I shot a nice Doe tonight within 10 minutes of the moon time. I have been hunting according to the Jeff Murray moon wheel since he came out with it. This thing WORKS! I cant tell you how many deer that I have shot within minutes of the predicted moon time. I shot the Doe with a 53# Hill Country Wildcat longbow, a 597 grain Easton Axis 340 with an Eclipse (Journeyman) broadhead. Arrow blew through the deer's ribs and stuck in the ground about 21/2".
Sweet! Any pics?
i was skeptical of that for a long time, but i gotta admit, there is something to it. good work.
Where can I get a jeff murray moon wheel.
I've never heard anything about this before your post.
Please enlighten me.
Thanks in advance!
God bless,Mudd
Like Mudd I have not seen one,which leads to my next question.How much do you want for yours,seems to be already broken in....
Tell us more
Go to moonguide.com.Had 1 give to me about 10 years ago or so and they are accurate.Made note of times I saw deer and it was scary close most of the time
I've been trying to tell people about this for years. I didn't get a "moon quide" the last two years cause I found a web site to get the info for free.
Everybody wants to talk about the moon phases. When it's the position of the moon that is really important. Hunting is best when the moon is overhead or underfoot. It's not always during hunting hours but when it is you'll see more deer.
How accurate are the ones that are shown on most GPS systems?
I have the book that he wrote on the subject also. If anyone is interested I wouldn't mind loaning it out.
Year round I catch myself looking to see if the moon is overhead when I'm seeing more deer. It usually is.
Cabelas has them as well. Always got one on the dash of my truck and whenever I see game movement I check it. most times it is close to the time the dial gives for that day. I also have the book its a good read with inputs from Myles Keller as well. It says this afternoon is going to be a good time to hunt transition areas. I got just the one in mind. DB
i dont like em because im going no matter what,i dont want to start with a bad attitude that im not suppose to see deer
QuoteOriginally posted by b.glass:
I didn't get a "moon quide" the last two years cause I found a web site to get the info for free.
Just curious. I have a "tide" guide that lets me know when the optimum times fish will feed in conjunction with the moon and the different places I saltwater fish and crab. I wonder if it will work with land animals?
BTW; if you don't mind me asking, where is the site you can get "it" for free?
Double post. My error.
You can get a ton of raw data from the US Naval Observatory web site. Plug in your location and the day you want and you can get specific stuff. If you want a years worth of moon data - you can get that too and then just figure the overhead/underfoot moon times out for your self. Here is the moon rise/set table for Madison, Wis for example. http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_rstablew.pl
Well, I tried to give to a couple of others in a pm but I'm not sure it's working. It is www.solunarforecast.com (http://www.solunarforecast.com)
I have it in my Favorites under "Daily Moon Positions for Your Location". I get there and it gives this link. It's kind of hidden in some text to the right of a large black box. After you click on the link it should give you the opportunity to put in your zip code to customize the times to your location.
Thing is you have to get a new moon quide every year.
I don't know why this link isn't working. It's spelled right now.
Mudd, the very best day/time for you to be out this month is Wednesday, Oct. 12th at 2:02 PM. The moon will be underfoot in your area. That's about 15 min. later than in my area.
link works just make sure not to include period
Solunar projections (http://www.solunarforecast.com)
I agree with Stevewills, I'm going hunting regardless what the moon is doing. Not saying it doesn't work just not for me. Don't use trail cameras either.
Yup, link works, just get rid of the period.
Eric
I have been watching this for several years, its neat how game movement in general seems to pick up ie: squirrels and stuff
Sorry for the delay in answering, I never imagined that guys would be this interested. First thing I would ask is YOU HAVEN'T HEARD OF THE MOON GUIDE????? I absolutely will not plan a hunt without it. I am from Michigan and you can buy these in just about any sporting goods store, I happen to buy this one in Jay's. Where to start. I picked up Jeff Murrays book "Moon Struck, hunting strategies that revolve around the moon". Myles Keller co-authored the book. I have read this book 5 times and I have been implementing these moon strategies for many years, I can say that they flat out work. The moon guide is a circular wheel type device that has the hunting months of the year with the days printed on it. You slide the dial which has an opening on it to the date that you plan to hunt and the best time to hunt appears in the window. It also tells you whether you should be hunting bedding areas, feeding areas or transition zones. The basic theory is that (and this is really simplifying here) the best times to hunt are when the moon is at it's peak overhead and at the times when the moon is directly below you regardless of the phase of the moon. There is also alot to know about the phases of the moon as they pertain to feeding but also the rut. The very best time to hunt is during a 1st or last quarter moon when it is directly above. These moon times change by 51 minutes each day, for example if on Oct 3 the best moon time is 8:00 am, Oct. 4ths moon time would be 8:51 am. Basically 12 hours after the moon time, the moon is directly below your position on the earth and is also a great time to hunt as the moon's position has an effect on ungulates feeding. These moon times also work for fishing and other prey animals but especially ungulates. When I began using the moon guide, I was met with a whole lot of skepticism so I would write down the moon times at gun camp and tell the other 6 hunters to pay attention to when you see deer movement. When we would return to camp after a hunt, I would ask the hunters when they had seen their deer. It was shocking to see that all of the deer were seen close to the same time and when I showed the moon time that I had written down, they all became believers in a big way. There is alot to this and I could sit and write a book based on my success by using the moon guide. I have been hunting exactly 30 years and the Doe that I killed last night was my 87th deer 39th with a bow. I am fairly experienced and am always studying new ways to hunt. When calling was first being utilized, I dove head first into that tactic and had great success with that also but if I could only have one tool, it would be the moon guide. I have gotten to the point that I no longer really need to rely on the moon guide as I have been using one so long and have read Jeff's book so many times that it has become second nature. It is nice to have the guide so that I can quickly roll the wheel to the date and be able to tell whether or not I should hunt mornings or evenings and where. Further proof of it's accuracy is that this morning I went out and saw nothing but bedded deer as the prevailing moon time is an afternoon time right now. There are factors that can influence deer and make them move at times other than the moon times but I assure you that if you pick up and correctly use a moon guide, you will be amazed at how accurate these are.
Have used one for years. Buy them at Cabela's or direct from Jeff Murray website. A great reference piece. Not the final deciding factor on when and where to hunt, but a step in the right direction. As the song says, "I'm a believer". :campfire:
I found the current moon phase info for my area but have no clue as how to apply it.
Ok, Ok, Ok...... I just ordered one.
The one guy in bear camp swore by the rising moon and he turned out to be correct. The two days the barometer was rising AND we had a rising moon 8 bears went down.
I'm hunting Thursday and hopefully I can put this to the test. PM'ed Warchild to find out about this Thursday since I won't have my wheel before then.
I always go when I can. Sounds kinda intrsting though.
I just bought one too. I'll get back to you on this...
As stated above, there are factors that effect these moon times such as severe weather, the rut or perhaps crops being harvested or other outside interference. For the most part though this thing is super dependable. Buckeye hunter, I PM'D you with this but I will post here too, moon time for Thursday will be 9:00 am. As I explained in the PM, if you want to really narrow the time down to the minute you must calculate how far from the central meridian of your time zone (in this case the Eastern) you are while hunting. Add 4 minutes to each degree west of the meridian and subtract 4 minutes for each degree that you are east of the central meridian. It may sound a little complicated, but if you can find out the nearest degree in longitude that you are, it's really quite simple. I rarely go to this length to determine exact times as it is useful just to know that you should expect to see the animal around a certain time. By the way......GO BLUE!!!!
I also go out when ever I can. The Guide doesn't account for fronts or the rut, stuff like that. But if my time is limited, and it is, I can take THE BEST DAYS off.
It also helps when planning a trip.
Robert and Charles
I just checked with an app I have on my Iphone. It is called iSolunar and is supposed to be driven by Lat-Lon and/or referenced to zip code.
It gives overhead and underfoot times and predictions of major and minor feeding times
For Thurdsay 10/6/2011 Galion, OH
I have moon overhead 9:48 pm and underfoot at 10:13am.
Major period from 8:43am to 11:43am
I am trying to see if this is similar to the wheel data
I bought the moon guides for a couple years and if you read the science behind it,it's very compelling.The truth is,it didn't do anything for me.I hunt a large ranch that has whitetails,mule deer,antelope,sometimes elk and lots of cattle.It is so open that you can often sit in an antelope blind or treestand and see all those animals at once,just by glancing around.I carried those moon guides with me through September,October and november,mornings,evenings,midday,all day,you name it.High activity was morning and evening despite what the moon guide said.I just didn't get any useful coorelations.Maybe the country is just so open that animals didn't want to move midday,I don't know.It just didn't seem to work.Cool little wheel though.
This is what i use. http://www.usprimetimes.com/zip.html
I hunt when I can also, but I take a look at this type data if I have an option of what days to take off or what night of the week to rake leaves and what night to hunt. I also look every day I hunt to see if I should stay on stand longer into a less than ideal morning or get in stand early in an evening hunt. I have seen enough to convince me it is something to factor in. Squirrels are real dependable with the moon time. I have a gps with this data and an app on my phone, but I may get the wheel also to check out.
This is only my second year with trail cams. I plan to check my cam pic times against the moon to see if I can see a connection.
Thanks Papawoody...I realkly like that link!
That is a nice link Papa.
Thanks.
I like [Solunar Forecast (http://www.solunarforecast.com/solunarcalendar.aspx) also.
Well I haven't had a chance yet to put my moon guide to the test but I did have a friend go hunting this weekend to told him to take note of what time the deer moved. The moon guide was telling me 10:37 a.m. and to hunt travel corridors. My buddy said at 10:30 the deer started moving from uncut corn down to what we call "Deer Heaven" to bed down for the day. So it passed one test so far :thumbsup:
I think this is a pretty good set. You will need to join the forum but, it's free. Check any month you want & has a friendly print out link.
Solunar Table (http://www.huntfishsport.com/web.aspx?cmd=calendar)
Read ANY book on whitetail behavior by James Kroll.
If you know any guys that try to hunt a specific deer and kill bucks they are targeting from day one, they likely count on the moon guide to find that big deer out before sundown in a summertime bean field. It does work. Like anything, it's no gaurentee. Putting aside the rut, fronts coming and going, etc... if it;s just an average old day, yes it's a benefit. I've killed deer staying in the stand a little longer knowing the high moon time. I pick days off when the high or low moon time overlaps dusk and dawn within an hour or so.