Do you log your hunts?

solitude · Jan 28, 2011

Like probably many of you, I have found the past reads of hunting trips to be invaluable. This is just to encourage those that maybe do not do it to consider it. Reading back over hunts that happened long ago brings back details a person will never retain, but best of all, it puts you right there again. The grizzly that looked at you from a distance and then stood up and glared at you a second time before slowly leaving, you will never forget that. But you might not remember the marten that ran over your boot or the dazed beaver shivering a slow death on the edge of mountain pool from the claw or fang marks that now have compromised the warmth of his coat. Same with archery gear used, rifles and loads, reactions of animals, drainages hunted, animals seen, weather, mishaps, etc.
How many of you record your hunts and are glad you have?

Outdoors · Jan 28, 2011

I log notes each evening during the hunt. I start the prep for each hunt with a page of notes on the draw odds, harvest %, anything notable about the region will be hunting, etc. Each evening during the hunt I will recap that day's activities...weather conditions, what saw, what learned, mistakes I made...anywhere from 1/2 page to 2 pages of notes per day. At end of the hunt I do a recap page on suggestions for how would do things differently next time.

Useful for me during the hunt and is a good read on a slow day or if someone asks me about a hunt.

Zeke · Jan 28, 2011

On some of my bigger adventure hunts I have kept a hunting journal. It's been good to do so.

I can read back through the notes and the flood of emotions can be felt again. This would have been lost if I had not kept a record.

Camp fires with the Mongolians on the Gobi..... when the bears (3) chased me and my son....... struggles in the Pamirs of Tajikistan.....tracking a wounded gemsbuck (my bad) and got him ..... a huge Henrys buck on the last day..... a desert ram hunt with my daughter....... grizzly in camp with my brother (he liked Dall sheep meat too) etc etc etc.

After 43 years of biggame hunting I've lost a few hunt memories but I will always remember the hunts for which there's a written record.

Write 'em all down and re-read them on those cold, long winter's nights.

Zeke

mntman · Jan 28, 2011

I write a short story about every one of my hunts. I don't get into the details of what I used, I go more into the experience of it. Something that when I get old and forget everything I can go back and see where I shot that buck 40 years ago that is still hanging on my wall. I add some pictures of the animals we took, sceanry and other cool things that I happened to catch with my camera.
The other major reason is bedtime stories for my grandkids and great grandkids. Hopefully hunting won't be something of the "past" when that time comes.

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"

buncoboy · Jan 28, 2011

Just the better areas or hard draws. Example, Nevada archery elk I mapped each bull and size, along with cow numbers, time, weather, wind, moon phase. A short scenario also. But, usually I just want to go hunt and not think about the extras.

beavis14 · Jan 28, 2011

usually to drunk to remember the details. drunk back at camp i should say not in the field

npaden · Jan 28, 2011

I keep a handwritten journal for my sits on the stand on whitetail hunts. I write down the temperature, wind, anything going on, etc. then log each animal seen as well as the time, etc.

For big game hunts I've just been journaling the overall experience of the hunt as soon as I'm back to civilization and can get it all written down and add the pictures in as well.

I keep a blog, if you are interested just google padens blog, I'm currently the 5th one down, the nondescript accountant one. ;-) Most of it is about hunting.

foundation · Jan 28, 2011

I sadly dont log or record any of my hunts , but now after reading some the above posts its got me thinking . I think its a great idea and some thing in my later years I'll be happy that I did . I'm thinking I'll do the notebook method for all the day to day notes , and then after the hunt write some thing up in a journel .

AWHOLELOTTABULL · Jan 28, 2011

Every one of them. I started years ago writing down the hunts and then sketching out land marks and visuals. Now the maps are a little more elaborate and included with the pictures and minute details of the hunt and my wife sends them into snapfish and gets a book made of each hunt. I have 22 of them so far. I do it for posterity sake. Some day maybe my grandsons can use the information to take help them on their hunts.

It's always an adventure!!!

BLooDTRaCKeR · Jan 29, 2011

I record every hunt that I go on and have been for the last ten years. I find the information very helpful for the next years hunts because I record when the sun came up, went down, when/where I saw the most activity, high/low elevations in same canyons. I record what I forgot to take and what I wish I had to make the hunt better. I try to capture the emotion of each days adventure to remind me of how discouraging it can get and how rewarding it can be. I record temperature, elk/deer numbers, weather, effect it had on the animals spotted. Ever since I have been doing this, I feel like I have improved my hunting ability significantly. I can go into the mountains prepared with what I need instead of ill-prepared or over prepared. I carry a pen and small note pad to capture details throughout the day while away from camp and then record the rest when I return to my camp in the evening. A hunting journal is probably one of the best investments a hunter can make if hunting the same areas year after year.

sageadvice · Jan 29, 2011

LAST EDITED ON Jan-29-11 AT 02:38PM (MST)[p]Best that i have done is write things in the borders of my "Books" of Maps. The California Book has now gotten to the point of having a hard time to find a place to put anything without spilling on to the map parts itself. I just like to say who i made the trip with or my expectations, feelings about the hunt or fishing trip. I get a kick going back sometimes, reading of the thoughts that i had of past trips at the time.

One year i had gotten one of those little calendars, that had a single page for notes for each day of the year, from my young nephew for Christmas. The following season i made a epic month plus long muley trip hunting 3 states. I used each page to each noted day, to write a collection of "what happened today" type notes. Sometimes i talked about why i shot the coyote that i had called in that day or i may have talked about the old couple i met along a creek who were in their very advanced years, still out to get in their stock of this seasons venison. Anyway, my Sis thought enough of that assembly of daily notes, each from that gift calendar blank, she had the whole pile i sent after as a gift, assembled in order and nicely framed for him. Pretty neat i thought at the time and then forgotten about until just now!

I wished i had started doing this, these things, a long time ago!

Joey