Moon phase affect

TJAY

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Jul 1, 2007
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I have a ? regarding a spring black bear hunt. Does the moon phase influence weather bears are out during the day or do they feed at night with a bright moonlight night. I am looking at an Idaho spring hunt and am wondering if I should book around the full moon or avoid it? Or does it make no diff.?
 
TJ,I hunted in Newfoundland,Can. June 2011 on a full moon..r.Most bait hunts are afternoon-evening affairs.. We hunted all day because thats allso bear"rut"time. Saw bear during entire day. I'm not in favor of deer hunting dring full moon. Good luck!
 
I doubt it makes a difference. Full moon for May 2013 will be the 25th. Sunrise 5:01 am, sunset 8:34 pm, which is 15 hours 33 min of daylight. Night only feeding won't fill the belly. Bears should be moving good by then with the rut starting. If its a hound hunt the dogs can pick up scent hours later. If its a bait set they can hit anytime. Spot and stalk bears can be seen all day. I will say the less direct light the better, overcast is good, the shady side of things will likely hold bears longer. Smaller bears avoid bigger bears so they have to move and feed different places and times. One of the early collar studies in Idaho surprised the biologist how active bears were in the day time. Go, have fun, hunt hard all day, take advantage of the moonlight for getting into, and out of position. I've never seen underwear make much difference wear whats comfortable.:rolleyes:
 
Bear are different than other critters, they do whatever they want to do and whenever also. I've run bear with dogs for 30 years and there is no rhyme or reason to what they do other than eat. Find the food and you'll find the bear. Good luck on your hunt. Mike
 
I've heard and read more than I can stomach on moon BS. Most anyone with 20+ years of hunting will tell you weather patterns/front/conditions play a much bigger roll. I've rode out to CO listening to guys **** and moan about the full moon we would be elk hunting in and low and behold 5 guys kill 3 bulls and 2 bucks on public land, wow did that moon screw us. ;-)

Now if you got a new moon and 20 inches of snow the bear hunting is going to suck.

If the snows been gone 2 week and the grass grew 4 inches, your going to be able to take your pick of the litter, full moon or not.
 
Thanks again to all. I was of the the it doesn't matter group but thought I would check as I have never hunted bear
 
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