Hunting Banter

[SilentStalker]

I know this has been beat like a dead horse, but I was going through my camp's logs and my own personal one and it appears that buck sightings and kills go way up the week before the November full moon and the week after with almost no sighting during the approx 4 days on either side fo the full moon. For example, this year the full moon was 11/21/10 and as a group, we saw more bucks from 11/5/10 - 11/16/10, then it went dead until around 11/23/10 where it picked up again. The period from 11/16/10 - 11/22/10 was quiet and that was when the moon was brightest, likely because they were moving at night during this period. I have found that most years have been like this regardless of where the full moon falls. Do you guys think it has much of an effect on movement? I always did and still do think weather is #1 when it comes to the rut and buck movements (chasing) (other than does in heat of course), but I think I;m going to start planning my trips around these times. Just thougth I'd start one more topic before we lost everyone to the Shanty, myself included!! Oh and this doesnt need to be a Charlie A. opinion column, its just what I've seen persoanlly and wonder if others have as well

[upstatehunter]

Your findings in you journals are pretty good. That quiet week, was according to the experts when most of the doe population would be in estrous. I only saw a little buck activity the week before that. Then they abandoned the scrapes and disappeared.
The week of Thanksgiving. We always scheduled our week to be at camp the second week of November. Most were productive.

[castnblast]

I would agree that the deer seem to be much more nocturnal during the week of full moon. Having said that I also beleive that they tend to move/feed every 12 hours or so. So in theory this would mean being on the stand at noon should be effective. Hasn't proven true for me yet, but I keep trying.