Moon phase

[Coloclover]

Do the elk go to bed earlier when there's a full moon?

[Gypsumreaper]

In my experience during full moon many elk not all will not feed during the day they will wait to very late in the evening to feed, and then head back to beds in the moonlight. My greatest success for hunting the moon phase has been finding the bedding areas during the early morning and late evening I try and listen for when the Bulls start bugling in the evening usually an indicator of them getting their cows up to start feeding, then I'll cat nap through then night and listen as the Bulls start making their way back to the bedding area. Then I'll find what seems like the best source of water for them and sit on a trail between the bedding area and water, they may be able to feed all night but they still gotta get water during the day and this also keeps me out of their bedding area as much as possible


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[saddlesore]

I think it is more dependent on hunting pressure. Elk that go nocturnal because of high pressure,just have an easier time of it when the moon is full.

I have seen elk on private land where hunting is not permitted,not vary their daily habits.

[ElkNut1]

Yes, the probability of them bedding earlier rises at the time of the Full Moon phases. Don't let that fool you, we kill more elk during Full Moon phases & when rutting times collide, this means a Full Moon & anytime after the 10th of Sept your odds raise dramatically at finding bugling bulls an hour or so before daylight! Find them then & hunt them! Awesome time to be in the elkwoods!

ElkNut1

[Swede]

As a tree stand hunter I have not seen any difference in elk activity during the full moon. Elk spend 95% of their day feeding or bedded. The quantity of good forage available seems to effect how much time they are up and feeding more than anything. If they need to wander around a lot to fill their gut, they will be up more. Swede's theory. I am sure that good forage makes for fatter elk which would tend to make me believe they bed longer and move less. So for fat elk, hunt where there is good forage and don't worry about the moon.
I have recorded the dates of the last 23 kills. The full moon has been a little better than other phases, but with only 23 recorded by date that is not statistically significant.

[Mike_Parson]

Swede, I personally think that 23 kills is definatly significant in my book.

last year we had full moon phase during the first of the Sept hunt here in NM and i didnt hear a lot of extra activity as in bugling at night, but they were very active a few hours before sunup as well as a few hours after it went down.

This is my only one year of experience with it tho.

[Swede]

I wish I had kept track of all of my earlier kills, and many close encounters. Weather, time of season(rut) and even human activities all seem to contribute more to how active elk are during the day than moon phase. I have heard the hunting is best during the new moon. Some have said it is better with a full moon. I even had a fellow declare it was best when you could see the moon during the mid day. My recommendation is to just go hunting and forget the moon.
Or I guess we could all go out and howl like wolves around the campfire at midnight on a full moon. Maybe we can go to bed early so we are ready at zero dark thirty in the AM for the daily hunt.

[stringunner]

I have recorded the dates of the last 23 kills.

Wow Swede, your right, only 23 seems like you need more experience before you can have an opinion.

[erichunter14]

Hay swede, got a tree stand question for you. Ok or not ok to pee out your stand? It sure seemed like it affected the elk this last weekend when my nine-year-old had to P 8000 times the first day. I know when your book you said you don't think it matters but they were coming in every day until the day we were there and that urine smell is the only thing I can think of that would have changed it. What do you think?


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[Osprey]

In the 2 units I rifle hunt in CO I think pressure and weather make dramatically more impact than moon phase. Although I'm sure moon phase plays some part in movement however finding Elk in open areas is generally not easy under any conditions except after some sort of precipitation especially snow even then they are not in open long. I usually hunt 1st or 3rd rifle and by this time the Elk are doing a lot of the feeding at night anyways in my areas. I don't have any experience with Sept Bulls in full moon phases but if guys like Elknut, Saddlesore, and Swede are saying fulls moons are good or don't matter thats covering several lifetimes of Elk hunting through multiple states and both Archery and Rifle that gives you a really good feel for how hunting can be during those phases.