The hunter's moon is October’s full moon. The next one is full on Monday 26 October 2026 at 4:12am GMT.
What is the October full moon called?
The Hunter's Moon. In the words of Royal Museums Greenwich: After the harvest moon comes the hunter's moon, in the preferred month to hunt summer-fattened deer and fox unable to hide in bare fields.
It is defined by the harvest moon, as the full moon after it, so it moves with that one: in a year when the harvest moon falls in early October, the hunter's moon can slip into early November.
Watching the hunter's moon from the UK
October full moons climb back up the sky as the year turns, and the nights are long enough to watch one properly without staying up to the small hours. In 2026 the moment of full falls at 4:12am, so the evening either side is the practical time to look.
October brings back long nights and a moon on the rise again, and the clocks going back at the end of the month puts moonrise back into the early evening. The air is often washed clean after autumn rain, which is when the Moon looks its hardest-edged. Of the autumn moons it is the one that asks least of you: up in the early evening, no need to stay awake for it.
How high the hunter's moon climbs
From Greenwich on the night of 25 to 26 October 2026, 4 of 2026’s full moons climb higher than the hunter's moon and 8 stay lower.
| Hunter's Moon rises | 4:02pm, east |
|---|---|
| Hunter's Moon at its highest | 11:27pm, 54° up, due south |
| Hunter's Moon sets | 7:13am, north-west |
| Time above the horizon | 15 hours for the Hunter's Moon |
| Sun at 11:27pm | 51° below the horizon |
Also in the October sky
The Orionid meteor shower peaks around 21 October, its meteors left by Halley's Comet. The clocks go back on the last Sunday of the month, which brings dark evenings back for anyone watching before bed.
For October’s meteor dates and how much the Moon gets in the way, see UK meteor showers and the Moon.
What people get wrong about the hunter's moon
That it is bigger or brighter than the others. It is not; it follows the harvest moon and inherits some of the same early-moonrise effect, which is why both got names for working late. Size is decided by the Moon's distance that month, not by the label.
Searching for it? The plain phrase “hunter's moon” mostly returns a London pub and a Hungry Horse chain venue. Adding the year gets past that.
Hunter's Moon dates, London time
- 2026: Monday 26 October 2026 at 4:12am (GMT)
- 2027: Friday 15 October 2027 at 2:47pm (BST)
The 2026 hunter's moon time is from NASA and the Royal Observatory; 2027 is NASA only until the Observatory publishes.
In 2027 the hunter's moon falls on Friday 15 October 2027. Why named full moons drift.
The hunter's moon in the sequence
In 2026 the hunter's moon is the eleventh of 13 full moons. It comes after the Harvest Moon (Saturday 26 September 2026), and the Beaver Moon follows it on Tuesday 24 November 2026. On the nights either side of the hunter's moon the Moon isn’t quite full: it’s a waxing, then a waning, gibbous, and the eight phases of the Moon explains both.
Any moon print can be checked the same way, hunter's moon or not: how to tell an accurate moon phase print.
Written by Craig Fearn, Aphelion Prints. Last updated .
