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This year I have an opportunity to go on an elk hunt. The only problem is that it's during a full moon. I've hunted elk once before during a full moon and we didn't see much in daylight, even during rut. Any tips or experience hunting elk during a full moon would be appreciated.
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Joined: May 2009
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Elk will stay more active all night it seems during a full moon.
But your going to still hunt vantage points morning and evenings, and spot and stalk mid day.
Elk are where you find them, a don't seem to particularly follow the rules written in every book on the subject.
Get in a little weather during your hunt and all patterns are off anyways.
I am very certain that hunting a little harder/wiser over balances any less then ideal conditions.
The worse condition I think are those lingering summer days. Even those days have an advantage of concentrating elk in the darkest of timber.
Stay positive and good luck!
Clinging to my God, and my guns!
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Joined: Jul 2006
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Not sure what to think about moon phase hunting. I keep hearing that the deer and elk are more active at night and less in the day during full moons because of the increased vision and such at night. But !!! here is my quandry , they are able to see in the dark anyway , so how much difference can a full moon make?
maybe I'm all wet , but it's just my .02 worth.
Everything I say to you is a lie , and that is the truth.
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Based on quite bit of radio tracking data, we concluded that deer and elk basically treat darkness like cover. On dark nights, they move farther away from daytime bedding areas to feed and loaf. Thus, it takes them longer to move back to daytime bedding and loafing cover. You will see them moving later in the mornings. On moonlit nights, the activity periods are essentially the same, but they remain in or close to their daytime hangouts.
Ben
Some days it takes most of the day for me to do practically nothing...
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I haven't hunted elk enough to be able to comment there, but whitetails usually tend to be more active at night during full, or close to full moons. I've found that deer do tend to bed down and stay down longer during the days. However, the increased night activity usually carries over into the wee dawn hours I've found. I love to be in my deer stand 1 hour before daylight on those well lit nights. You can hear deer and a lot of times even see deer before daylight. When legal shooting light finally comes around, it's game on. Many of my fellow deer hunters moan and groan when there is a full moon, but I kind of like it. Two of my biggest deer were killed early morning after full moon nights. Of course there are always deer(usually the big ones) who constantly are breaking the rules.
What happens when you get scared half to death...twice?
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My experience says to go hunting whenever you can, the moon be damned.
I was hoarding when hoarding wasn't cool.
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Nothing scientific here but my experience has been that we've had fewer opportunities and seen fewer elk during periods of full moons.
Best bet is to use it as best you can - get out early and make your way to hunting areas using the moon.
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I have been doing a lot of watching and trying to pattern elk and mule deer in colorado. Last couple of years I threw out the full moon theory I had totally believed for 20+ years. I have watched the elk out in the middle of the day after the night of a full moon. Taking note the daytime temps were below freezing all day. I watched the elk leave the grazing grounds on a no moon night shortly after sunrise noting temps were above freezing and rizing quickly with the sun. I have come to believe in temperature as there main drive to get to cover. Now when you through in a bunch of activity and hunting pressure things change again. with a ton of people on the forest road back and forth all day I saw the same activity but the elk were hanging out miles from the road and only made there way back into the area after the pressure dropped off. I have read that they spend more effort trying to stay cool but never really bought into it watching them on a sunny hillsided in the middle of the day but as I try to bring back all my memories it seems when I saw them in the sun it was on cold days. Just my observations the last few years when I was helping people hunt and had no license so my mind had more time to take in more of what was going on. Crazy how the drive to hunt can narrow your view... lol good luck
Where is that wascally Wapiti?
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I hunt whenever I can, moon or no.
I do not entertain hypotheticals. The world itself is vexing enough. -- Col. Stonehill
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I hunt whenever I can, moon or no. aint that the truth only way to find them moon or no moon is get in the woods and find the wascally wapiti...
Where is that wascally Wapiti?
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Campfire Ranger
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I find elk are more active and nocturnal during the full moon,but if that is when the season is, I go and deal with it. Most of my elk have been shot late moring after I go into the timber and hunt them
Iknow most studies have shown it does not matter,but I don't think the elk read those studies.
If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles
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If you got the chance to go, full moon be damned, I say go and pray for a cold front and maybe some snow and you'll do just fine. The current weather pattern weighs more on thier activity than the moon phase, IMO..
Laws aren't preventative measures. In other words, more laws won't prevent gun crime from happening.
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I have been doing a lot of watching and trying to pattern elk and mule deer in colorado. Last couple of years I threw out the full moon theory I had totally believed for 20+ years. I have watched the elk out in the middle of the day after the night of a full moon. Taking note the daytime temps were below freezing all day. I watched the elk leave the grazing grounds on a no moon night shortly after sunrise noting temps were above freezing and rizing quickly with the sun. I have come to believe in temperature as there main drive to get to cover. Now when you through in a bunch of activity and hunting pressure things change again. with a ton of people on the forest road back and forth all day I saw the same activity but the elk were hanging out miles from the road and only made there way back into the area after the pressure dropped off. I have read that they spend more effort trying to stay cool but never really bought into it watching them on a sunny hillsided in the middle of the day but as I try to bring back all my memories it seems when I saw them in the sun it was on cold days. Just my observations the last few years when I was helping people hunt and had no license so my mind had more time to take in more of what was going on. Crazy how the drive to hunt can narrow your view... lol good luck
Very interesting. Some real good points on a critter that is darn near impossible to pattern when they are under pressure. IMHO elk just react to pressure more than any other influance. You can plan your butt off to find that they must have been listning and are not where they are supposed to be. Then again sometimes they are there and you never get a shot. I love/hate elk hunting...
"A .358 Norma Mag is not for everyone but then again Bear hunting isn't either."
Unknown Bear guide on the Kodiak coast
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I Estes Park is any evidence they don't really care about the moon, or presence of people, or cars, or even Safeways 
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Research (with GPS collars) that I saw finds them more active at night, but also more active on those same days.
We hunt elk when the season's open regardless of the moon. The moon's most significant effects are on critters dealing with tidal influences.
Last edited by 1minute; 07/26/12.
1Minute
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Hunted around the Full moon last year. Lots of buggling at night and like some said, it seemed to be pretty close to the bedding areas and dark timber. That's where they were all night and during the day. Close to the Dark Timber.
This year our hunt is a new moon hunt
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Campfire Kahuna
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My partner has a theory, yet unproven, about full moons. He thinks that with a bright moon in the morning, the elk have a harder time figuring out when it's getting light and they'll stay out longer.
Personally, I have limited time to hunt so I go whenever the season's open, moon or not.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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I have noticed that on clear moonlit nights, full or not, deer seem to come through their usual routes later in the morning. More around 9-10am versus right after daybreak around 8:00 am. However deer seem to move every 4 hours give or take no matter what so it's just a matter of time. Not sure on elk but I don't think it would be a game breaker.
Keep your powder dry and stay frosty my friends.
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Watch out for Wereelk, vile beasts, if you are bitten, nothing will tame your uncontrollable plant lust! Partition bullets through the heart are the only way to kill them! You've been warned...
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