Write it down!

[JNRBRONC]

Reading about someone's first buck made me think back to last week. I was standing in the shed looking at the racks on the wall. All have the year taken written under them. Some of the hunts were as vivid as the day they were taken. No troubles with the story of my first buck, as that hunt is burnt into my brain only to be lost with my last dying breath. Others had me scratching my head putting pieces of vague memories togethor. I started to regret not keeping some type of written log, maybe just a page placed in a ziplock bag fastened to the antlers or stapled underneath. I can roughly recall the events of each harvest, but as the years go by, little tidbits fall out. Will I have enough pieces for a story in 10 years? To sit down 20 years from now and read a detailed account of the hunt would be heart warming. To share it with a grandchild could be priceless. Once the history is gone, it's gone.

 

[NebraskaWhitetail]

I started keeping a hunting journal and it goes with me each day to the stand. Each hunt is recorded there, along with what was seen, observations of activity (new scrapes, rubs, etc.). I put a copy of the sunrise/sunset tables in there too so it's always handy. Journaling is a good habit to get into. It takes a little discipline to establish, but once you do, you'll be glad that you went to the effort.

 

[dbltree]

[ QUOTE ]
I was standing in the shed looking at the racks on the wall.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess we know where your "man room" is

Your right though, if you don't keep a journal, some hunts will get very blurry in a few years.

Others of course...every detail is there for eternity.

Lately my son asks me to tell him hunting stories from the past...man that's cool

I remember being young and listening to old hunting stories (many "yarns" I'm sure

) but it sure stirs a young mans soul

 

[NWBuck]

I have kept a written journal since 1991. It takes a little time, but with the format now set up on my computer, really not much. I started doing this thinking it would be valuable from one year to the next in terms of hunt location, time, wind direction, etc. Come to find out, I don't use it much for that purpose. Most of those details a person just remembers. I have continued doing it because I absolutely love going back and reading and recalling details of previous hunts. Not just hunts where I actually harvested something, but maybe how I screwed up. Or possibly notes on a very enjoyable hunt with a member of my family...stuff like that is great reading. About the same time I started a photo album with just hunting and fishing pictures. Both are items I consider more valuable than any of the mounts on my walls.

NWBuck

 

[JNRBRONC]

[ QUOTE ]

I guess we know where your "man room" is

[/ QUOTE ]

When the moths started flying out of the ears of a couple of mounts, I got banished to the shed.

Can't say as I blame her. Mothy mounts? Another case of you get what you pay for, I guess, went cheap on a starting taxidermist.

 

[CR Archer]

What I do is keep a scrapbook of my outdoor activities.

A 12" x 12" album that can be bought at any Scrapbook store. You can mount the pictures in it and have plenty of room to record details and stories of the hunt.

It will turn into a "brag" book and everyone I show it to wishes they had started one.

Mine now goes back to 1987 and I wished I had pictures from earlier in my life to add.

 

[doublerack]

This is just my 5th year bow hunting. I can only remember about half of all my hunts up to this year, but can remember each hunt that I shot a deer or even shot and missed in good detail. Not wanting to forget the little things (like other wildlife observed and moments that make for a good hunt even when no deer were shot) motivated me to start keeping journal this year. I have documented each hunt with date, time, location, wind direction and temp and a short narrative on what I saw that day. Although I don't always get that days hunt written in stand, I get it down the next day while it's still fresh in my mind. It has actually become addicting the more I write. Plus, it helps to pass the time.

 

[SaskGuy]

I started one a few years ago. I added in stuff from the past that I remembered, funny things, successful hunts, unsuccessful hunts etc. I started it with the idea that one day, when I am dead and gone that people in my family will have a better insight to the live I once lived and loved.

I thought I'd add that mine is more of a journal, less of a log. I don't keep track of things like temp, wind, etc. Just things I did, things I saw, where i was, what I thought. etc.

 

[bowhuntr311]

Logs....
My hunting group started keeping a log around 95 or 96. I can remember the group talking about if they would have had one from years before that and how they SHOULD have one and didnt. It still took a few years of talking about before someone brought a notebook and pen to hunting camp. It sure is neat looking back now evn on my entries as my first year hunting and before I could hunt. Now most of the entries are by me.

This year I started keeping a log of my hunting: Date, location, what I saw, weather. I can already tell I this is going to be a good tool next year.

A friends dad had been keeping a log of every deer he had shot since 70. Date, Time, location down to the quarter section on the platbook, temp. Unreal the logs. Sure was neat.

Dean

 

[1arrow]

started using one when I took up this crazy bow hunting sport. Neat to look back and see what actually happened to make me so crazy for this sport.

 

[jkratz5]

The fiance bought me an one of the online journals (I think from HS) for a stocking stuffer 4 years ago. Since then I have documented each hunt the evening after hunting. It is pretty nice, has all the little details you need in drop down boxes, and then foom to make notes on your observations. It is definitely a great tool and an awesome way to keep those hunts fresh in your mind.

 

[Fishbonker]

Just before I signed on I wrote this mornings hunt in my hunting log that was given to me by a member of this site back in 2003 (thanks again Mike). I went thought all of my entries to see if this morning’s hunt was the coldest since I had started bow hunting. This morning’s temp was 24 beating the temp of 28 on Dec 29, 2004. I originally started keeping track of the temps and what I wore so I could just look back in the log to find a day with similar weather conditions, what I wore and if I stayed warm or not.

I keep entries for date, place, weather from the weather radio, sun and moon rise and set, moon phase, what time I got to the stand, what time I got out of the stand, what, when and where I saw any deer or any thing of interest, solunar tables and of course what clothing combinations I wore. If I was lucky enough to kill a deer I would try to list every detail of the kill and recovery.

I have four of the five years I’ve been bow hunting in the log. That is nothing compared to some of you who have been pulling the string back and making log entries for decades, but it is a wealth of information for me as I’m sure your logs are to you.

Unless you have total recall, you should be keeping a log. It is easy, it is educational and it is a window to your past, not only for you, but those that come after you.

The ‘Bonker

 

[vman]

You guys have more time than me. I personally hate typing, writing or anything along that line.

Good luck with it. I just dont see how it would help me much. It just seems like busy work.

 

[MNHunter]

I started using spreadsheets a few years ago to keep track of a few things.

Date - Temp - Wind - Pressure - Sky - Stand Location (have names for my setups) - Does - Bucks - Misc Comments (decoy - scents - turkeys, ect......)

What I am hoping is that tracking this information I can use it in future hunts.

 

[Bowhuntingboy]

I've been bow hunting for 7 years and have kept journals for the last 6 years. The stats you get from these are priceless! At the end of each year I calculate simple stats like the amount of deer seen per hunt... Then in later years when you're having a bad stretch where you're not seeing many deer you can refer to your stats and see that on average you should see 1.35 deer per hunt or that the longest stretch of hunts having not seen anything is 6 days or that you so deer on 53% of hunts you went on, or whatever. It keeps you motivated to keep going because you will see deer... the numbers show it!

It doesn't take long either once you have a simplistic method set up.

My journal is in a three-ring binder with a bunch of loose-leaf paper. Each hunt I write the following headings to keep things standard and not confusing:

-Date:
-Place:
-Time:
-Temp:
-Wind:
-Weather:
-Foliagelike how much leaves are still on the trees-visibility)
-Hunting StyleTree stand, ground stand...
-Terrain
-Scent Screen
-Scent Attractant:
-Calling methodsDecoy, rattling, mock scrapes...)
-Wildlife activityHigh, medium, low)
-Deer SpottedI usually only count them if they are 'huntable'... I've been strictly not counting anything out further than 100 yards)
-Type of Deer Spotted:
-Deer Harvested:
-NotesThis is where you could write the 'story' version of the hunt

I do not regret journaling at all. It only takes 5 minutes after each hunt. After each season you can make stats and compare years. A good example is the stat of using scent attractants verus not using scent attractants: Over 6 years I have seen 0.2 more deer per hunt while using scent attractants during a hunt than if I had not. These are the kind of stats that are handy to know.