“Deer Hunter’s Moon Guide” Rises Again
Hunters have debated the influence of the moon on buck movement for decades. Back in the early 1990s, Minnesota writer...
Hunters have debated the influence of the moon on buck movement for decades. Back in the early 1990s, Minnesota writer and hunter Jeff Murray introduced the Deer Hunter’s Moon Guide, a chart that linked whitetail behavior and movement to the position of the moon. While some hunters (and no small number of biologists) dismiss this relationship, scores of others claim great success using the Moon Guide.
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One of those hunters is Ohioan Adam Hays, a noted bowhunter who has tagged nine bucks that gross over 170 inches B&C—three of which top 200. “I started using the Moon Guide in the late 1990s. Back then, I was a young, hungry bowhunter looking for anything that would give me an edge as I hunted whitetails in general, but mature bucks in particular,” Hays says. “I killed my first 200-inch buck in 1999, on the exact day that the Moon Guide said would be best that week.”
Hays contacted Jeff Murray to talk about his success with the Moon Guide, and the two became friends. Murray visited Ohio to hunt with Hays shortly before succumbing to a rare blood disease in January of 2010. Not much happened with the Moon Guide in the few years following Murray’s death, but his family recently contacted Hays and asked if he was interested in continuing the project. “It was an easy decision for me, because I was such a believer in the system,” Hays says. “I brought in a partner, and we’ve resurrected the business.”
So for those of you familiar with the Moon Guide and wondering what had happened, it is now in the capable hands of Adam Hays, with more info available at moonguide.com. For those unaware of Moon Guide, it predicts peak hunting times based on the moon’s position—directly overhead or underfoot, for example—as well as the best types of places to hunt under the given conditions.
While I’m familiar with the Moon Guide, I’ve never used it. But I do feel that the moon exerts some influence on deer movement. Which makes me think, let’s take a poll—and feel free to elaborate in the comments section.
Which of the following best reflects your opinion about the moon’s influence on deer movement and hunter success?
The Moon Guide (or similar system that tracks moon position) totally works. You have to try it.
I don’t use any published guide, but I think the moon does affect deer movement.
What a bunch of hooey.
