Moon’s Impact on African Game?

[fourfive8]

So after doing my business in town I returned home, driving the same route as earlier. Conditions unchanged- clear and cold and around 10:30 AM. The sun was well up and the moon had set. I saw two groups of cows in same general area as earlier but no deer. One group of cows were laying down in a thicket of trees chewing their cuds. Another group of cows in the next pasture were out in the open and feeding. So there you go, absolute anecdotal evidence that if I were hunting deer immediately pre-sunrise with a near full moon, today, I would have a better chance to shoot a deer -hah! This whole exercise of course having a sample size of 2 (n=2). Overall meaning? Absolutely zero.

The mule deer here live in an almost identical predator-prey situation as most PG in Africa. Here the apex predator on deer is the mtn lion, in Africa either lion or leopard. The area just described in two posts above about driving to and from town... currently has a large number of mule deer and a relatively high density of mountain lions. Saw fresh lion tracks crossing one of the back roads on my place three days ago.

Since many seem to require and expect anecdotal evidence no matter how invalid it may be... IIRC I killed my finest Africa PG animal at about 10:15 AM after a full moon night.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

So after doing my business in town I returned home, driving the same route as earlier. Conditions unchanged- clear and cold and around 10:30 AM. The sun was well up and the moon had set. I saw two groups of cows in same general area as earlier but no deer. One group of cows were laying down in a thicket of trees chewing their cuds. Another group of cows in the next pasture were out in the open and feeding. So there you go, absolute anecdotal evidence that if I were hunting deer immediately pre-sunrise with a near full moon, today, I would have a better chance to shoot a deer -hah! This whole exercise of course having a sample size of 2 (n=2). Overall meaning? Absolutely zero.

The mule deer here live in an almost identical predator-prey situation as most PG in Africa. Here the apex predator on deer is the mtn lion, in Africa either lion or leopard. The area just described in two posts above about driving to and from town... currently has a large number of mule deer and a relatively high density of mountain lions. Saw fresh lion tracks crossing one of the back roads on my place three days ago.

Since many seem to require and expect anecdotal evidence no matter how invalid it may be... IIRC I killed my finest Africa PG animal at about 10:15 AM after a full moon night.

I have hunted the Hi Line for better part of fifty years (including the Bear Paw Mts and Missouri Breaks) but have yet to see one mountain lion track. There are a few about I'm sure but by no means "relatively high density."

 

[wesheltonj]

I’ve been using solunar tables for years. My experience is they are fairly accurate for natural feeding.

 

[Fatback]

Appreciate the replies everybody. I am always interested in hearing about other folk’s experiences as it relates to hunting.

 

[Hogpatrol]

I've noticed on full moon days, the craziest animals will be out and feeding heavily, oblivious to any danger. I'm definitely out hunting on these days and while in the stand, for some reason, I seem to be particularly hungry.

 

[HUNTROMANIA]

I have a great memory, many years ago when bear hunting was allowed. Full moon and at the feeding point only small bears. I saw a big bear seating on the edge of the forest in a shadow of an old oak tree. We waited for him to come down for hours. He “was moving” with the shadow every hour accordingly. He didn’t came back to the food only early morning when the moon was not shining on the feeder. I saw this kind of behaviour many times.

 

[Mac13]

Moon phase is the only variable we as hunters can control when booking a hunt. I would suggest the new moon. Doing spotlight deer surveys at night here in Texas, we probably see 70% more deer on full moon nights than new moon nights. This being said, I believe high wind is the #1 factor to avoid, but we can‘t control the weather.

 

[Daisy]

To fully understand the effects of moon phases on hunting success would require extremely complex multi-variate statistical analysis which is beyond practical limits. Just this morning I was driving to town at first light, before sun up. The moon was about 3/4 and fairly high. Not far from the house I saw a bunch of cows in an open pasture lying down chewing their cuds. A half mile down the road a small herd of deer were up milling around and feeding. So…. ?

Read the book Dr Sheppard wrote. He did extremely complex multi-variate analysis.