The Premise:
Several popular Game Activity Tables predict that fish and game animals will be most active or feed within a 1-3 hour timeframe of when the moon is either directly overhead or underfoot of their position on the earth. The question is; Are these Tables and Predictors correct in there predictions? I will tell you that I conducted an exhaustive research project of this subject between 1990 and 2000, on 5 different herds of deer in three widely separated locations.
One of the problems with the study was that I was seeing dozens of deer, and was often unable to determine if I was seeing one of the deer on several occasions, or several deer on several occasions. However, in our new location, we have only one whitetail doe. So, I will be able to determine if the activity of one particular deer is correlated with the times predicted by one of the several Game Activity Tables currently available to hunters.
For the purposes of this study I will be using the Astro table. Which is available on the ESPN web site at
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/general/news/story?page=g_fea_astro_tables.
To determine the meteorological conditions at the time of the deer sightings I will be using the weather station closest to our house, which is within 3 miles. The address of the website is
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=eagan, mn &wuSelect=WEATHER.
Following are the sightings of the doe so far, and the weather data and predicted activity times.
We can deduce several things about deer behavior from this data, if we know what to look for.
My question to you is - "What do YOU deduce from this information?"
I'll keep you updated as the days go by.
Thursday, June 04, 2009 At about 5:45 AM I saw a Coyote sniffing the air right near out apartment. It was a lot of fun watching the animal look for the source of my burnt bacon, which I am sure wafted out the kitchen window to the meadow below. Astro Table 10:02 - 11:18 AM.
From 6:30 AM until 6:50 AM I watched a doe White-tailed Deer feeding in the meadow. I did not see where the deer came from, but when it left, it went west into the trees, down a hill toward one of the lakes. You can view the video here. I hope to see the doe's fawn in the next few weeks. Astro Table 9:57-10:53 AM and 9:07 - 10:39 PM.
Friday, June 05, 2009 At 3:15 AM we heard a coyote howling, presumably in the woods behind the house. Astro Table 11:26 - midnight.
Saturday, June 6, 2009 The whitetail doe was in the meadow feeding at 7:23PM; it came from the woods north of the meadow and left at 7:29 going south toward another patch of woods. Astro Table 11:51 AM - 12:43PM.
Sunday, June 07, 2009 The whitetail doe was in the meadow feeding at 6:20AM; it came from woods to the south of the meadow and left at 6:31 going north into the woods. Astro Table 12:21-1:07AM.
Sunday, June 08, 2009 The whitetail doe was in the meadow at 8:50 PM. She left going south. Astro Table 1:37-2:32 PM.
Monday, June 08, 2009 The whitetail doe was in the meadow at 7:44 AM; she came from the woods south of the meadow and went to the woods north of the meadow. The Astro Table 1:27 - 2:23.
At 7:54 PM The doe stepped into the meadow from the woods on the north and fed there until 8:02, when she left going south. Partly cloudy, no wind, temperature 60 degrees. Astro Table2:28 - 3:14 PM.
Thursday, June 11, 2009 Cloudy, no wind, 51 degrees, Twilight 4:48 AM, Sunrise 5:25 AM. At 5.36 AM the doe was leaving the meadow going north. Astro Table 2:47-3:43 AM.
Diane saw the doe in the meadow at 8:30 PM; it came from the woods north of meadow, and it left going to the woods south of the meadow. Astro Table time was 3:54-5:00 PM.
God bless and good hunting.
T.R.