If your life is worth living, it’s worth recording. A hunting log can become our most powerful tool for deciding when and where to hunt. Every time we hunt we experience different results. Why is that?
Does the temperature affect how many deer we see? Does the date (photoperiodism) affect the amount of deer we see? How about the wind?
If you do not keep a hunting log, then you may never know.
Information to record for future study
We advise recording the following information:
- date.
- location.
- time hunted.
- temperature.
- wind velocity and direction.
- barometer reading.
- moon phase.
- humidity/precipitation.
- scent use.
- whether you rattled or called at deer.
- your comfort level – were you too cold/too hot? (if so, what clothes you wore).
- any deer activity you witnessed.
How to keep a hunting log
You can keep a hunting log a couple of different ways. We suggest recording your information twice so you will always have a back up of this valuable information. You can obtain this information from many different sources:
- weather report on the news.
- weather radio.
- internet.
- radio.
- newspaper.
Our favorite website for weather information is http://www.wunderground.com/. This website gives you all the critical information you need. Another neat feature is the ability to search past weather histories. By searching past weather histories for a given area, you can study what winds, temperatures, and other factors you can expect. Here is the link for searching past weather histories.
Written log
Do you have a notebook and a pencil? That’s all you need to record your daily hunts. Try to establish a standard layout and record away. If you are computer savvy, you can create your own template to print out. Templates can also be found on the internet with a simple search.
Smartphone note taking
Most smart phones have a note pad app that makes entering data easy. Once again, establish a standard layout and record straight to your phone. These notes can often times be emailed as well. It is a good idea to email your recorded hunting log from time to time to ensure you have a digital backup.
Smartphone apps
There are a couple of different smartphone apps available for keeping a hunting log. Some of these apps offer prefetched data retrieval for information such as date and weather making finding this data less time consuming.
Using a hunting log’s information
Once you have recorded a large number of hunting trips, you can now investigate to see what elements are consistent with deer activity. You may notice the following:
- The deer preferred a certain wind direction for a particular hunting area.
- Activity was higher when the barometer was in a certain range.
- You saw more/less deer in the morning vs the afternoon.
- Rutting activity was present during certain calendar days.
- During certain days calling or scent use worked.
- On average more deer activity was noticed in a certain temperature range.
You may also alter you behavior:
- If rattling didn’t work during a certain date range, you may choose not to repeat at the same time next year.
- If deer responded to certain scents, you may choose to repeat the same practice next year.
- If you froze your butt off and recorded that along with what you wore, the temperature, and wind, you can better prepare if the same situation presents itself in the future.
- If you spooked deer entering from a certain direction with a certain wind, you can alter your future approaches.
You can study your own data and make some good educated guesses regarding where to hunt next and what changes to make. Statistics don’t lie; the tough part is whittling down which variables are the deciding factors where you hunt. We believe that if you have many years worth of data, you will eliminate unsuccessful behaviors/hunts and your success in the field will increase. Good Luck!