importance of moon phase

[darcytribe]

I'll be doing my first archery elk hunt this year in CO. I'm wanting to get into as much rut action as possible. I just recently started looking at the moon phase chart and heard it may affect the timing of the rut as well as the amount of time elk spend on their feet during daylight. I had been planning to hunt from Sept. 13-22 but the full moon falls right in the middle of that time. Now I'm beginning to wonder if I should plan on going during the last week in Sept.

Any thoughts on how the moon affects the rut and daytime activity?

Thanks!

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

I started a similar thread a few months ago. Here is the link:

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/show...k-Hunting-on-a-Full-Moon&highlight=moon+phase

 

[cnelk]

Went thru this exercise not long ago...

For the past 10 years, 16 harvests were in a moon phase of 50% visibility OR LESS [some were new moon, 1st quarter, etc]
6 harvests were in a moon phase of 90% visibility OR MORE [very near or at full moon]

Quick research shows 3-4 days on either side of the full moon date have > 90% or more.
Shall we say 7 days are 90% or more visibility?
And approx 14 days have < 50% visibilty

Category Observed Expected # Expected
1 <50% 16 11 50.000%
2 >90% 6 6 27.273%
3 50-90% 0 5 22.727%

Chi squared equals 7.273 with 2 degrees of freedom.
The two-tailed P value equals 0.0263

According to the analysis we did better than expected when the moon was dark, about what you would expect near a full moon, and less than you'd expect (zero) when the moon was out but not bright. Theres some evidence that it's better hunting during darker moon, but I wouldn't schedule a hunt around it.

 

[darcytribe]

I started a similar thread a few months ago. Here is the link:

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/show...k-Hunting-on-a-Full-Moon&highlight=moon+phase

Thanks Umpqua! Great info on that thread...

 

[darcytribe]

Went thru this exercise not long ago...

For the past 10 years, 16 harvests were in a moon phase of 50% visibility OR LESS [some were new moon, 1st quarter, etc]
6 harvests were in a moon phase of 90% visibility OR MORE [very near or at full moon]

Quick research shows 3-4 days on either side of the full moon date have > 90% or more.
Shall we say 7 days are 90% or more visibility?
And approx 14 days have < 50% visibilty

Category Observed Expected # Expected
1 <50% 16 11 50.000%
2 >90% 6 6 27.273%
3 50-90% 0 5 22.727%

Chi squared equals 7.273 with 2 degrees of freedom.
The two-tailed P value equals 0.0263

According to the analysis we did better than expected when the moon was dark, about what you would expect near a full moon, and less than you'd expect (zero) when the moon was out but not bright. Theres some evidence that it's better hunting during darker moon, but I wouldn't schedule a hunt around it.

Wow Cnelk, that's some serious number-crunching!

 

[flatlander51]

I've been on a 5 hunts out west and have seen a noticeable difference in the amount of game I've seen on the hunts where there wasn't a full moon. Last year I herd elk bugle all night during the full moon and as soon as that sun popped up they shut up. If your like me and only get one week a year to hunt then I would consider hunting a week later. We put to much time and money into this to risk it. The bulls will still be bugling if you wait a week. on the flip side if have more time to hunt I wouldn't let a full moon stop me from hunting. Just my 2 cents. Good luck on your hunt!