Written By: Hannah Riggs
Hunting on a full moon effects hunters no matter where you hunt. However, your success of hunting on full moons differs based off of your location. According to Rocky Leflore, Co-Owner of Ducksouth, timber hunts will generally be more successful than open field hunts during this moon phase.
“I think hunting on a full moon needs to be broken into two different categories: timber and open field hunting. If you have timber, that’s when you are going to hunt it. If you have ducks that have been in the field all night, especially in a huge full moon like this, they are slowly going to filter back into that timber as soon as the sun comes up,” Leflore said.
With the moon being that bright, it allows ducks to feed much easier in the middle of the night in open fields where they can see. Waterfowl expert J Paul Jackson also feels that because of this, these open water hunts will not see as much success.
“What I’ve learned in the past 20 years, is if you are field hunting and you have a big, bright, full moon, you might as well go deer hunting instead,” Jackson said.
With all of this being said, it does not mean that hunts that occur in open fields on a full moon can never be successful; the timing of the hunts just needs to be changed slightly.
“If you only have fields to hunt, man, sleep in. Get out into the field at 10 or 11 o’clock and stay till three or four. Have a good time; that’s what duck hunting is about. Sit out there with your buddies and wait for your ducks to come in,” Leflore said.
Even with large bodies of water, such as Reelfoot Lake, hunters may see an effect of the full moon, even if it’s not as strong as other areas. “Reelfoot Lake, for example, is sprawling You’ve got open water blinds and blinds back in sloughs. With blinds back in areas where ducks come in slow during the day, it’s similar to hunting green timber in Arkansas; the full moon doesn’t affect it quite as much. I would say overall, though, even at places like Reelfoot, you see hunter success decrease during a full moon. The birds are hit their roosting at different times and staying around the lake. It doesn’t effect Reelfoot quite as much as other places, but I definitely still think it impacts it,” Jackson said.
For more information on full moon hunting, be sure to check out the latest On the X Podcast
