I went through all my video information from 2019 and looked at the times I had recorded for hog observations and compared them against the solunar tables for 2019. As best as I can tell from my information, solunar periods have no discernible impact on when hogs are "moving" and that not hunting during non-solunar periods would be a huge mistake. In fact, most of the observations (and kills) were during non-solunar periods.

The solunar tables designate major periods (2 hours each) and minor periods (1 hour each) per day when it is hypothesized celestial influences will get animals 'moving.' There has only been limited research on this that I can find relative to hunting and nothing relative to hog hunting. Hence why I decided to go through all my data from last year and see if there is or isn't something to solunar hunting of hogs. Over the years, I have encountered people who swear by solunar tables and some who plan their hunts according to solunar patterns, in many cases NOT going hunting if the solunar periods are not favorable.

On any given day, solunar periods comprise 6 hours. There are some days where a major period or minor period may be missing, but basically, just less than 1/4 of the day (averaged) is under a solunar period when animals are moving and are considered the best times to hunt.

I made 102 observations on hogs when I hunted them in 2019 from 76 nights of hunting where I saw hogs. That is out of 160-170 total nights of total. A hog "observation" was any uniquely identified time I saw (and usually went after) hogs. If I watched a single field during the course of 8 hours and went after hogs 3 different times, then that would be 3 observations. Of those observations, 16 were during solunar major periods, 8 were during minor solunar periods and 78 were during non-solunar periods. In other words, slightly less than 1/4 of the observations were during solunar periods and slightly more than 3/4 were during non-solunar periods. This seems to correlate well with the fact that solunar periods only comprise slightly less than 1/4 of the time and non-solular periods comprise just over 3/4 of the time. This indicates to me that solunar periods have no real bearing on hog hunting. Either you are where the hogs are doing their thing or you are not. This should really come as no surprise given that hogs are actually moving (on the move, feeding/foraging) any time they are not sleeping and they don't bed except when they are sleeping (or nursing in the case of very young piglets).

I know a lot of people swear by solunar tables and that is fine. If they work for you and seem to help with your hunting success, that is great. However, I would strongly suggest that you should not avoid hunting just because the solunar tables are not favorable. The hogs are more than plenty active outside of the periods. What I found from my hunting is that I was as likely to get on hogs during non-solunar periods as I was during solunar periods.

Very interesting report. I have not done anywhere near the observations you described, but I have checked tables before and after hunts (all game, not just hogs) and have planned a number of hunts based on the tables. I have not been able to establish any kind of pattern for hunting, but I have seen some correlation for fishing.

Good read ,your detail to keeping records is to be commended,while years ago in bass fishing I studied
The sun /moon phases and found that I could time feeding periods with the primary times in the summer as the
Weather was a constant,and the timing of fish spawning worked into the moon phase ,
What was noticed was more the weather changes with the full moons ,fronts moving though with the moon
But also concluded that any time you can go hunting or fishing is a good time to go regardless of he moon phase

I used to watch the barometer for fishing before the Solunar tables became popular. I won't let a bad Solunar day keep me from hunting though I do take notice!

I kill more hogs and see more wildlife at night when iSolunar says they will be most active. I don’t rely just on those times to hunt but I def have more success during those times.

The solunar tables have well document history in the fishing industry. And no doubt there are many animals that are impacted by these celestial periods and do react to them. Some definitely seem to react more than others and some don't seem to react at all. For example, hummingbirds we have fed will feed virtually all day long as long as there is sugar water in the feeders, though they may be more common in the mornings and evenings. If you are a hummingbird hunter, the solunar tables don't mean squat to you. Hummingbirds work on the diurnal/noturnal cycle, not the solunar cycle.

I really liked what this site said. It is stupid and profound all at the same time. http://www.solunar.com/the_solunar_theory.aspx


People seem to rely on the tables because they think the timing will make animals more likely to be present.


Sapper! I figured this topic might get your attention!

I don't know anything about solunar theories, although I can well understand how fish seem to follow certain feeding patterns that could probably be related to them. I cannot claim to be an expert at hunting nocturnal animals, although I do go after hogs somewhat often in the evenings. One thing I have noticed, is I seem to have hogs coming into feeders on a more regular basis on dark nights and quite often they don't show up at all under a full moon.
Just an observation of mine, and I have no idea how it could relate to solunar tables....in fact I would consider myself lucky if I am even spelling solunar correctly !

^^^^^

My observations as well. With well over 20 years of hunting hogs at night...a full moon (or nearly full) has a definite impact. IF I see hogs...they are quite spooky, but more often than not..they will simply be out during the darkest part of the night.

They MUCH prefer to move under the cover of darkness. With a full moon (in the pineywoods) there is forest full of shadows...and they don't seem like that at all.

It is interesting that y'all mention that. Before I got into thermal hunting and exchanged information with other night hunters, some said hogs were more likely to be out under full moons. Their reason was that it was because the hogs could see better and hence felt safer. The other crowd argued just the opposite, that the cover of darkness was preferred by hogs. I honestly figured that the folks that felt that hogs liked moonlight nights were basing their assessment on their ability to see the hogs themselves. They were more apt to see hogs on bright nights than on dark nights, hence hogs must like bright nights better.

Hunting with thermal, I see plenty of hogs on moonlit nights and on dark nights. The trouble for me is getting close enough to shoot on moonlit nights. If I had to say which was better for hog activity, I would say darker nights were better than lighter nights.