I wonder how many of you keep a log of your hunts. Years ago, (1982) I chose to use an Excel spreadsheet to record my hunting activities. How many of you keep some kind of hunting log as a way of recording the details and memories of your hunts. I chose a spreadsheet because of the analytical capabilities.
Hunting Log Spreadsheet
From 1982 through 2010, I kept a massive spreadsheet that recorded and analyzed every stand ever created in my hunting area around the valley and hill top (114 different stands). It takes in a huge amount of acreage and a massive amount of individual hunts.
From this data, I could sort out what stands were most productive, and which weather and dates they were productive in various deer sighting. What areas were most productive and when and under what weather conditions and times of day.
Below are the headings of each hunt that I went on and the kind of data I collected. Each hunt was recorded in a notebook and then transferred into the spreadsheet over the dead parts of winter. It was kind of a fun activity which taught me quite a bit about my hunting area and the deer movements in that area. It has also served as an interesting set of memory joggers that are fun to review at times.
Log number: Numerical order tracking number for each hunt.
Date: Date of the hunt
Location: Written description of the spot where the deer encounters occurred
Number of deer sighted: Self explanatory.
Time of day: am or pm
Weather: Raining, clear, cloudy, snowing,
Temperature: Warm, cold, hot, moderate
Wind Direction: N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW, Variable
Wind Velocity: Calm, windy, breezy, light
Entry Direction: Which way did the deer come in from (N, S, E, W, bedded)
Exit Direction: Which way did the deer run (N, S, E, W)
Hunter Action: None, shot, passed
Results: None, Deer spooked, Deer walked on, Kill, Miss, Wound
Hunting Style: walking from stand, walking to stand, standing, still hunting,
Hunter: Me, my Brother-in-law, sons, other
Bucks: How many bucks encountered
Does: How many does encountered
Unidentified: How many unidentified deer were encountered
Location Code: The entire hunting area was broken into 9 different large areas
Stand Number: every stand had a number and description in another spreadsheet
Closest Stand: When walking and deer were encountered, what was the nearest stand number?
Moday: A sortable number involving the month and the day. Used to pick specific dates of encounters.
Uphill: Notation used to analyze uphill movements and encounters
Downhill: Notation to analyze valley bottom movements and encounters
Sidehill: Notation used to analyze deer movements and locations on the side-hill of the valley
Remarks: A place to note oddities of encounters
Year: What year did this encounter take place. Used for sorting purposes.
It was all a fun activity, but took in so many years that I found that human and natural changes made some of the analytical conclusions no longer accurate or useful. So I discontinued it in 2010. There were things like a couple of massive ice storms, logging operations and new hunting cabins and residences and posted land and other interruptions that messed up past observations. So as an analytical tool it began to lose its value. However as a record of individual hunts it is still fun to go back and read about those 28 years of hunting details.