Question on how moon phase affects elk movement

TexElkHunter817

New Member
May 26, 2015
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120
Texas
We are in the planning stage for our 2017 Colorado elk hunt. We were planning on trying to draw a 2nd or 3rd season cow tag and continue to learn the GMU and would prefer 3rd, but when we looked at the moon phase it will be just coming off a full moon when the 3rd season starts. Should we worry about this or just go hunt? I've hunted whitetail here in Texas and the moon didn't change their pattern at all, in fact in the region we hunted the daytime activity seemed better. Any help would be greatly appreciated..
 

Slugz

Veteran member
Oct 12, 2014
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Woodland Park, Colorado
You will get many varied answers to this that are mainly centered around the rut and moon phase. I'll answer the same. Pre rut, rut, post rut it doesn't matter IMO. They still need to eat, sleep and drink. Find the unpressured area that provides those and you will find em regardless of season or moon phase.
 

JimP

Administrator
Mar 28, 2016
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Gypsum, Co
I agree, forget about the moon, pick a season and go enjoy yourself. The one thing that I have found the affects elk and deer movement most is the weather. The last couple of years it has been hot enough that everything is bedded up by the time that the sun came up or shortly afterwards. And the only thing that affects that is pressure put on them by hunters hiking through their bedding areas and spooking them.
 

mallardsx2

Veteran member
Jul 8, 2015
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After all of the research I have done on this (And I have researched it more than I will admit to you all..) in the last 5 months I can say that the moon certainly has an effect on animals and their day to day movements.

We killed 2 bull moose in Ontario on days that there was a full moon.... So......I'm still not sure where I'm going with this...lol


I blamed my bad season in Colorado on the Bright moon last year...

But I had to blame something because not getting an Elk clearly wasn't my fault! lol

I will say this..planning a trip around the moon phase is just about impossible and impracticable....and having said that, any time in the woods is a good time to be out there! Hunt harder and hunt smarter. And if you did that...and still didn't get an elk...then blame the moon or your hunting buddy who broke every stick in the woods while sneaking along...LOL
 
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bghunter

Active Member
Jun 23, 2015
459
27
Granite Bay, CA
If I have a choice, I wouldnt hunt during full moon but if you have to hunt during full moon, you must hunt all day, they usually move during the day more than they normally do, that is my experience.
 

Finsandtines

Very Active Member
Jun 16, 2015
585
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Florida
My two cents says to hunt whenever the hell you can! The limited time I have nowadays, every day counts. Full moon, hot, dry, rain, snow etc. doesn't matter to me. Of course the moon plays a part but a helluva lot of other factors play into what game does day to day and hour to hour as well. I personally worry about Mother Nature and Lady Luck! Maybe it would be a different story if I didn't have to travel 2000 miles to hunt the way I want to?
 

TexElkHunter817

New Member
May 26, 2015
45
120
Texas
These answers were exactly what I thought they would be, but now trying to convince others in our group will be my job. Thanks very much for the help.
 

Slugz

Veteran member
Oct 12, 2014
3,618
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Woodland Park, Colorado
Here may be some more info for ya. Its elk not deer.
Its not around Sept 23rd ( peak of the elk rut). They will be (2nd season post rut) already in isolated pockets starting to recover and put the feed bag on. 3rd season they will be well established in their pre winter routine of having to recover from the rut and put the feed bag on to get ready for the winter and maybe migration due to snow levels.