon or full moon. Looked up the calendar for this season:
New: Sept 25th, Oct 25th, Nov 23rd, Dec 23rd
Full: Sept.10th, Oct 9th, Nov. 8th, Dec. 7th

interesting. I have heard both sides about a full moon. I've heard there is less daytime movement because there is more night time activity, but I am thinking that it was possibly referring to less movement at sunrise and sunset, but more mid day activity.
Some theories seem to believe that it is due to the amount of light that increases movement, which would seem to support any moon overhead theories as well.
I still put more faith in temperature changes, but barometric pressure and moon phase/position appear to me to be definite factors to consider.

[Putt400]

Full: Sept.10th, Oct 9th, Nov. 8th, Dec. 7th

According to Charles Alsheimer his belief of the rutting moon is the second full moon after the autumn equinox (Sept 22) which would fall on November 8th.

[rs2893]

MSU and PSU have both conducted long term studies with GPS collars. One of their conclusions is that weather doesn’t mean jack with regards to the rut. For a given area it will hit the same time every year with outliers occurring a couple weeks prior and after that date, weather/moon not being the reason that triggers those breedings.

https://youtu.be/0rZk-JD_kUk

https://youtu.be/k8VcqKxn3tw