IF YOU look in the direction of the eastern horizon early tomorrow evening, and if the sky is clear, you will see the full moon just begin to peep above the sky line. It will be Hunters' Moon, one of a few full moons in the year that has been given a special name in ancient folklore.
The September full moon, or to be more precise, that nearest to the autumn equinox, is called the Harvest Moon. At that time of the year, to the casual observer, the Moon appears to rise at the same time for several succesive nights, almost as it were, taking over from the Sun. Moreover, when it is low in the sky, the early evening Harvest Moon appears much larger than usual, although this is an optical illusion. It was the custom in days gone by for farmers to take ad vantage of the succession of bright moonlit early evenings to gather in their crops.
The October full moon, which occurs tomorrow night, displays very similar characteristics. By now, however, the harvest in olden times would have been well gathered in, and the hunting season would have started, with the Hunters' Moon providing useful light. In addition, the weather of mid October is often much more suitable for hunting than the finer conditions common earlier in the year.
Dogs, apparently, find it easier to track foxes and other game when the ground is damp and the vegetation moist, than they do in hot, dry weather when the woods and fields are parched. Those who claim to know about such things point to the fact that a thoroughly clean, dry hand leaves no perceptible impression on a dry object, but that a moist sweaty hand makes ugly smears on everything it touches. In the same way, we are told, a dry fox leaves hardly any scent behind, but the exudations from a wet animal are caught in abundance by anything it steps upon or rubs against.
Moreover, in hot sunny weather, whatever little scent the fox has left on parched grass is soon carried aloft by convective currents of air rising from the ground. On a moist cloudy day at this time of year, however, there is little or no heating of the oil, and no consequent convection to disperse the scent. As the quarry darts and sallies through the undergrowth in the cool, damp October weather, it leaves a trail that can be followed by a hound, even after many h9urs, with all the certainty ot a tram wheel following its groove.
And perhaps just as importantly, on a hot day a fox can outrun even the best of dogs, but in cool weather the opposite is the case - or so I'm told.