Thoughts on the moon overhead theory?

[Rusty]

What are your thoughts on the theory that deer feed when the moon is overhead and underfoot?  Does the moon play a roll in daily deer activity?   

For example, during a full moon the moon is underfoot at noon.  So this would explain why there is a lot of midday activity during a full moon.    

[Rusty]

And before anyone quotes the Penn State study that "proves" the moon has no affect on when deer feed, realize this.  Their study had nothing to do with feeding, it was a study on distances travelled at different times of the day.

Their study found that deer move throughout the day and the night but they travel the greatest distances at dawn and dusk, regardless of the phase or position of the moon.  Good observation, good data! 

From that they concluded that the moon does not influence when deer feed.  Bad conclusion!    

During the day deer stay in thicker cover.  They get up to feed at different times of the day but they stay within their thicker daytime areas.  At dusk they move out into more open areas where the spend the night.  Throughout the night they will bed and get up to feed at different times.  Then in the morning they travel back into their thicker daytime areas.  The distances travelled has nothing to do with when they are feeding.      

 

 

 

Edited January 22 by Rusty

[nywaw]

[mowin]

I've noticed deer movement is different during full moons.  Movement is much less during morning and evening hunting hrs.  I'm sure the timing of the rut during the full moon has a impact on movement, but not as great as other times of the season. 

[Wolc123]

No idea on deer and the moon, but snappers make great chowder and I like them little chocolate-caramel treats, so this was an easy one.  

[crappyice]

I LOVE FULL MOONS during hunting season. It allows me to sleep in and catch up on my sleep!!!

[grampy]

Over decades of hunting, I've learned to be in the woods from 10 to 2 during a full moon. Those are the hours we will usually see the most deer.

Hunting the new moon, (dark) first and last light, usually has good deer activity.

Of course these are only generalizations. Hunt every hour you can. But it does seem to me, that moon phase/position, may have at least some impact on deer activity. 

[Buckmaster7600]

I’ve followed mature buck tracks for a lot of miles and tried to pay attention to moon phases and barometric pressures and correlated it with activity  for years. The only conclusion I came to is deer eat when they’re hungry, sleep when they’re tired and F*ck when they’re horny. 
 

 

Edited January 22 by Buckmaster7600

[Sir-diealot]

Howdy, thanks for having me. I got to have a brief conversation with Charles Alsheimer after he had mentioned the 11 year cycle that the deer supposedly follow and pointed out that the same 11 year cycle is the same that several ham radio operators like myself follow regarding the sunspot activity. It matches up exactly with the deer cycle and I wonder if perhaps it may not be the moon cycle but the sun spot activity instead. I had hoped to speak with him more about it but unfortunately he passed away. He did say he found that very interesting and thought he would look into it more.

[Rusty]

26 minutes ago, Sir-diealot said:

Howdy, thanks for having me. I got to have a brief conversation with Charles Alsheimer after he had mentioned the 11 year cycle that the deer supposedly follow and pointed out that the same 11 year cycle is the same that several ham radio operators like myself follow regarding the sunspot activity. It matches up exactly with the deer cycle and I wonder if perhaps it may not be the moon cycle but the sun spot activity instead. I had hoped to speak with him more about it but unfortunately he passed away. He did say he found that very interesting and thought he would look into it more.

Welcome to the site!  Charlie was a great guy, he spoke at our church a couple of times.  

[Sir-diealot]

1 hour ago, Rusty said:

Welcome to the site!  Charlie was a great guy, he spoke at our church a couple of times.  

Thank you. He used to go to I think it is called Heritage Baptist Church every year and do a presentation and there was a free venison dinner after. He also did a talk that I was at at Marcus Whitman school (The one in Middlesex, not Ghoram) and that is when I first tried to talk to him about the sunspots as that was the first I had heard him mention the cycle but I was sick as a dog and could not talk without coughing so I could not ask the question into the mic. I wound up talking to him at one of the dinners I mention above.

[Rusty]

19 hours ago, Wolc123 said:

No idea on deer and the moon, but snappers make great chowder and I like them little chocolate-caramel treats, so this was an easy one.  

Yes, the theory applies to more than just deer.  Maybe even turtles.      
 

 

Edited January 23 by Rusty

[lucky118]