weather, deer movement?

[kybuckboyjr]

Current conditions, Full Moon, Cloudy days, rain approaching and cooler temps! With a full moon but covered up by the clouds mixed with cooler temps, do you think the deer will move about the same or more during the daylight hours or will they still remain in their same movement patterns as if there were a full moon with no cloudy cover? Confused, Me too. Next question, in kentucky when there was rain in the daylight hours deer would layup and not move as much. Do the deer react the same in AZ. O.K. O.K. Short version of my Question.

 

How will the current weather conditions and moon affect the deer movement? I am hunting 24B and saw absolutely nothing this morning so far, not even a quail, bunny or tweety bird. I guess I should also ask myself: What the heck am i doing sitting on this mountain carrying my computer with me as I hunt. Work should stay at work not the field right. But you do what you gotta do I guess. HAPPY HUNTING. GOOD Luck everyone!

[CouesWhitetail]

Generally, the cooler and cloudy weather allows the deer to be more active throughout the day. So you should see more activity. Rain won't stop them too much unless it's particularly heavy. As far as the moon, well, that's anybody's guess.

 

Amanda

 

[billrquimby]

I used to believe (still do) that wind had more to do with deer movement than cold, heat, rain or snow. On windy days, we had to kick deer out of the heads of the little canyons where they went to get out of it.

 

Bill Quimby

[Red Rabbit]

I am with Bill about high winds having a big effect, more so than moon or cold or clouds. Try to be out right after a long, hard rain stops.

[CouesWhitetail]

I am with Bill about high winds having a big effect, more so than moon or cold or clouds. Try to be out right after a long, hard rain stops.

 

 

+1

[Ernesto C]

OH MY GOD!! another newbie with questions!! Here comes GameHauler!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hehhehehhehe sorry guys...... I couldn't resist.

[Simple Hunter]

I was out today and glassed every inch of country and only found 3 does and they weren't moving much (never saw them bed). My experience with full moons is for whatever reason the deer don't move as much the following day. An ordinary day in the same spot would reveal over 40 deer by glassing. The weather was calm and cloudy - muggy and hot for a December day - I didn't even need a jacket. The sun came out at 11:00 and it got so hot I had to strip down out of my long sleeve shirt. I am sure the deer bedded down.

 

Now tomorrow will be windy and I'll have to find them bedded or getting up to stretch their legs.

 

I hope this system will bring cold rain and cold conditions - it was too dang hot for December.

[lousyhunter]

I always thought with full moons, the deer would feed more at night and tend to be less active the day after.

[longshooter]

I was helping my buddy on his unit 42 muzzy hunt today. We did not see a deer intell after 2 pm and they were just a huge heard of does. We never saw another deer all day. Tough day for sure

[JMP]

I saw deer moving all day long in u31. A lot of bucks chasing does and does chasing does. Bazarre. I don't think the moon has much to do with it, and I don't trust the hunt/fish feature on my garmin.

[billrquimby]

White-tailed deer are the most-studied animal on earth, so I'm sure more than one researcher has investigated the effect of moon phases on deer. Just an uneducated guess, but I would say they are more active during dark nights. I came to that opinion after many long drives to/from Tucson and the Texas Hill Country. My partners and I counted deer to pass the time and it seemed we always saw fewer deer from the road during nights with full moons. On a couple of trips we counted more than 500 deer along and on the roads between El Paso and Lampasas, and I remember our realizing that these were dark nights.

 

Bill Quimby

[acharenio]

i've read Jim Heffelfinger book Deer of the Southwest and he says that there is no scientific proof of deer movement during full moon.

[CouesKilla]

I was out doing a little scouting for January on Saturday the 13th. The wind nearly blew me over several times. Partly cloudy, windy, and full moon yet I saw 13 deer (4 different herds throughout the morning to mid day). Only two smaller bucks, but the deer activity was relativly high. I was shocked. I think the big deal here was the pressure was dropping before this storm hit. I'm convinced rapidly dropping pressure equals good deer movement regardless of other conditions.

[schmalts]

I hate full moon hunting. I know that in my neck of the woods the full moon will make them rut hard, but it is all done in the moonlight.

[kybuckboyjr]

Took the advice of one and searched some areas that had smaller bowl shaped draws that protected them from the wind. Man, was it howing. It worked. I found one muley buck laying wide open in the bottom with a doe about 20 yards up the south side of the mtn. I had walked up on them from behind accidently. Decent buck but he was young so I let him go. Hour later I walked around the side of a Mtn that I always find does bedding. And guess what there they were and only after I spooked them. 8 does and no bucks. I followed them around to the other side headed to where I saw my first deer earlier. I stopped glassed real quick on a Mtn side that was about a 1/4 mile away. WOW, there he was, not a WT but a huge bodied muley with a 3X3 rack. Picked out my route and off i went. 3 hours later I am on his Mtn reach the top and start glassing from down the hill from what was suppose to be above and behind him. NOTHING, guess he is gone. So I sit down to take a breather and there he is behind me on the next hillside looking right at me and had 2 does with him. Turned out I walked up the backside of the wrong hill!!! Go figure. But it was a lot of fun. Thanks for the advice