Moon Phase for Jan 07

[coues7]

From what I understand harmones (and MAYBE the moon) control the cylce of both does and bucks. It's just like with humans......women start there period every month based on their harmones.....it has nothing to do with the moon, light, dark etc......the bucks just so happen to peak their harmone cycle in December and January......again it has nothing to do with the moon, light, dark etc.

 

 

FEEDING HABITS:

 

When it comes to eating I would assume if they feel more comfortable being out due to cool temps a little more light from the moon, lots of vegetation (like this year).......it may very well add to the amount of time they spend feeding......when it comes to reproduction....the moon don't mean crap!

 

If the moon has been up all night and full.....they probably do eat more and then bed down sooner (bad for us).....but who knows. I do think that we should keep track of what we see this season and compile it.

 

It would be interesting if nothing else

[Rembrant]

Yep, light. Captive does aren't kept in caves.

Think about it. What triggers the elk rut in Sept? Cold weather? what if we don't get a storm and we have hot weather? Real common in Arizona. What about the elk at lower elevations? They still rut don't they?

It's all a timing thing. The amount of light in a day is connected to the time of year. Gestation periods are consistant. The deer fawns must drop at a time of year when the does will have good forage and water to be able to provide for the newborn. When do they drop? Early July? Just prior to the summer rains!

Mike

[CouesWhitetail]

Hormones are responsible for causing breeding behavior and those hormones are influenced by photoperiod (the amount of daylight vs darkness during each 24 hr period). There is a lot more information about this in the new book by Jim Heffelfinger called Deer of the Southwest. He has a whole section discussing the role of photoperiod on the rut. And he talks about any evidence related to whether the moon influences the rut (as I understand it, there is no evidence to date). I will email Jim and ask him to come answer some of the questions you guys have brought up.

 

Amanda

[Rembrant]

Thanks Amanda. I was hoping you would jump in here. I think I know what I'm talking about, but in reality I'm just winging it. I would be very interested in what, if anything, Jim can say about moon phase/breeding behavior.

Mike

[hunter07]

I Have always heard that they will feed more on a full moon because its light out so they bed more during the day? seems logical but who knows

[creed_az_88]

I have heard over and over again by older guys that cold weather triggers the rut. I believe it only triggers the bucks behavior but has nothing to do with the does estrus cycle. I do belive that the reason for does coming into cycle all about the same time is because predators can only take so many fawns at one time. So if there is an overload of fawns then predators can only eat so much, leaving some to survive. I would say i see more bucks in late dec. and early jan. then any other time. This is what i consider the pre-rut, where the bucks are checking scrapes and rubs and whatever else, but about the middle of jan. they seem to not move as much, meaning that most does have come into cycle and a couple of bucks tend their territory and the does in that territory. i have a lot to learn, but these are just my theories based on my experiences.

 

 

 

 

creed

[mattys281]

From what I've read (about mule deer, elk, coues deer, etc.) an animals breeding cycle is not typically triggered by current conditions, but timed in response to future conditions. For example, deer in the dry south western climates, like ours, are advantaged to have their young born during summer rainy periods while new forbs & grasses are growing with the abundant water, which is why our deer breed later in the season. Contrast that to animals further north & east that breed in the fall so that their offspring will be born in spring when snow melt-off is making everything green. Conversly, consider that if deer were born 2 months earlier here (as they are back east) they'd be taking there first steps in the heart of fire season when the browse is dried to being nearly valueless & water is almost nonexistant. Thats what I read, at least. Maybe we should get a field biologist to chime in with his/her opinion.

[azcouesandelk]

From my scouting I have noticed that on a full moon bucks tend to bed down earlier (around 7:15 to 7:30) but they do tend to get up and stretch several times through the day.

 

On a half moon the bucks tend to bed down around the same time if there is a full moon.

 

Now on a quarter moon or no moon I tend to see bucks bed down closer to 8:30 and still get up every now and then to stretch.

 

 

This is not gonna be written in any book it is just what I have seen in the scouting I have done this year.

[daryl_s]

I don't know the answer either way, but I have made a few observations since the subject interests me a lot. A few years ago our hunt fell on a full moon. I set up in my spot before light on the first day and the sun came up and nothing happened. I didn't really know what I was doing(still don't) and didn't have good optics or know how to use what I had. At about 7:45 AM some deer that were bedded down 200 yards away from me started to get up. There were a few does and a few bucks. The full moon carried on into the daylight. Did the deer feed in the light of the moon and then get up later???? That's what it seemed like to me. On my hunt this year the moon was at half moon but very bright, you could almost play catch with a football at night. The moon was out in the afternoon and then from 1:30 AM until sunrise it was pitch black. In the mornings we heard a ton of shooting and not near as much in the evenings. We also saw very little deer activity in the evenings. Is this because the deer knew that after sundown they would have plenty of light to feed until early AM???? I don't know. Surprisingly we saw more deer between 11:30-2:30 than at any other time, lots of activity, but these were also all does and fawns.....do the bucks follow a different pattern???? I don't know. I love the subject and hopefully many more years of hunting experiences will teach me more about it.

[deernut]

Sorry for the delay, I was out deer hunting.

 

The peak of rut is influenced by genetics and seasonal changes in the daylength. A pea-sized gland near the center of the brain, called the pineal gland, receives input from the eyes and triggers the release of a hormone called melatonin every night when it becomes dark. As days become shorter in the autumn, the pineal gland secretes more melatonin, which acts on the pituitary gland and regulates the release of an array of hormones. By artificially injecting pure melatonin in the spring to simulate the normal autumn increase, some researchers have made whitetail bucks shed velvet, harden their partially grown antlers, molt into a winter coat, and begin rutting behavior in mid-summer. Once photoperiod has prepared a deer herd physiologically for breeding, a period of cold weather, or especially a cold front with falling barometric pressure, may increase deer activity. Unseasonably warm weather seems to prolong the rut and suppress rutting activity, especially during the day. Cool weather and storms do not influence the physiological readiness of breeders, but simply provide a comfortable temperature range that allows deer to move more.

 

About 10 years ago, Charlie Alsheimer and Wayne Laroche (Vermont) started to write articles in hunting magazines saying that the lunar cycle acts in concert with changes in day length to set the reproductive clock each year (more recently in a book called ‘Strategies for Whitetails’). They say the peak of the rut corresponds to the “rutting moon” each year, defined as the second full moon after the autumnal equinox. They have been the most active supporters of the lunar theory, but not the only proponents. In my opinion they publish the dates the rut will be the strongest based on their theory and then about 50% of the time they end up explaining why this year was the exception. I once tried to talk to everyone claiming to have unlocked the secret of deer activity and the lunar cycle (in otherwords, they were selling a lunar chart). Everyone I talked to could provide no data whatsoever other than saying they had records of observations from hunters and would not show anyone these data because then no one would buy their moon charts. To research this properly, you would want deer with radio-collars (especially GPS radiocollars) so you could actually monitor movements and activity patterns during different lunar phases and other lunar correlations. Currently there is no scientific basis for moon effects on deer activity that I have been able to find (that is, none that appear in any peer-reviewed scientific journal). Here’s some interesting bullets:

 

More than 19 years of research by John Ozoga in Michigan involving 503 recorded breeding dates of white-tailed deer indicated no connection between the timing of the moon and the onset of breeding activity.

 

Buss and Harbert (J. Mamm. 31:426-429) reported more mule deer visits to a single salt lick during a full moon vs. a new moon. This was over a 1-month period in one year - no replicates, no control of other factors

 

Truett (1971, UofAZ Ph.D. dissertation) compared the length of time desert mule deer were active feeding in the morning among the various moon phases and found no difference in morning activity following the different moon phases.

 

Studying desert mule deer night-time activity, Hayes and Krausman (JWM 57:897-904) found no difference in deer movements among 3 periods of moonlight.

 

Based on deer observations, Knipe (AZ WTdeer book, 1977:50) felt that moon phase had little to do with Coues whitetail activity patterns.

 

Beier and McCullough (JWM Mono. 109, 1990) analyzed a large amount of movement and habitat use data from whitetails in Michigan and concluded that moonlight did not affect deer activity or its effect was minimal at most.

 

Kufeld et al. (JRangeMgmt 41:515-522, 1988) analyzed a large body of data and found no effect of moon phase.

 

Grant Woods wrote a 2-part piece in Deer and Deer Hunting Magazine (aug & sep 1995) unveiling a calendar that takes into account not only the lunar phase, but also the declination of the moon's angle from the equator and the distance of the moon from the earth (which is variable). He reports a predictable pattern of deer movement based on his chart. The fact that he is profiting from this “analysis” and that he will not provide statistical methods or data to any other scientist are good reasons to be skeptical in my opinion.

 

Given all this, I personally don’t believe there is a connection between moon phase and deer activity. These kinds of questions frequently have some scientific work behind them, but the results are buried in the scientific literature that most hunters don’t see. That was the whole reason I wrote my book.

 

BTW, I took this buck with my dad last Friday (11/3/06) morning as it fed with another 4X4 at sunrise two days before the full moon and after a very bright night.

 

Jim Heffelfinger

[CouesWhitetail]

Thanks for all the great info Jim!! and congrats on that excellent Mule deer buck!

 

I too have seen deer very active at sunrise on mornings following a full moon.

 

Amanda

[Rembrant]

Thanks Amanda for steering Jim our way. Thanks Jim for taking the time to educate us.

We need to keep track of this info in the archives so we can refer to it when cornballs like me start up with our off-the-cuff theories!

Mike

 

PS

I gotta have that book!

Mike

[shortpants]

Thanks for the info Jim, and great buck! Always happy to see fathers and their kids enjoying the outdoors.

Several years ago while spotlighting on a full moon night in 5b south I saw many deer and elk bedded down. I thought it was strange and while it's not scientific research, it goes along with your theories.

[BRYCE CANYON]

Thanks for that excellent report Jim.

[deernut]

There is nothing better than hunting with family. I am a hunter of meat and memories. I am lucky enough to hunt with both my son and father. My son's first buck is a much bigger trophy than the 4x4 I shot this year!

 

JIM