Im getting ready for my two week turkey hunting marathon, and just realized that theres a full moon in the mix of it :angry9: Im hunting the Black Hillsl May 1-6, and MN May 8-12, the full moon is scheduled for May 6. What impact can expect the full moon to have on my hunting? I already know i need to be ahead of schedule in the am, so i dont get busted by an early riser, and im also expecting the birds not to be very vocal at night on the limb. I also have a hunch that the birds will pitch down earlier toward more toward open areas as they offer better visibility. Maybe mid-late morning hunting would be the hot time as well? Any help would be greatly appreciated :thanks:
Just roost and kill them. I would get in a little earlier as we discussed, but I really do not think there will be a really big effect on their gobbling. I know if you are persistent you will get your birds, plus your gun is shooting lights out now.
Never noticed a difference in gobbling and moon phases. If it's really bright I stay a little further from where I think they are roosted. They see better than we do in the dark.
As long as the weather is good I don't think they will fly down too much sooner than a dark moon or fly up much latter, maybe a few minutes either way.
I like hunting mid to late morning, if you can strike a gobble your chances of killing go way up.
Well, after 6 nights of trying to roost merriams in the Black Hills i have to conclude that the full moon did indeed have some ill effects on the pm gobbling! We had to pound 'em just to get a response, then when returning in the am we found out that the whole valley was full of other gobbling birds. Sometimes up to as many as 4-5 other birds that for one reason or another were tight lipped the night before :angry9:
I have never noticed much difference either in a Full Moon vs. not for Turkey .. just try to get there earlier in the mornings so they don't boost from the roost on me..
Did you fill your Black Hills tag?
I have hunted a good while but never noticed the moon effecting gobbling.. Might be coincidence but probably just breeding stage and time of hunt.. I hope ya had good luck one way or another! :icon_thumright:
It may have been purely coincidental with the breeding stage, but the weather was spot on for the most part! Or...as spot on as it can be in the black hills. PM gobbling is always consistent when it comes to merriams in my experience, so it was a lil discouraging hunting 2.3 million acres without a bird to set up on in the am ??? We did work plenty of birds though, it was just a little weird not hearing the birds pounding every night on the limb!
It might just be me but it seems like they tend to stay on the limb a tad longer on bright moon nights. But I haven't noticed any effect as far as gobbling goes, a.m. or p.m.
During the full moon in Georgia this season they were hitting the ground way early as we had nine birds on the ground 15 minutes before normal flydown.
A lot of birds this year tearing the limb up in the middle of the night with that full moon.in our younger days we'd get some to gobble on a full moon night so we'd be set for flydown time come morning.
killem