Hunting Journal/ Log

[krizia829]

My husband and I were listening to a podcast earlier about Warren Womack and he was talking about how he has a log where he has recorded all of his harvests going back 40+ years. He has 300+ logs! We thought this was such a great idea! Not so much for patterning deer, but more for memories to share with our kids when they're older. Do any of you do this? What information would you recommend recording? We want to do something simple but that at the same time takes us back to the moment and include a picture with each log. Thankfully we remember all of our harvests, including our first deer when we were younger!

 

[Jim Thompson]

I dont do it the way you are thinking, but if you are ever bored and you want logs...we record it all live, as it happens right here on Woodys. You can find all the archived hunts here Live From The Tree

I go back thru and read many of the threads when I am bored at work. Crazy to think that not only every deer I've killed, but heck every deer I've seen has been documented for as long as I can remember.

http://www.livefromthetree.com/live-from-the-tree.html

 

[Triple C]

Yes...I kept a hunting journal for years back when the boys were growing up and for the reason you mentioned - memories to recall with the written word at some time in the future. Well, that was 25+ years ago. With several moves since then, I've misplaced them and have yet to find them. Just hope they didn't get thrown away during one of the moves.

Seems our forefathers were much better than us keyboard kings at keeping a journal. I swear I was just thinking about this the past couple of weeks and telling myself that I was going to resume my hunting journal this season. And this thread will see that I do.

I have added a photo journal book each year since 2011 when I acquired our hunting land. Got 2011 thru 2017 on the coffee table at the cabin and will add 2018 when this year is done. But, I wish I had kept a detailed daily journal the past few years like I once did.

 

[uturn]

Have thought about it for years...never done anything about it tho and much as I love to read it's just never made since!! Maybe this will be the year I get started!

 

[godogs57]

Keep a journal myself...from #1 to the present. Buck, doe, # points, property killed, which rifle/shotgun/ bow, yardage, any other interesting points about the kill such as with son, huge body, ran forever, second one taken that day, etc.

 

[MFOSTER]

I keep log on stand,hrs hunted,bucks does fawns and add at end of year if all members do it you would be amazed how close the numbers will be

 

[WrestlingCoach]

My husband and I were listening to a podcast earlier about Warren Womack and he was talking about how he has a log where he has recorded all of his harvests going back 40+ years. He has 300+ logs! We thought this was such a great idea! Not so much for patterning deer, but more for memories to share with our kids when they're older. Do any of you do this? What information would you recommend recording? We want to do something simple but that at the same time takes us back to the moment and include a picture with each log. Thankfully we remember all of our harvests, including our first deer when we were younger!

This is a great idea. This will be my first year hunting deer with my sons, so we will definitely be keeping a log.

 

[krizia829]

Yes...I kept a hunting journal for years back when the boys were growing up and for the reason you mentioned - memories to recall with the written word at some time in the future. Well, that was 25+ years ago. With several moves since then, I've misplaced them and have yet to find them. Just hope they didn't get thrown away during one of the moves.

Seems our forefathers were much better than us keyboard kings at keeping a journal. I swear I was just thinking about this the past couple of weeks and telling myself that I was going to resume my hunting journal this season. And this thread will see that I do.

I have added a photo journal book each year since 2011 when I acquired our hunting land. Got 2011 thru 2017 on the coffee table at the cabin and will add 2018 when this year is done. But, I wish I had kept a detailed daily journal the past few years like I once did.

Wow!! I really hope you find it! We're young but I guess you can say we're old fashion! My husband and I love reading and watching videos about old hunting stories and how people did everything back in the day and logged their hunts.

 

[krizia829]

Keep a journal myself...from #1 to the present. Buck, doe, # points, property killed, which rifle/shotgun/ bow, yardage, any other interesting points about the kill such as with son, huge body, ran forever, second one taken that day, etc.

Awesome! That's exactly the same type of information I was thinking of listing. Thanks!

 

[Buck Dropper]

I log every hunt, location, deer seen, what time, what happened & just general thoughts. I’ve been doing this for 8 years now.

 

[krizia829]

I log every hunt, location, deer seen, what time, what happened & just general thoughts. I’ve been doing this for 8 years now.

Awesome! Did you get an actual log book or just a simple notebook and wrote everything?

 

[Silver Britches]

I've been keeping a deer hunting and scouting journal since I was a kid. I started doing this in the early 80s, and still do it to this day. I enjoy documenting the stories of my hunts, and about the locations I have scouted. It's fun to go back and read through these books. There's a lot of invaluable information written in them, and I've certainly learned a lot by reading back through them over the years.

I also have a large book I use for taking notes on the areas I scout- noting the type of habitat, as well as all the food sources and deer sign I find. I'll write all this info down when I get back to the house, of course. And if the area looks like a place I plan to hunt, I may go back in there and do a little prep work, if necessary. If I end up doing any work in an area I plan to hunt, I'll make notes of that as well.

My deer hunting journals (7 of them)



My large scouting book



I say go for it! You will enjoy reading back through it over the years. You may also learn a thing or two. Also, take a lot of photos and videos along the way. And make sure to date everything for accuracy! I promise you, you'll be glad you did years down the line. I know I am glad that I did!

Y'all be safe and have fun out there!

 

[krizia829]

I've been keeping a deer hunting and scouting journal since I was a kid. I started doing this in the early 80s, and still do it to this day. I enjoy documenting the stories of my hunts, and about the locations I have scouted. It's fun to go back and read through these books. There's a lot of invaluable information written in them, and I've certainly learned a lot by reading back through them over the years.

I also have a large book I use for taking notes on the areas I scout- noting the type of habitat, as well as all the food sources and deer sign I find. I'll write all this info down when I get back to the house, of course. And if the area looks like a place I plan to hunt, I may go back in there and do a little prep work, if necessary. If I end up doing any work in an area I plan to hunt, I'll make notes of that as well.

My deer hunting journals (7 of them)

View attachment 943588

My large scouting book

View attachment 943589

I say go for it! You will enjoy reading back through it over the years. You may also learn a thing or two. Also, take a lot of photos and videos along the way. And make sure to date everything for accuracy! I promise you, you'll be glad you did years down the line. I know I am glad that I did!

Y'all be safe and have fun out there!

That is so cool!! I get super excited to go back out to hunt! I live in FL and the hunting down here isn't all that great.. Public land at least.. It's fun but the people here don't make it worth the while.. I didn't get to hunt last year because I had a baby but this year i'll be back out in Oct.! I remember every deer and hog I shot like it was yesterday. I'm 27 now and shot my first deer at 11 years old. I'll never forget it. Shot it with a New England Firearms single shot .410 shotgun running dogs in Alabama with my dad. I was hooked since! My daughter is going to be a year and a half and she shows interest already! I can't wait to share all the stories and pictures with her. That little 410 will be hers when she's ready Good luck this year!

 

[frankwright]

I have one I have been keeping for 38 years. I just use a simple spiral ring notebook and I keep it pretty simple.
I just say something like " 10/29/2018 39 to 74 degrees and overcast light nw wind.
I hunted the swamp ladder from 7 to 11 (4hrs) with T/C Contender I saw 2 small does coming off the main creek but already have does in the freezer.
Hunted ground blind on Y food plot from 3-6 (3hrs) saw one spike and a young six point. Trail camera shows alot of activity on this plot. (4 deer seen)"

At the end of the year I total total number of hours actually hunting and number of deer seen/killed.
It is interesting to look back on it. If hunting with friends I will mention what they killed and where.

 

[biggdogg]

Keep a journal myself...from #1 to the present. Buck, doe, # points, property killed, which rifle/shotgun/ bow, yardage, any other interesting points about the kill such as with son, huge body, ran forever, second one taken that day, etc.

This is exactly how I do my journal/harvest log. It is even better now that I'm getting to ad my young-uns deer to the book!

 

[fisherpal2k]

For years I kept a journal for hunting and fishing. Along with what has already been mentioned I kept up with the weather, humidity and barometric pressures. I finally quit keeping them when my father got sick and have since missed placed them when we moved. Would love to find them and read them again.

Had several notebooks for hunting and several for fishing different areas and different folks on the trips and so on. If you can try to go back and get the dates and things from all your kills and from this point on keep up with it regularly. You will find that some years when the weather kicks in you can find a different place to hunt than what you was originally looking at.