The Rut and the Moon
A buck and doe stand in front of a flock of geese at the Washita Wildlife Refuge in western Oklahoma. Photo by Levi Feltman/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Rutting activity has started across Oklahoma and motorists should be aware that deer are on the move.
“We are getting a lot more reports of road kill deer,” said Micah Holmes of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. “We are also starting to get reports of young bucks chasing does.”
The rutting activity should intensify as the opening of deer gun season approaches Nov. 17 with darker nights and colder weather in the immediate forecast, Holmes said.
Which leads me to a question, how much do hunters and anglers pay attention to moon phases? Some hunters swear by it.
But is it fact or folklore? Can you accurately predict deer activity by the moon? Can you accurately predict the best times for hunting and fishing by the moon phases?
What do you think? I’m interested in hearing people’s opinions about this.
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Comments
Good afternoon fellow outdoorsmen. My name is Winston and i am 31 yrs old and have been hunting since childhood. We all know Oklahoma has the most unpredictable rutting cycles probably in all of america. The warm and windy weather sticks around longer in Ok than other states to our north where big deer are easily patterned and taken. In my years i have noticed that mornings after full moons yield little deer movement. Evenings have been when Ive seen the most deer movement, and especially when that temperature drops. Ive been out bowhunting a little this season and i must say the younger bucks are chasing. Hopefully the rut will intensify this week and we will get to see the bruisers up and on their feet! Good luck everyone.
Hello everyone, I grew up in the panhandle hunting pheasant, quail, and deer around the beaver river area and have now lived in NW OK, and have focused on bow hunting now for 5 years. Not alot of experience but i have noticed different deer movement according to moon phases. Now I do not want to disagree with a biologist but I can say what I saw. Yes, fronts and food needs do contribute alot but in early bow season when food and weather are good there is different movement by the moon. I am fortunate enough to have a job which allows me to hunt 3-4 days a week. So what I saw during early full moon was little movement in the morning( usually get snorted at going to the stand an hour and a half early)! I do not stay out all day as i have livestock to tend to but go back out around 3 p.m. and didnt see movement until right at dark when you can now see through a peep sight. Now late full moon into no moon I saw much better movement all the way to 9-10a.m. but Still little movement in the afternoon till dusk(which then I would see alot of deer)Now we are going into the rut with no moon at night and over head during the day. Just from what I have experienced here this is lights out! If I could shoot 6 deer in one setting I could. Also I will say I do all my bow hunting from a ladder stand with hardly any food, I try to learn the deers pattern. I rifle hunt on a creek nest to a tree where I see the scrapes. I am not into funneling out feding for a 10 yard rifle shot. Ok now the moon is coming back and for a few days everything stops then kind of levels back out to moderate to good hunting. Maybe the moon , maybe tired bucks?? Thats all I can say to help out.
I’m not a biologist or professional hunter type but I do my best to eliminate luck in my hunting and be as in tune with deer movement as I can. I watch several fields around home and in the last three years I have paid attention to primary and secondary times wen i drive those areas. When deer are on wheat in the fall I will find deer moving in those areas within the prime and secondary times more so then not.The reacent new moon had bucks on there feet from 10 am on thru the afternoon. Other hunters out that week were seeing few deer mainly because they were in camp by ten and back into woods by 2 which means the were moving when the deer were moving completely informing the deer they were there. We all know spooked deer are pretty hard to kill. I hunted all day saw 8 bucks in 4 days and countless does. This weekend the moon will be close to full the evenings 4 days before full bring the bucks and does out early and have been the best moon phase that i see early buck activity from oct. to Jan. The moon doesn’t effect deer movement it is just the clock the use to do so. They gotta eat, the rut will happen no matter wat, and if u ain’t seeing deer that’s ur fault. Not theirs.
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Biologists and researchers have done major studies recently and have found moon phases have nothing to do with deer movement whether good or bad.
Pressure systems, temperature, hunting pressure, fronts, and wind are the only things that affect deer movement one way or the other.
Moon phase has no effect like we always thought.