From what I've seen, and talked to the farmers themselves, yes. If you book near or at the full moon, you are likely to see fewer animals out of the thick bush feeding.
Posts: 941 | Location: VT | Registered: 17 May 2001
I definitely think that the moon phase is a factor. I think if anyone can they should book a time frame that gives them the most benefit from the "Dark of the moon". On a plains game hunt in SA will it make the difference between success and failure? I doubt it! Will you be more likely to shoot your sitatunga in the Bangweulu swamp following a moonless night? I absolutely think so.
Regards,
Mark
Posts: 12867 | Location: LAS VEGAS, NV USA | Registered: 04 August 2002
D - The worst thing that can happen to a leopard hunter is a full moon and warthog sows squirting piglets. Leopards are not interested in a smelly impala in a tree when a passel of nice, young, tinder, pink piglets are served by moon light are on the menu. I know, it happened to me - my longest leopard hunt.
Posts: 10780 | Location: Test Tube | Registered: 27 February 2001
The leopard was 7'3", the hunt was 13 days of hell in the Omay during October - hot is not a proper description. We couldn�t get a hit and we covered over 250k a day working 8 bait sites and covering all the usual leopard hangouts. Nothing. As soon as all the new little piglets were finished off and the dinner light was turned down, Mr. Spots went on the prowl again. Like a light switch, we had 4 hits on the 13th day, staked out the largest hit, and we had our leopard. It is not my biggest leopard, but it was the most memorable...
Posts: 10780 | Location: Test Tube | Registered: 27 February 2001
In a way, I wish I couldn't relate to hunting Zim in October but, phew! ... especially in the Valley. All I can say is: "You earned him, Pal!" One time I bitched, just a bit, about the cumulative effects of back to back buff hunts, @ 115 F. "LV" chided me: "Oh, Nick, that's a shame ... well somebody had to do it!" One day he'll be my age ...
Nick - I have two words for all those bozos who say hunting today is like shooting fish in a barrel, - Omay & October.
118 to 120 degree days, a cool 98 at night until you climb into your clay Dutch oven with mosquito netting. Dust in every orifice, 2 liters of water per hour, bumps, cuts, bruises, tick bites, tsetse fly wounds, mopani flies in every orifice, inspecting every mosquito bite as �I wonder if this one will kill me�, bushbabies screaming outside your hut every night all night, Larium hallucinations, standard everyday hallucinations, watching your PH slowly drift into insanity reciting nursery rhymes and then trying them backwards, a witch-doctor paying you a visit at 3:00 in the morning because he is worried about your mental health (true story), simultaneously running out of beer, scotch, rubbing alcohol, shoe polish, transmission fluid and Sterno, smelling worse than the Impala juice dripping on your back as you lug it up the tree, having to rebuild the Landrover from the spare parts from two others which have already bitten the dust, trying not to step on puff adders, and suffering from sun poisoning.
There is nothing to this hunting stuff...
Posts: 10780 | Location: Test Tube | Registered: 27 February 2001
Sounds to me like some of you guys need to try hunting in Tanzania......never too hot, never too cold and the Leopards fall out of the trees like ripe fruit
Seriously though, the most uncomfortable hunt I've ever had was in the Zambezi Valley in Late Oct & early Nov. I thought I was going to die
Zero, I like the way you describe your suffering, and would like to second the motion that you put the whole story into writing. I have some experience in this area, and I can tell you that it would be a welcome addition to some mags.
Posts: 853 | Location: St. Thomas, Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: 08 January 2004
One hunter I had last year took 14 days to get his Leopard, and thats just Leopard hunting IMO..A miserable hunt IMO...
My next hunter Bill Holscher arrived and shot his Lion on the first day out at 6 PM and shot his Leopard the next day at 4:30 PM, the Leopard bait? a tub of water!! so there ya go....
Therein lies the reason I love to hunt Buffalo, I am out there after them during daylight hours, no huge balls of Mosques in my face, no sleepless nights, I don't freeze, I don't die of heat stroke, I can talk and have fun, I can scratch if I itch, I can sneeze or cough, I can actually have fun and enjoy my hunting...NOpe, I am not a cat hunter as a rule..
But a tracking Lion or Leopard hunt is an awesome experience I am sure of that......
Posts: 41850 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000
My PH from last week in Zim. mentioned that all the leopards he took last year were in a full moon. He says it's really got he and the other PH's in is group shaking their heads and rethinking their opinions about leopard hunting in the full moon. As he said, it could just be a coincidence but a sample of 100% of anything should be investigated. It doesn't sound like he's convinced enough to recommend hunting the full moon, it's just how it worked out.
Kyler
Posts: 2504 | Location: Central Coast of CA | Registered: 10 January 2002
One time I bitched, just a bit, about the cumulative effects of back to back buff hunts, @ 115 F. "LV" chided me: "Oh, Nick, that's a shame ... well somebody had to do it!" 
