The Hunter's Moon is the first full moon after the Harvest Moon, so it usually falls in October and occasionally in early November. The name refers to the season, after the crops were in, when people hunted and stored meat for the winter, with the fields cleared and a bright, early-rising Moon to see by. In English, the name has been in print since the early 1700s, which makes it one of the older full moon names in the almanac list.
How the Hunter's Moon gets its date
The Hunter's Moon has no fixed month of its own. It depends on the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon nearest the September equinox. Count one full moon on from that, about 29.5 days, and you have the Hunter's Moon.
That gives it a window from roughly the second week of October to the first week of November. In years when the Harvest Moon falls in early October, the Hunter's Moon moves into November, and November's usual name, the Beaver Moon, gets bumped for the year. Our full moon calendar gives the next twelve full moons with their names and signs, so you don't need to do the counting.
Where the name comes from
Unlike several names in the modern list, the Hunter's Moon has a well-documented English pedigree. The Oxford English Dictionary traces it in print to 1710, in a London periodical that credited the term to country people. It belongs with the Harvest Moon as part of an older rural pair: first you gathered the crops, then you went after the game that had fattened on what was left in the fields.
North American almanacs adopted the name and kept it for October. The Old Farmer's Almanac explains it as the month when game is fattening for winter. Some almanac lists also give the October full moon the names Blood Moon or Sanguine Moon, linked to the hunting season, which is one reason searches for "blood moon" turn up October full moons alongside eclipses. For the eclipse meaning, see blood moon meaning.
As with all the almanac names, Indigenous nations in North America had their own names for the lunar months, which varied by nation and language, and they shouldn't be confused with this English one.
Still rising early
The Hunter's Moon shares a little of the Harvest Moon's trick. Around both, at mid-northern latitudes, the full moon rises only a short time later from one evening to the next, rather than the usual fifty minutes or so. The cause is the shallow angle at which the Moon's path meets the eastern horizon in autumn evenings: its daily eastward move along that path carries it mostly sideways rather than downward, so moonrise barely shifts.
The effect is usually a bit weaker for the Hunter's Moon than for the Harvest Moon, because it's farther from the equinox. But it's still noticeable, and for anyone tracking deer at dusk or walking home across a field, a bright Moon arriving around sunset several nights running was useful. If you want the geometry in more detail, it's in Harvest Moon meaning.
Like any full moon seen near the horizon, the Hunter's Moon often looks big and orange as it rises. The color comes from looking through more of Earth's atmosphere, and the size is mostly the Moon illusion.
The turn toward winter
The Hunter's Moon sits at the hinge of the year in the north: the last warm afternoons, the first frosts, leaves coming down. Its season overlaps with Samhain, the Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest and the start of winter, traditionally celebrated from the evening of October 31 into November 1 in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Samhain was fixed to that date rather than to the Moon, but in some years a full moon falls close by. Our guide to Samhain traditions covers the festival itself.
Reading the Hunter's Moon in astrology
The Hunter's Moon falls with the Sun in Libra or Scorpio, so the full Moon sits opposite in Aries or Taurus.
A Hunter's Moon in Aries, with the Sun in Libra, is about pursuit. Aries is the sign of going after what you want, and Libra the sign of the other person's needs. Astrologers read it as a time when the urge to act alone runs into the wish to keep the peace. The reflective question: what are you chasing, and is it still what you want?
A Hunter's Moon in Taurus, with the Sun in Scorpio, is about provision. The Moon is traditionally said to be exalted, at its strongest, in Taurus, the sign of food, comfort and security, while Scorpio is the sign of what's shared, owed and hidden. Astrologers read this as a full moon about what you're storing up, materially and emotionally. The question: what do you need to feel secure through the winter, and what can you let go of?
The full moon itself is read as a culmination, a time to take stock rather than start over. If you'd like a sense of the Scorpio season around it, see Scorpio traits.
Five ways to mark a Hunter's Moon
None of these involve hunting.
- Catch the moonrise. Find out when the Moon rises in your area and be somewhere with a view east. It's the most rewarding few minutes of the evening.
- Do a pantry stocktake. Go through the cupboard and freezer. Use up what's old, list what you need, and cook something warming.
- Mend one thing. A coat button, a leaking tap, a bike chain. Winter preparation, in miniature.
- Ask one question. Draw three cards for "what to keep, what to let go, what to prepare," using our free three-card reading.
- Call someone. The hunting party was never a solo affair. Check in with the people you'd want around you in winter.
Questions readers ask
Is the Hunter's Moon always in October?
Usually, but not always. It's the full moon after the Harvest Moon, so in years when the Harvest Moon falls in early October, the Hunter's Moon comes in late October or early November.
Is the Hunter's Moon a blood moon?
Only in the sense that some almanac lists give Blood Moon as one of its alternative names. A blood moon in the modern sense is a total lunar eclipse, which can happen at any full moon that falls near a lunar node, in any month.
Why does the Hunter's Moon look orange?
All full moons look orange when they're low in the sky, because Earth's atmosphere scatters away blue light. The Hunter's Moon is often seen rising at dusk, so people tend to catch it at its most orange. It whitens as it climbs.
Is the Hunter's Moon the same as the Harvest Moon?
No, though they're related. The Harvest Moon is the full moon nearest the September equinox. The Hunter's Moon is the one after it, about a month later. Both rise early on successive evenings at mid-northern latitudes, the Harvest Moon a little more so.
