Updates
   I encourage you to check out Elizabeth Lee's column on this page. She is an experienced outdoors person with some interesting stories to tell and some good advice about moving about in the wilderness. Lee will alternate weeks with Dan Ladd.

   With the seemingly inevitable movement of the Outdoors page back to black and white, a move beyond my control, I have pulled the usual appeal for photos after the Wildlife Photo Gallery captions because I don't want you to send in good photos expecting color, when color may not happen. If you are satisfied with the possibility of them being in black and white, send them to my e-mail address listed after my column. As in the past, I thank you for your photo contributions.

It seems, at this time of year, there are many articles on the deer rut and when it will occur.

I have in the past done more than a few of these articles as well.

The focus has been, in recent years, the Hunter's Moon and its impact on the rut. Last Monday, Nov. 2, was the Hunter's Moon, the second full moon after the fall equinox, quite an impressive sight when the clouds cleared out, especially since darkness came early because of the time change the day before.

To some deer hunters, this full moon is the trigger that sets off the rut, a period when bucks have one thing on their minds — does — thus losing their usual wariness, making them easier to hunt.

Whether you hunt or not, there has always been a certain mystery about the effects of the full moon on the earth and its creatures. These include the movement of the tides, which actually do affect marine life activity, and also humans and their actions during a full moon. Even the ancient Greeks assigned a goddess, Artemis, to the moon. She was depicted as a cold but very competent huntress, a reflection of the cold, milky white beams given off by moonlight.

With all this lunar interest, it's no surprise that scientific studies have been done on the effects of a full moon on mammals, and the results, so far, have been mixed.

National Geographic magazine in a 2004 article looked into the subject and found no conclusive results based on two British studies. One study found positive evidence the full moon affects mammals; the other found no effects of the moon. The article also found no proof the full moon causes dogs to bite, as legend has it, and concludes with a quote from Eric Chundler, a psychologist at the University of Washington: "Of the studies I have read, I find there is very little evidence that the full moon has a direct effect on human or animal behavior."

There is another theory out there which combines the effects of both the moon and the sun on the earth's creatures. It's called the Solunar Theory, first put forth by John Alden Knight. Knight's calculations carry on today in the Solunar Tables, the ones we run at the bottom of the Outdoors page each Sunday. According to Knight's theory, the periods of greatest animal (and fish) activity are when the moon is directly overhead (moon up) or directly beneath (moon down). The sun's position also plays a role in the calculations and results in major and minor feeding patterns and activity cycles daily.

But let's get back to the Hunter's Moon and the rut. Though espoused by deer expert Charles Alsheimer and Wayne LaRoche, the current Vermont Fish & Wildlife commissioner, there are detractors as well. Proponents of the lunar theory, a theory first put forth by Jeff Murray in his 1994 book "Moon Struck," believe the height of the rut corresponds to the Hunter's Moon and the period beyond, this year Nov. 2 through approximately Nov. 14. Detractors say it is the decreasing length of day that affects the rut, not the moon.

One 13-year study done by Dr. David Osborn from the University of Georgia found the rut in coastal South Carolina peaks Oct. 27, and does not vary by more than 4.6 days no matter what the year or phase of the moon. This study, along with other studies done by him and other colleagues, was expanded to include northern states such as Maine, Minnesota and Michigan. The researchers used pen-raised, free ranging does.

Osborn concluded: "We believe it is not necessary to revise the conventional understanding among deer biologists that breeding dates are primarily influenced by photo period (decreasing amount of sunlight) and not moon phase."

Many old-timers I have talked to agree and think Nov. 15 is the key date in northern New York. But that only works if you are actually out there in the field and not in camp speculating.

E-mail Dennis Aprill at: daprill2000@yahoo.com