Rut Date Theories

[Rackaddict]

I've been doing a lot of reading on timing the rut and the different theories associated with it.

The most common being the idea that the second full moon after the autumnal equinox being the "kickoff" for the chase phase followed by the breeding phase.

It all sounds good but after looking into past years trailcam photos on scrapes and trails, along with past harvest dates and times, most of it doesn't add up with the moonphase theory. I looked up the phases of the moon for each year that I had a photo or harvest to associate with and kept a chart of each one. The time, date, moon rise/set, moonphase and what stage the rut was supposed to be in at that time for that year.

I've tried to make associations between deer activity and the rise and set of the moon and when the moon was straight overhead and directly underfoot. Some of the time the deer were on film during those times and some of the time you could make no sense of it.

What did stay consistent was that all were morning and evening photos or sightings, kill times etc.

I did some web searching and found some info published by T.R. Michels. His studies show no connection between moon phases and deer movement on a daily basis, but rather an influx of movement on a monthly basis. Here's a small part of what he mentions on it. There is no evidence to support the idea that "stupid" buck behavior coincides with peak breeding. If anything, high buck success rates support the idea that deer (including bucks) are most active during daylight hours during the full and last quarter phases of the moon.

It would be interesting if we could have a post specifically for collecting dates and times of deer sightings and harvests along with trail cam data for this hunting season. I would be curious to see what we as a group could gather for information over the course of 3 to 5 years. I'm sure the information would be much more accurate if we included trail cam data due to the fact that a large majority of hunters are not in the stand daylight to dark. Also having the trail cameras working at night would give more information about the accuracy or inaccuracy of the moon phase theory.

We might even develop some of our own theories in the process. Anyone interested?

 

[5465]

hey rackaddict you couldn't be more right about the moon phases. in my opinion i don't believe the moon phase effects them in anyway. one of the main reasons i purchased a trail cam was to see if this theory is true and here's what i came up with as far as the moon phases go: <ul type="square"> full moon--- some nights i would get 10-15 pics, some nights none or maybe just 1 or 2 [/list] <ul type="square"> half moon--- same as full moon [/list] <ul type="square"> first quarter--- same as the other 2 phases [/list] <ul type="square"> last quarter--- same as the last 3 phases [/list] anyways you probably get the pattern. i think it would be great for everyone to keep a log on here for others to coincide with. the rut time between ohio and iowa does not differ that much, actually from what i can tell it's all about the same time. i feel that one of the major things effecting the rut and times deer move during this period is weather. in the last 3 years here in ohio we have been unseasonably warm, staying around 65 degrees pretty much all the way through november. when it's hot like that i don't care how heated up the rut is bucks aren't going to chase does during the daytime when they know that they can do it in the coolness of the night. in the past 3 years i have seen tons of movement at night but very very little at night. anyways i would love to here everyones opinion.

 

[Liv4Rut]

It would be very interesting to have a huge study on this, probably harder than heck to do. I dont know how I really feel about the moon yet, last weekend we went out shining looking for deer, and scott ic got on his little gps gadget and told me what the best times would be according to the moon. I thought it was a bunch of bs but about a half hour before until we quit the deer just came out of the woodwork, they were everywhere. I dont know if there is any correlation or not but after seeing that it makes a guy wonder. so far with my trail camera, about 95 percent of my pictures have been around the noon and 6 oclock hour. i have hardly had any night pictures, but since i have it in big timber, i think most the deer are out feeding in the fields so i wouldnt get too many pictures except for in daylight hours.

great post though, i would like to hear everyones opinions

 

[PAHunter]

I do buy into the hunter's moon theory somewhat.I've been keeping track about the last 5 years and have noticed my best hunting around this area, to coincide with the hunter's moon.I've found the week before and after to be some of the hottest hunting for me.We all know the decreasing amount of light triggers the rut,and as the full moon creeps towards the new moon this reduces the amount of light even more.But you have to keep an open mind with this as other variables will effect it,such as alot of heavy cloud cover which can help trigger it earlier.And with this years Hunter's Moon at the end of Oct.,I can almost bet I'll see some good rutting activity around this period as early as even Oct 24th or so.Not that you won't see some around the traditional mid Nov. period also,but I do believe it will start early this year as compared to others.Alot of times early rutting activity goes unnoticed because of the warmer weather, which causes them to rut in the cool of the night being their starting to develop their winter coats,and avoid the heat of the day.I don't think you can ever pinpoint the activity down to a couple days,but I know I'll be hitting the woods hard this couple of weeks.As far as the moon position I've never really paided much attention to,so can't say.

 

[Shedhuntermd]

Great idea Rack! I made a attempt to try to keep track of the rut last year. http://www.iowawhitetail.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Number=35228&amp;page=54&amp;view=collapsed&amp;sb=5&amp;o=&amp;fpart=1 Unfortunately I did not receive enough data to create an accurate depiction of the rut. I would love to take another stab at it again this year. I am willing to create daily excel graphs showing the progression of the rut. I just need the data. It will only take a few years of data collection to create accurate hypotheses

 

[OneCam]

I'm working on this one guys

 

[Rackaddict]

ShedhunterMD, I didn't realize that was going on last year. That's along the idea of what I'm talking about. If we have a set criteria to work with and alonger period of time i think it will be worth the effort.

 

[jharrell]

I would have to agree with TR. I would also have to agree with the whole weather thing that was posted earlier. Seems like year in and year out the most activity we see in Iowa is sometime around the sixth regardless of the moon chart. Last year I went 3 weeks in a row starting at Halloween. The first week was good, the second week around the sixth was awesome and by the last weekend it had fallen to poor at best. I personally believe the reason for this is because the does are in heat by the second to third week of November and the bucks are staying with them to breed. I also think that once they find a doe that will let them breed they stay with that doe and breed with her as many times as he can until she shuts him off before he looks for another. That is why movement of deer is down around that time of month. I think the chart idea is a great one. Is there a way to chart it and see what the difference between Southern Iowa and Northern Iowa might be?

 

[M350]

I will stand with the Moon Theories. 4 days before and 4 days after. I bet ya more BIG Bucks are harvested closer to and immediatly after Halloween than in the TRADITIONAL 2nd week of November.
Now, this is if you are hunting a specific Buck in His summer home range. I feel they service local does first, then they start to roam. If you are in an area where you're not seeing big bucks NOW, then the 2 weeks after the 2nd full moon is a critical time for you to hunt the roaming dominate bucks in likely funnels between traditional DOE bedding areas. Along with funnels, look for places which offer a buck the fastest and safest corridor to travel from DOE area to DOE area. This may be miles away from the summer haven of a mature whitetail, but you will probably be hunting for a monarch you have never seen before. There's about 1100 inches of horn hanging in 2 houses, harvested over the past 4 years to support this THEORY????
Rack youre a bit farther south so your deer probably do act a bit different---you know "Everythings a bit slower in de South"

So theres my 2 cents worth. M350 out

 

[Liv4Rut]

Hey guys, check out the poll on the homepage. It is about what week during the 2003 bow season that you harvested your deer. If everyone can think that far back to when they harvested that great buck

I think this would be an interesting correlation to see which week was the top week for all iowawhitetailers

check it out and cast a vote, the study on rut date theories has started!!!!!