Deer movement on a full moon?

Edited from the attached web site :





Many believe the moon phase is directly related to deer activity. Unfortunately, there are contradictions even out of the folks who believe the moon phase affects deer movement. Some say the first quarter moon is best, others believe the new moon forces deer to move more during the day. Some swear the full moon phase is when the hunt’s at its best. And what about the secondary moon factor, that of position. Does a moon directly overhead do anything to deer? Directly underfoot?





In his book Hunting Trophy Deer, Texan John Wootters states: “I’ve seen scientific correlations that tended to show the phase of the moon has nothing to do with whitetail activity, if all other things are the same. Which convinces me that either the deer haven’t seen the same charts or all other things are never the same. I will go to my grave unshakably convinced that exactly opposite is true, and that moon phase is critical to a hunter’s plans.”





Charles Alsheimer is one of the foremost researchers of deer behavior and wrote a book called Hunting Whitetails by the Moon. He believes that the second full moon after the autumnal equinox (rutting moon) is the triggering mechanism for the seeking phase, which lasts six or seven days (three or four days before and after the rutting moon), which overlaps into the chasing phase and finally the breeding phase.