Hunting calendar, January 2026: best days, feeding times and seasons

What is a solunar hunting calendar?

The solunar tables of John Alden Knight (published 1936) were made for fish and adopted by hunters within a few years: the two hours around the Moon's passage overhead and underfoot are the "major periods", the hour around moonrise and moonset the "minor periods", and the best days lie around the new and the full moon. Hunters use them for deer, moose and wild boar as feeding-time tables. The tables are a tradition, not a measured law: the camera-trap studies below show a real but different effect of the Moon, through its light. This page gives the tradition as a tradition, the astronomy exactly for your city, the Lithuanian seasons from the rules, and the science with its sources.

What is in season in January 2026

January is the last month of the driven hunts (to 31 January), of wild boar in their rut, of brown hare (to 31 January), of the red deer stags (to 28 February) and moose calves (to 31 January). Foxes are in their own rut and move by day. The snow shows every track; wolves are hunted to 31 March or until the quota is filled.

The species with an open season in Lithuania in January 2026, those most hunted this month first, with the hour of the day they move and what moonlight does to them.

Solunar movement times in January 2026, Amsterdam: day by day

Every day with its rating, moonrise and moonset, the two major and two minor periods, sunrise and sunset for Amsterdam, and whether the night is bright or dark. A period marked "dawn or dusk" falls within an hour of sunrise or sunset: that is the hour the tradition and the science agree on. About once a month a period is missing, because the lunar day is 24 hours 50 minutes long.

Movement times for another city

The times below are computed for Amsterdam. Pick your city: the Moon rises and passes overhead at a different hour in every place.

Hunting seasons in Lithuania, 2026: every species

The seasons of the Lithuanian hunting rules (Medžioklės Lietuvos Respublikos teritorijoje taisyklės, point 15.2, as in force in 2026), the rut months, the months each species is taken most, the hour of the day it moves and what the studies say about moonlight. Every country has its own seasons: outside Lithuania, take only the rut, the hours and the Moon from this table.

Driven hunts, wolves and the limits

Driven hunts (medžioklė varant) are allowed in Lithuania 15 October – 31 January (rules, point 15.1); foxes, raccoon dogs, mink, martens and polecats may be driven outside forests to 31 March. Wolves and golden jackals are hunted from 15 October to 31 March or until the year's wolf quota is filled, after which the season is closed early. Moose, red deer, fallow deer, roe deer, wild boar and badger are licensed game with yearly limits set by the ministry. The first and the last day of a season count.

What the studies actually show

Two camera-trap studies measure what the Moon does to game. Ladine & Settles (Southeastern Naturalist, 2020) counted white-tailed deer at night over four years in Texas: 578 detections around the full moon against 232 around the new moon, and the fewest on overcast new-moon nights, so deer move more by night when there is more light. Gordigiani et al. (Mammal Research, 2021) found the opposite in wild boar in central Italy: the boar, which see poorly and are hunted and preyed on by wolves, avoided the brightest nights, and their night activity peaked in mid-autumn, when hunting pressure is highest and the leaf fall sends them ranging for food. Nothing in the literature supports the exact hours of the solunar periods for game. What is well established is that deer are crepuscular, feeding in the first and last light; that the rut moves the males by day; and that pressure from hunting pushes every species deeper into the night. So: bright nights for deer feeding at night and quieter dawns after them; dark nights for wild boar; the rut for the stags; the solunar rating to choose between days, not to stay home.

How to read the table

Take the season first: only what is open may be hunted, and the calendar shows the Lithuanian seasons by species and sex. Then the rating: best and good days are worth planning for, weak ones are still hunting days. Then the periods: two hours around the Moon overhead and underfoot, one hour around moonrise and moonset; when one falls on sunrise or sunset it is the hour to be on the stand. The night column tells you whether the coming night is bright or dark: for deer at night take the bright ones, for boar the dark ones. Sit through the whole period.

Weather, wind and snow: what matters more than the Moon

Hunters' rules of thumb, stated as such: a steady barometer and a light, constant wind are good; the first cold snap after a warm spell moves the deer; a falling barometer before a front sends the game to feed early; the day after a storm is quiet. Rain and snow matter more than the Moon: fresh snow shows tracks and moves the boar and foxes; a hard crust keeps the deer to the forest. The measured part: deer activity rises when the temperature falls in autumn and drops in the heat and in deep snow; wild boar feed most in the mild, dark, wet nights of autumn. A thermometer and the wind direction tell more than the calendar.

The months of 2026