What’s With The Moon? Using The Lunar Cycle to Kill Big Bucks

North Louisiana and South Arkansas are home to some great outdoorsmen (and women) but one local resident started catching my attention about three years ago. Adam Sanderson is a fireman, a business owner, and an up and coming YouTuber who lives in West Monroe, La. 

When I first met him in person, he looked like a mini hulk. He stands about 5 feet 8 inches tall and is solid muscle. That’s when I found out that he and his wife own CrossFit Chivalry in West Monroe. His YouTube channel is called “Redline Outdoors” and is slap full of content from our area. 

But it was his knowledge of deer hunting that caused me to focus on his hunting skills. Since we’ve been friends, he’s never shared one skill that he believes in more than the others; following the red moon. 

Until now. 

“I started using the red moon calendar in roughly 2018 I kept seeing advertisements for the red moon and I said what the heck I should just give it a try to see, so I bought my own red moon calendar. It was a paper calendar dial at the time but now I use the app on my phone. When I went hunting, I started paying attention to the days I saw the most deer and it happened to be on red moon days. I believe I killed a 10 point in Missouri on a red moon day that year,” he explained

Now, your curiosity is as piqued as mine was when I first heard Adam talk about the red moon on the Louisiana Bowhunter Podcast. 

But what exactly is a “red moon”?

“A red moon is when the moon is either overhead or under foot at gray hours. Deer want to move in the early morning or late evenings, so when the moon is overhead or underfoot during these hours that is defined as a ‘red moon’. As we all know, the moon is overhead or underfoot every day, but at different times,” said Sanderson.

The moon being overhead or under foot when deer normally move is the secret sauce Sanderson has had success following and for good reason, in 2020 he killed five mature bucks in Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Missouri all following the red moon.  “When you have a weather front mixed with a red moon, it can be dynamite. Now I try to plan my out-of-state trips on a red moon if I can.”

Whether it works or not, this is something that Sanderson fully believes in. And as we all know, the more confident you are when in the woods or on the water, the more likely your chances are of that trip being one full of success.