Moon phase and elk

[iccyman001]

Do any of you believe the moon phase has anything to do with elk movement?
If so, what is it you believe?

 

[bowhunter]

I believe if the moon is full they head to bed earlier in the morning. Especially if the moon is up the last half of the night.

 

[cnelk]

Daniel

I have posted this before, it shows some data for moon phases when we have taken elk.

Our success from 2003 - 2013:
This was for 10 years - 22 elk with archery gear.

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. There\'s some evidence that it\'s better hunting during darker moon, but I wouldn\'t schedule a hunt around it.

 

[iccyman001]

Here is the reason I asked

This year August 29th is the full moon.
Sept 1st is opening day. So I was wondering what type of movement I might be dealing with in the earlier part of my hunt.
:upthumb:

 

[cnelk]

The elk will prob be in a basically summer - non pressured mode.
Think of it like low hanging fruit.
Go pick one

But it won\'t take long before they change their movements, more so due to pressure than the moon.
They deal with the full moon about once a month.
Pressure comes once a year.
IMO - pressure makes a bigger impact

 

[iccyman001]

As always I like your thinking.


I am trying to get this done early so I can help some other guys in camp get their elk.
My camp will be very \"green\" this year. :upthumb:

 

[AndyJ]

But it won\'t take long before they change their movements, more so due to pressure than the moon.
They deal with the full moon about once a month.
Pressure comes once a year.
IMO - pressure makes a bigger impact

+1-IMO a lot of guys are WAY too concerned about moon phases. I would say it is the least influential factor to an elk\'s movement.

 

[iccyman001]

The only reason I asked is because of my whitetail experience.
In my opinion the full moon has a lot to do with a whitetails movement.

So I wanted to see if elk were similar.


Thanks for the help everyone :upthumb:

 

[WW]

The elk season is only about 30 days long. JUST HUNT! Elk can see plenty well if it is a full moon or dark of the moon.

Temperatures affect elk movement more than moon phases. They seem to bed up early in the AM and come out later in the PM on hot days.

 

[iccyman001]

The elk season is only about 30 days long. JUST HUNT! Elk can see plenty well if it is a full moon or dark of the moon.

Temperatures affect elk movement more than moon phases. They seem to bed up early in the AM and come out later in the PM on hot days.

I am hoping this year continues to trend the way it is.
We are having the wettest summer in years and temps are trending lower than usual. I would love to go into my early season a few degrees colder than it was last year.

They were doing exactly like you said. Early to bed and up in the late afternoon.

 

[VTHOKEE]

But it won\'t take long before they change their movements, more so due to pressure than the moon.
They deal with the full moon about once a month.
Pressure comes once a year.
IMO - pressure makes a bigger impact

I think this says it best. If you can still catch them before they know they are being hunted than you have a better chance than the next full moon where they have already had a month of hunting pressure. I am just hoping that one of them decides to hang around just long enough for me to arrow my first elk.

 

[OldMan]

Because of my style of hunting. I pay no attention to it. No matter what the moon is doing at night. They still bed down during the day. That\'s all I need to know.

I try not to clutter my mind with stuff that doesn\'t matter to me.

There\'s an old saying that I like............Paralysis by Analysis.

 

[iccyman001]

Pete,

I have a question in regards to bedded elk and you still hunting.
While you are out hunting, what is a fair estimate (percent wise) of animals that you see bedding before they see you?

I would imagine that you probably see them more often than they see you. I just didn\'t know if sometimes they luck out and catch you moving in first?

At we talking like 90% you see them first vs. 10% of them seeing you?
80/20?

50/50?




That is a good saying.

 

[OldMan]

Good question, and I never thought of it before. Of course seeing them first is the goal, but I haven\'t failed if they see me first. It depends on what i\'m doing when they see me. If i\'ve just moved taking a step it\'s bad, and they will move off. If i\'m still and they spot me. They aren\'t sure what I am. If I can stay frozen long enough they may relax, and look away. Now we both see each other, but I still have an edge, because I then know where he is, and what he is. As long as he never sees me move again he\'ll give me time to move to a better position if I need it. If I can take a shot where i\'m at. I just need to wait long enough to shoulder the gun when he isn\'t looking.

So, what i\'m saying is I don\'t always need to see him first. Percentage? Maybe 75%. in my favor if I count the ones that don\'t move off.

What I call a failure is when I hunt all day, and don\'t see one at all. I call that a scouting failure, and not a hunting failure. If a bull sees me first, and moves off. That\'s a hunting failure. I try to avoid those the most.

 

[Jaquomo]

I think the moon phase is the least important variable of all. Of the almost 70 elk my partner and I have taken with bows, they\'ve come evenly distributed through all the phases. We kill them whenever we\'re hunting and don\'t pay attention to the moon.

They do seem to get into the transition timber a little earlier in the mornings during full moon, but that\'s ok since we mostly hunt the transition anyway.

As far as bugling during the full moon, I\'ve heard lots some nights, heard none other nights. Same as the other phases. The old timers used to say the cows came into heat after the first full moon in September. I don\'t know about that because if it\'s early in September the rut doesn\'t seem to kick off any earlier. The old timers used to call in elk with a coiled gas pipe and a wooden flute, too.

Oh wait, I used to do that back in the day. Does that make me an \"old timer\"??

 

[Swede]

I agree with Jacuomo. I have noticed no difference due to moon phase. My thought is just go hunting and forget about the moon.

 

[F M]

I don\'t think there is a big difference except as others have said about heading to bedding areas a little sooner.

I only have so many days to hunt so I\'m spending them hunting no matter what the moon is.

 

[Jaquomo]

I think they make a suit you can wear where you can \"Forget the moon, just hunt!\"

 

[Swede]

I think they make a suit you can wear where you can \"Forget the moon, just hunt!\"

They do have those suits. They are camo. I just put one on and it\'s amazing. I don\'t give the moon phase another thought. When I get my camo on a lot of old wives tales and superstitions disappear from my thoughts.

Here is another old belief that I have not been able to verify or refute, based on the evidence, even though I seriously doubt it is true.
\"Elk will be out feeding all day when you can see the moon during the daytime.\"
If that was true it would change how I hunt during those days.

 

[OldMan]

A lot of dead elk if that was true. Anybody can look up in the sky.