Journals and Record keeping
- E72
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Journals and Record keeping
Now that 90% of our hunts are on public land ,adding new spots all time ...I'd like to start keeping a record of as much info as possible and wondered what the most efficient way right after a scout or hunt to do this would be? I don't want lose this info and prefer using my iPhone but using an app, I would need a data signal and we get very little Internet service where we hunt . Any examples on how or when most of you guys record and store your notes also what else I could be logging besides the obvious deer sign , weather , standsites , etc .
- Dewey
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
Everything is handwritten immediately after a hunt while it's still fresh in my mind. I log all of the basics along with any comments about important observations I made during the hunt. It's very interesting comparing season to season and seeing how patterns develop in certain spots. Glad I started doing this many years ago as it's really neat looking back and reliving those hunts.
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
Scouting I carry a note book and jot note as I go. Through the season I write down temps, wind direction, speed, barometric pressure, % of foliage, before I leave the vehicle. I fill in the rest as soon as I return. JoeRE had a great journal entry about it in his 2015 that I modeled my spreadsheet on.
- PSDBowhunter
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
tbunao wrote:Scouting I carry a note book and jot note as I go. Through the season I write down temps, wind direction, speed, barometric pressure, % of foliage, before I leave the vehicle. I fill in the rest as soon as I return. JoeRE had a great journal entry about it in his 2015 that I modeled my spreadsheet on.
Do you have a link to that thread by chance?
I've started to journal in past years but never really kept up with it. I'm planning on being devoted to it this year. I thought about using Google Sheets on my phone. This can be used offline and then synced when you get service/internet again.
- Boogieman1
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
The past few years I use a voice recorder I leave in the truck. It works good 4 me, cause in years past I would come home starving, cold and dog tired and simply not do it. This way I have the info and when I have time I go back and write it all down.
Life is hard; It’s even harder if you are stupid.
-John Wayne-
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
Dewey wrote:Everything is handwritten immediately after a hunt while it's still fresh in my mind. I log all of the basics along with any comments about important observations I made during the hunt. It's very interesting comparing season to season and seeing how patterns develop in certain spots. Glad I started doing this many years ago as it's really neat looking back and reliving those hunts.
I started doing this last fall, and I wish I would have started a long time ago.
- Jhand
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
I carry a small little note book with me the once that fit right in your pocket. I write down everything when it happens that way I don't forget anything. I draw a map for every sit also to give me a visual idea too. Last season was my first season using it, need to transfer everything over to the computer but haven't done it yet. I really need to start taking one when I go scouting that way I can write down little details about each spot that I can't mark on the GPS.
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
PSDBowhunter wrote:tbunao wrote:Scouting I carry a note book and jot note as I go. Through the season I write down temps, wind direction, speed, barometric pressure, % of foliage, before I leave the vehicle. I fill in the rest as soon as I return. JoeRE had a great journal entry about it in his 2015 that I modeled my spreadsheet on.
Do you have a link to that thread by chance?
I've started to journal in past years but never really kept up with it. I'm planning on being devoted to it this year. I thought about using Google Sheets on my phone. This can be used offline and then synced when you get service/internet again.
Go to Best all time tactical thread and the JoeRe 2015 journal. I believe it's around page 6 but this thread was effected by photobucket so there isn't a photo. I can take a pic of mine later and post it. It's an exact replica
- Abishai
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
I made an Excel Spreadsheet that I use to record my hunt data. I do it for deer and turkey season with similar (but different) data blocks pertaining to each species. I've been doing it this way for about 3 years. At the end of the season it's easy to account for deer seen, positive and negative stands, sits, etc. and to see weather patterns, etc.
While in the woods, if I have phone service I'll pull up maps and screenshot locations and put notes in my iPhone notes section, sometimes adding pictures. I'll go back and post the links in my data spreadsheet. It's not necessarily a "journal" but a logbook. I do allow myself to write out a journal type entry at the end of each hunt and put a synopsis of the hunt as I saw it or to add pertinent info. Again, I enjoy doing it and it has helped me see some patterns. The data isn't always complete, because sometimes I forget to log the weather and stuff, but it's generally worked out pretty well for me.
While in the woods, if I have phone service I'll pull up maps and screenshot locations and put notes in my iPhone notes section, sometimes adding pictures. I'll go back and post the links in my data spreadsheet. It's not necessarily a "journal" but a logbook. I do allow myself to write out a journal type entry at the end of each hunt and put a synopsis of the hunt as I saw it or to add pertinent info. Again, I enjoy doing it and it has helped me see some patterns. The data isn't always complete, because sometimes I forget to log the weather and stuff, but it's generally worked out pretty well for me.
“If you consider an unsuccessful hunt to be a waste of time, then the true meaning of the chase eludes you all together.”– Fred Bear
- whitetailassasin
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
I don't usually see a lot of deer, so keeping tabs of the ones I do see is easy. I hunt beds whether early or rut time. Bedding for me is where it's at. I name my locations so I have a general location I can write my sets. I log wind, time of year, time, moon phase when I feel like it applies, and other factors. I have a file catalog I store all my data in. I also log food and what kind of pressure I observed. Because food changes from year to year, it helps for the years when lets say oaks drop. I remember a lot so I don't really need to carry things to jot things down. Scouting is different. I definitely do that. I write down everything I see. Because I reference that with my aerials and locations and food, you name it.
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
I put it in my phone on a note app then put it on paper and on the computer in case the hard copy gets lost or thrown away. I also save it in multiple places on the computer in case of a crash. Better to be overprepared then to risk losing valuable info.
- Killemquietly
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
Evernote app. their moniker is "remember everything" i use it in my Real Estate business, but I certainly have a notebook titled "hunting" and another titled "deer log" They have a free version, medium priced and premium version ($75/year) The free version is more than adequate for your purposed purpose. This app is one of the most useful of all time.
- stash59
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
Because of my Chronic Lyme I can't read my own writing. Punching keys on my GPS is also difficult and takes forever to describe a marker. Same reason I don't own a smart phone. Can't hit those little keys.
For scouting I take alot of pics with my GPS capable camera. So when I find a bed I first take a pic of the bed from straight above it. Then always take one facing north, then east, then south, then west. Always in that order. This way when I get home and put the bed locations on GoogleEarth. I can look at the uploaded pictures, which are numbered, to see which wind the bed is used on. Using that in the bed description.
I also take pics of possible ground blind locations to hunt each bed. Since I don't usually have the energy to set them up then and there.
Hopefully getting back to set them up.
For season I need to do a better job of keeping records and data. Just need to figure out a way that will work for me with my physical limitations. Like someone else mentioned. I'm dog tired by the time I get home, so I don't do it. Guess I need to find my old mini tape recorder that I used back when I was elk hunting. Then find a willing secretary to type it all down for me. On some kind of spreadsheet.
For scouting I take alot of pics with my GPS capable camera. So when I find a bed I first take a pic of the bed from straight above it. Then always take one facing north, then east, then south, then west. Always in that order. This way when I get home and put the bed locations on GoogleEarth. I can look at the uploaded pictures, which are numbered, to see which wind the bed is used on. Using that in the bed description.
I also take pics of possible ground blind locations to hunt each bed. Since I don't usually have the energy to set them up then and there.
Hopefully getting back to set them up.
For season I need to do a better job of keeping records and data. Just need to figure out a way that will work for me with my physical limitations. Like someone else mentioned. I'm dog tired by the time I get home, so I don't do it. Guess I need to find my old mini tape recorder that I used back when I was elk hunting. Then find a willing secretary to type it all down for me. On some kind of spreadsheet.
Happiness is a large gutpile!!!!!!!
- tgreeno
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
I have always gone by memory before this season. Doesn't really work very well. This year I'm doing a journal, and I numbered all my spot on google earth, and have a spreadsheet with wind directions needed & descriptions. I will debrief every sit in my journal with all relevant information right after the hunt. Exactly what I do while scouting. So all the details are fresh in my mind. Seeing I'm sitting almost 100% virgin spots this year, historical data will be important.
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It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
- E72
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Re: Journals and Record keeping
Good stuff guys . Thanks
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