Record keeping

[Buck_shooter]

I have a habit of making note of any and all buck related info for the areas I hunt. Unfortunately I have a ton of info but have no idea how to make sense of it and learn from it. I've recorded all trail cam photos during hunting seasons for the past several years with as much info as I can about weather conditions and solunar data. I also make little notes of all bucks I know are killed in areas I hunt with as much info as I can get about them. Does anyone else do this and how do you put all of the info into some sort of order that makes sense. I'd like to use it to learn how deer use the areas that I hunt under different conditions but all I have is a bunch of cluttered data. Help please!

[Steve D]

I keep information on all hunts and  when I don't hunt I make notes of why I didn't. I do this from the beginning of hunting season til the end. I keep it all in a 81/2 x 11 office calendar. At the end of the season or when it is convenient I tally it all up. And set it aside for reference later. They store flat and don't take up a lot of room. Be amazed when you look back years later and see what happen compared to now. I refer to them often from time to time and figure if nothing else I will have some good reading material when I get to old to hunt. I can set in my easy chair and go back in time.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Steve D

[Core]

Last year I kept it in an online spreadsheet but have been very lax this year. It seems like a good idea.

One good thing I did was use "my maps" on google maps, you can make custom maps with a bunch of stuff overlaid over google maps and even pull it up on your phone. This way at the public land I have made notes about paths, areas, etc. i started noting sightings but it would be hard to effectively show sightings as a percentage of visits in an effort to identify high frequency areas.

[Nomad]

Years back I had a poster thing from Deer and Deerhunting mag.

What was nice was you basically just checked off boxes and filled in a few notes, this was for kills. Hunter, distance of shot, weapon, tracking distance , method, area and so on . Was nice to look,back,over the years .

Today I don't keep any records, other then then the DEC bowhunters log. Which also is easy and fun to,look back at. This year 23 hours on stand 25 deer sited , one buck killed.

oh if I just saw off the skull plate I write date, weapon ,distance , location and so on ,on it .

[tuckersdaddy]

I have a habit of making note of any and all buck related info for the areas I hunt. Unfortunately I have a ton of info but have no idea how to make sense of it and learn from it. I've recorded all trail cam photos during hunting seasons for the past several years with as much info as I can about weather conditions and solunar data. I also make little notes of all bucks I know are killed in areas I hunt with as much info as I can get about them. Does anyone else do this and how do you put all of the info into some sort of order that makes sense. I'd like to use it to learn how deer use the areas that I hunt under different conditions but all I have is a bunch of cluttered data. Help please!

Oh how i wish more property owners did this! Start with a map of the area, and pin the harvests, pin the cam sightings of deer you would have like to harvested, then pin general sightings of other deer. Get the layout of what on the ground at Those times, then you can compair all the info within the clusters that should develop. You will then be able to better guess where the deer will be and why. Was it food, cover or rut that put them at certain time and places? if its raining are they in another? does wind direction push them to somewhere else? You already have the toughest part done (gathering the info) now have some fun even after the season and see if you can start predicting herds or single deer. Also good for finding out other things such as preditors and tresspassing. Also you can use it to keep tabs on your herd or for planning plots and property improvement. If its your property keep the cams up year round. the more info you plug in the better you will be.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[Doc]

From 1882 to 2010 I kept complete records of every hunting trip and every hunting trip for both bow and gun. I kept it in a huge Excel spreadsheet so I could do math analysis on where the deer were, what genders, dates, what stands, wind directions, wind speeds (in generic terms), temperatures (In generic terms), weather conditions (clear, rain, snow, overcast, etc).general areas (uphill, downhill, side hill), entry directions, exit directions, deer reactions, hunter reactions, results, hunting style (standing, still hunting, scouting).

Actual headings:

LOG NUMBER

DATE

LOCATION

NUMBER OF DEER SIGHTED

TIME

WEATHER

TEMP

WIND DIR

WIND VELOCITY

ENTRY DIR

EXIT DIR

HUNTER ACTION

RESULTS

HNTG STYLE

HUNTER

BUCKS (QTY)

DOES (QTY)

UNIDENT IFIED (QTY)

SAW A BUCK

0=NO

1=YES

SAW A DOE

0=NO

1=YES

SAW AN UNIDENT

0=NO

1=YES

LOC CODE

STAND NO

CLOSEST STAND

MODAY

UPHILL

DOWNHILL

REMARKS

YEAR

from all this data, I could analyze what times of year that deer movement became concentrated in valley bottoms vs. hill tops, what stands were the most productive given specific weather and wind directions, What areas were traditionally rut areas.

 

So I had 28 years of comprehensive data on the herd in my area. It also serves as a very detailed hunting diary.

 

What was the down-side?.... the analysis side was good only for short numbers of years. Today, none of this hunting area looks anything like it did when the database began. Open fields have turned into brushlots and even young maple thickets. A major ice storm totally destroyed patterns and trails. There was no details of food source changes and availabilities. Land use has dramatically changed with the advent of mountain biking trails blanketing the state land parts of the hunting area. Hikers and biker have placed unrelenting spring, fall and summer pressure changing patterns and deer usage. The bottom line is that the longer you keep the base, the less predictive value that it has. But still it has great value for providing detailed memories of years of hunting. It was fun!

 

[turkeyfeathers]

Bill Schmidt does this with turkeys. I'm sure he can probably chime in to help.   And if you hunt Stewart or Sterling you're really in luck   

As close to notes I get is by memory and tags that were on deer coming home from processor with the dates on them next to the freezer 

[Steve D]

14 hours ago, Doc said:

From 1882 to 2010 I kept complete records of every hunting trip and every hunting trip for both bow and gun. I kept it in a huge Excel spreadsheet so I could do math analysis on where the deer were, what genders, dates, what stands, wind directions, wind speeds (in generic terms), temperatures (In generic terms), weather conditions (clear, rain, snow, overcast, etc).general areas (uphill, downhill, side hill), entry directions, exit directions, deer reactions, hunter reactions, results, hunting style (standing, still hunting, scouting).

How freakin old are you???  That's 128 years of data 6 yrs. ago.

Edited November 30, 2016 by Steve D

[Steve D]

Just busting your chops

[Doc]

7 hours ago, Steve D said:

How freakin old are you???  That's 128 years of data 6 yrs. ago.

Ha-ha-ha ...... Typo! I'm old, but not that old.