Taking inventory of spots

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justin84
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Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby justin84 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 3:40 am

For a number of reasons, I have been thinking about taking some time and organizing all of the public spots nearby that I want to hunt this year, somewhere other than my head. Lots of new areas on my radar and I don't want to get in a habit of picking one spot because of convenience or forgetting to remember one. Off the top of my head I'd like to list location, preferred wind, drive time, walk time. Nothing fancy, just an easy way to see all of my options based on weather or how much time I have. Last year I ended up re-looking at maps alot to remind myself and it consumed alot of time. Anyone else do this? Find it helpful?


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thwack16
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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby thwack16 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 3:50 am

Yeah, I've been working on something similar for this season. I got the idea from some on here. A stand log in Excel that will allow me to filter for state, property, wind direction, am/pm, and time of season. I posted about it in my journal but here's a pic of it.

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I'd also like to make a separate sheet for each stand and have those sheets hyperlinked from the main log. There I would have the access route, preferred wind, a place to list date, time, sightings, etc. for each hunt in that location.
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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 3:57 am

I have individual log sheets (keep an E version on phone and a hard copy in my book) for each spot. I also have a master file that shows all stands, mineral licks, cameras, etc...

Nothing fancy just something I can have in my truck, on my phone and on my PC at home.

I have all this shown in my on-line HB journal
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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby justdirtyfun » Sat Jul 30, 2016 5:14 am

Justin I am in the same boat. I started a basic list and am trying to have a early /rut/late breakdown. Some stands would be on multiple charts but using a timeline style will keep me in the game.
Hopefully.

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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:06 am

I keep a list of all stand locations. I name each stand/blind. They are grouped by property with wind directions I hunt them with.

Then I keep a winter/spring journal, summer journal, and hunting journal.

This is the first year that I made a journal/log for each property. When I enter my notes into the scouting/hunting journal, I then copy and paste those notes into the appropriate property. I even back dated and documented experiences and everything I could remember about each location.

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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby Peeps22 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:12 am

Although i think it is nice to have some info documented and organized, sometimes i feel it makes things more complicated and overwhelming at times. I try not to over-do it...

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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby justin84 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 8:46 am

Peeps22 wrote:Although i think it is nice to have some info documented and organized, sometimes i feel it makes things more complicated and overwhelming at times. I try not to over-do it...

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I thought the exact same thing (still do actually) but when I started to realize how much time I was spending re-scouting a spot just to check the ideal wind, or maybe to find one close enough I could hit after work before dark, I really am beginning to think having this organized will help me. Just gonna start small, with location, maybe link to map for a visual, travel time, etc and see how that goes.
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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby Dewey » Sat Jul 30, 2016 9:19 am

justin84 wrote:
Peeps22 wrote:Although i think it is nice to have some info documented and organized, sometimes i feel it makes things more complicated and overwhelming at times. I try not to over-do it...

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I thought the exact same thing (still do actually) but when I started to realize how much time I was spending re-scouting a spot just to check the ideal wind, or maybe to find one close enough I could hit after work before dark, I really am beginning to think having this organized will help me. Just gonna start small, with location, maybe link to map for a visual, travel time, etc and see how that goes.

Scoutlook Hunt app works well for this. Plot your stand sites and it displays a ScentCone linked with weather and wind directions so you can visually see what stands may be appropriate for the day. Better yet it will show winds hourly for each day to keep you updated for wind changes. I find it to be very accurate.

Otherwise I plot everything into my gps and than download to aerial and topo maps. Much easier to plan a hunt off this info when you see the big picture. Having pages of stand sites with notes can get overwhelming. I did that before the electronic age but now it would be next to impossible with all the spots I have logged over the last 30 years.

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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby PK_ » Sat Jul 30, 2016 10:58 am

Are you creating maps on google maps?

I have like 30 or so maps. I make one for each WMA I plan to hunt in my home state and make a Map for each state I plan to travel to. You can name the maps, make notes about the entire map and then you can drop waypoints and make notes for each waypoint. I generally keep the waypoints simple; one color for bedding, one for funnels and one for other areas of interest.

All you have to do is log into google maps with your email and create the maps and it will save them, then you can access from anywhere even your smartphone.
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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby Dewey » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:14 am

PK_ wrote:Are you creating maps on google maps?

I have like 30 or so maps. I make one for each WMA I plan to hunt in my home state and make a Map for each state I plan to travel to. You can name the maps, make notes about the entire map and then you can drop waypoints and make notes for each waypoint. I generally keep the waypoints simple; one color for bedding, one for funnels and one for other areas of interest.

All you have to do is log into google maps with your email and create the maps and it will save them, then you can access from anywhere even your smartphone.

That's exactly what I do and also use Garmin Basecamp to store all my waypoints. With my state mapping chips it overlays everything onto topos with public/private boundaries mapped out. I can call up Google Earth from Basecamp and it automatically transfers my waypoints onto the aerial map.

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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby Jphunter » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:15 am

I do something similar to what PK does...I also save a paper copy of gps coordinates with details of what wma In case I lose the map online... Done that before :)

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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby PK_ » Sat Jul 30, 2016 1:44 pm

Dewey wrote:
PK_ wrote:Are you creating maps on google maps?

I have like 30 or so maps. I make one for each WMA I plan to hunt in my home state and make a Map for each state I plan to travel to. You can name the maps, make notes about the entire map and then you can drop waypoints and make notes for each waypoint. I generally keep the waypoints simple; one color for bedding, one for funnels and one for other areas of interest.

All you have to do is log into google maps with your email and create the maps and it will save them, then you can access from anywhere even your smartphone.

That's exactly what I do and also use Garmin Basecamp to store all my waypoints. With my state mapping chips it overlays everything onto topos with public/private boundaries mapped out. I can call up Google Earth from Basecamp and it automatically transfers my waypoints onto the aerial map.

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This sounds like the next step I have been looking to take.
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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby cedarsavage » Sat Jul 30, 2016 2:34 pm

I have a notes app on my phone where I have all my areas seperated and a name for each spot that describes where it is. I like having the notes cuz I write notes about where it is how to access when to hunt etc. I couldn't keep track of them all in my head

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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby justin84 » Tue Aug 02, 2016 2:17 am

Having everything pinned on a map like you guys have mentioned seems like the way to go. I don't think I need more than a visual reminder of what is available, and a quick look at the location will give me a pretty good idea of time to stand and best wind.

I think that's what I'm going to do. I'll play around with Google Earth and Scoutlook and see how it goes. Just need to find some quiet time to dig into this. Great suggestions, everyone.
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Re: Taking inventory of spots

Unread postby JoeRE » Tue Aug 02, 2016 5:13 am

Yea I would stress, everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to prioritizing spots and tracking data. Also if you struggle with indecision to begin with, looking at more things is probably just gonna make that worse. DONT take the fun out of your hunting.

Anyway, for the other nerds out there who enjoy it, I have been pretty old school to date just using a physical map of each area and marking out prepped setups and what conditions (WHEN, WHERE, WHY) are best for each spot - for example: SW wind, tree saddle, morning bed hunt, Mid-October, red oaks. That gives me the info I need to remember the rest, little stuff. I make a new map every year even if most of the setups are the same as last year's, old map goes in a file which I refer to occasionally. I am thinking about moving everything to a GPS platform we will see.

On top of that I make notes on the maps about each year's scouting observations and such. Very helpful to page back through several years of maps for a particular spot and see how deer movement & use varied, and what conditions seemed different.


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