I would like to get a good education on moon phase animal activity. Could anybody give me a place to start?

If you are speaking of grazing species like deer...the more moonlight there is...the more feeding is done at night. During a full moon...activity is high at night and lower during the day. During a full moon phase...deer often move midday and at night. During the darker periods...dusk and dawn are peak activity periods.

I have an APP for my Iphone / Ipad and it gives major and minor feeding periods. I have tested it out in the bush and its not spot on buts its close enough.


Hunting and the other is Best Hunting.

Every Garmin GPS has this app too.

It tells you when it is best to hunt or fish.

Other times you should relax in camp and read a book.

Works great for Walter

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Every Garmin GPS has this app too.

It tells you when it is best to hunt or fish.

Other times you should relax in camp and read a book.

Works great for Walter

I have found that sometimes we break for lunch from 12-2pm as its too hot to hunt, only to see Kudu grazing. So we will break early on these days 10-11am and hunt through the traditional "Heat of day" times with great success sometimes.
Hell at the end of the day if your not out there youre not gonna get anything.

But some days are definately better than others, that can only be the moon.

Cant agree more, moon is a huge factor, used to ignore it with the idea that the animals are still there and they just need to be found. Subsequently since scheduling certain animals to the dark moon phase has Produced better results. Other factors that play a role are season, in dry periods animals drink more and need to graze longer to get the same nutritional value, often irrespective of moon and therefore move bout more. Temperature, rainfall, wind are just a few conditions that need to be included in the mix with moon to get optimum results.

Personally I think the moon phase is important on most hunts. Try tracking buffalo after a full moon night. They meanander all over the country and you can follow tracks until your tongue runs out and only have walked 2-3 miles in a straight line. Kudu seem much more active in daylight on the dark of the moon and if I ever book another leopard for myself it wil lbe on the dark of the moon.

Mark

In Zim you can shoot your game at night so moon is an advantage.

For predators, be it bobcat or big lion, the darker the better. I always book my cat hunts for as dark as I can get it.

Moon is a big factor for fishing. here in NZ I have had absolutely no luck when fishing around both full & new moon. The best fishing generally seems to be 5 to 8 days after full or new moon.

I think it varies from area to area and is dependent on things like predator populations and human activity etc and as with most things in Africa, it's not a good idea to say always or never.

No matter what the moon phase the animals still get hungry and still need to eat/drink and FWIW, I've often found a big moon to be an advantage when hunting cats because they tend to come to bait after it gets dark but before the moon comes up in it's full glory which of course means you don't have to sit up until all hours waiting for the animal in question to appear.

If you give the animal sufficient time to get used to feeding on the bait and if you use a trail timer, you can (perhaps more so with leopards than lions) very often pretty much predict what time he's liable to appear.

There´s also other factors to consider such as rut (a good time to hunt antelopes) or when cats (more accurately leopard) are liable to be interested in breeding which is not a good time to be hunting them.

Local knowledge from good people is a very big help.

quote:

Originally posted by frank4570:
I would like to get a good education on moon phase animal activity. Could anybody give me a place to start?

To answer the question : the moon rises an sets later every day by approx 30 min ( I think ) so animals feed accordingly . Kinda like the tide changing . So theoretically if you figure out when they normally feed this will change according to the moon . Their feeding times and rest times will also move accordingly. So you want to hunt them while they are feeding and moving around.this is accurate for the majority but you will always have one or two animals moving around outa sink

The apps will point out approximate major feeding times and minor feeding times. Also some days will be better than others etc etc all based on the moon phase

THIS might also be of help.

quote:

I have an APP for my Iphone / Ipad and it gives major and minor feeding periods. I have tested it out in the bush and its not spot on buts its close enough.

Hi Dave, what is the app called?

20 yrs ago a hunter gave me a Casio watch
that had "moon phase and tide times" on it.
At first it was a lark. I would check it and
"we" would laugh about this hunting aid.
I don't laugh anymore.
What I have found is that daytime activity
increases UNTIL the 1st night of the full moon.
The estrus of female creatures is influenced by the moon cycle and the "rut" follows.
I don't stay home when the "stars don't align"
but there are better days to be in the field.