Study Material - Daily Push for Success

[Brad]

It might sound weird to some or basic but im ALWAYS thinking about deer and reflecting on prior hunts, Sometimes even hunts from years and years ago will just pop into my head and ill reflect on what went right, what went wrong, etc. Sometimes this leads to me heading out to scout properties i intended on hunting but are now long forgotten just to freshen up what i liked about the area and if it still applies, should i hunt it next year, or whatever. Heck, i scout properties ill never hunt while driving 80 mph down the freeway. Drives my wife nuts when i point out a big rub or something i saw just inside the treeline and then start thinking out loud where that buck is now and why was he there.

Might be something wrong with me

if that means there's something wrong with you, then there's something wrong with me too. I scout while driving all of the time, pretty much everywhere I go. I scout while walking at the park with my family, pointing out tracks and little rubs, trying to figure out why the deer may be traveling a certain path, etc. no matter where I am. I don't know that it means there is something "wrong" with guys like us... but there's definitely something different.

[Coalcracker]

Thanks for the pointers guys. Something else I would ask that pertains to this is what format do you use for hunting journals? Seems alot of people use a note book but do any of you out there use more tech? Like excel, one note etc. I was thinking of really beginning to keep track of sign pictures, deer pictures, hunt notes, weather patterns etc in that way.
Seems like a good way to build up alot of data over the years.
Anyone else tried this?

I use my phone app.. Every year I change colors with icons and write in a note: date, conditions and what happened. At one time I went over the top marking sign. My maps were a literal maze. Some of this I kept because it shows definite travel patterns. But now, I look for yearly(historical) sign- bedding, rubbing, scrapes. They get the special red designation for historical, yearly, heavily used, hunt here. Every time I hunt a specific location it gets an icon. I make notes of the date or dates I hunt the spot, conditions and if anything happened. I also believe you can overload yourself with data. If your anything like me, more info can cause over analyzing. Options become endless and decision making more difficult. Some people are more capable of keeping large volumes of data organized and easily making decisions. I'm not one of those guys. If I hunted several specific stand locations all the time, collecting all that data would probably be more worth while but I hunt several areas and many locations within the area based on sign at the moment.


[sub]So I am assuming this is all stored on your phone and computer? Do you pair any of it with trail cam data?[/sub]
As for study material, I use this site, other web outlets, read books etc. but most importantly, I study what's going on where I hunt. I try to understand everything there is to know about the areas I hunt. Most of which is learned over years. One of the biggest challenges is keeping up with changes. From habitat to hunting pressure, it can change very rapidly or so slow you hardly notice.

CEG- I use trail cameras on a VERY limited basis. I use them for "inventory" on private land at food sources and use them for "inventory" on public land AFTER the season to identify survivors. IF, I even use them at ALL. On public land I don't want anyone knowing the specific area I'm targeting period. On the private land we have noticed definite shifts in movement with the oldest bucks from checking cameras so we now use them strictly at non-invasive inventory locations. Its bad enough big bucks leave big buck sign, I don't want to add to the "problem" by having someone see my camera especially on public. I fret over my climber leaving scrapes on a tree!!
I do store my information on the hunting app. which is accessible from my phone and computer. I have never paired it with a trail camera but I can download pics taken from the camera or photo's from my phone and put them in the hunting app.

[CEG017]

It might sound weird to some or basic but im ALWAYS thinking about deer and reflecting on prior hunts, Sometimes even hunts from years and years ago will just pop into my head and ill reflect on what went right, what went wrong, etc. Sometimes this leads to me heading out to scout properties i intended on hunting but are now long forgotten just to freshen up what i liked about the area and if it still applies, should i hunt it next year, or whatever. Heck, i scout properties ill never hunt while driving 80 mph down the freeway. Drives my wife nuts when i point out a big rub or something i saw just inside the treeline and then start thinking out loud where that buck is now and why was he there.

Might be something wrong with me

if that means there's something wrong with you, then there's something wrong with me too. I scout while driving all of the time, pretty much everywhere I go. I scout while walking at the park with my family, pointing out tracks and little rubs, trying to figure out why the deer may be traveling a certain path, etc. no matter where I am. I don't know that it means there is something "wrong" with guys like us... but there's definitely something different.

I am completely the same way. It consumes me most days and I really am only getting started with being serious about hunting. I have hunted for the past 10 years on the family farm but feel like I am just now advancing my skill set and trying to focus on hunting in many places. This was my first season doing this and I didnt have alot of success. But in a way this was one of my most memorable because I spent so much time trying to learn. I am hooked and trying to improve everyday in one way or another. Which is why I started the thread so thank you everyone for the input!