Hunting and Fishing Tools
Free hunting and fishing tools for your ZIP code, built to run in your browser. Nothing here asks for an email address, an account or a payment. Every tool works out its own answer on your device from the date and location you give it, so nothing you type is sent anywhere. The reference tables each tool is built from are printed as plain text on the tool’s own page, so they can be read without JavaScript.
Every hunting and fishing tool on Popular Outdoorsman
| Tool | What it answers | What it is built from | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deer Movement Forecast by ZIP | When whitetails are most likely to be on their feet where you hunt, today and for the next seven days. | Sun and moon positions worked out from your coordinates, plus the peak breeding dates your state wildlife agency publishes. | September 2026 |
| Best Fishing Times by ZIP | The major and minor feeding windows for the next seven days, and how much prime light each day gives you. | The same sun and moon engine, framed for anglers. | September 2026 |
| State Hunting Season and Regulation Hub | Where the official season dates and rules live for all fifty states. | Direct links to each state wildlife agency. | September 2026 |
| Fishing Knots Reference | Which knot to tie, and how to tie it. | Step-by-step illustrated reference. | July 2026 |
How the sun and moon times are checked
The two forecast tools share one astronomy engine. Its output is checked against the United States Naval Observatory, which publishes sunrise, sunset, twilight, moonrise, moonset and moon transit times for any coordinates and date.
The check run on 15 September 2026 used Madison, Wisconsin at 43.0731 north, 89.4012 west. The engine and the Naval Observatory agreed to the minute on every value: civil dawn 6:09 a.m., sunrise 6:37 a.m., sunset 7:07 p.m., civil dusk 7:36 p.m., moonrise 11:44 a.m., moonset 8:56 p.m., moon overhead 4:23 p.m., and 22 percent of the moon lit. The same check at Anchorage, Alaska agreed on sunrise and sunset exactly and on moonset to within one minute.
The time zone is worked out from the ZIP code and the date, so Arizona is handled without daylight saving and the states that straddle two zones are split by longitude. You can override it by hand if you are hunting across a zone line.
What these hunting and fishing tools do not claim
The forecast tools compute solunar periods and show them, but they do not let moon position drive the score. GPS-collar research has repeatedly failed to find a usable link between moon phase and whitetail movement, and the tools say so on the page rather than selling a number the evidence does not support. What the same research does support, and what the score is built on, is time of day and where the date sits in your state’s breeding chronology.
Data updated September 2026.