Trail cam, rub lines and keeping a journal

[dkoutdoors]

Who keeps a journal of all there trail cam pics, of certain bucks and rubs you find and what deer behavior is in your area and how it changes as the year progresses.Lets here your techniques.

[Blodg]

Yea I pretty much keep track of everything. I am a data kind of guy and for me it is fun to keep logs and look back over them years later. I have also learned a few things from them as well.

I keep a hunting log and take notes every time I go out. Have been doing this for all 15 years I have bowhunted. I write down the date, temperature, weather conditions, hours I hunted, number of deer I saw, number of deer in range, number of mature deer, and general notes such as turkey, squirrel, or coyote sightings. It is great to relive my hunts each year when I get the notebook out before the season starts.

I used the above notes to create a chart showing the number of deer I see from sunrise to 9:00AM, from 9:00AM to noon, from noon to 3:00P and from 3:00P until dusk. The chart has total deer sightings per time period as well as mature deer sightings per time period. I hunt mostly during the rut and it's interesting to see when the most movement is, and it's not always near sunrise or sunset!

I keep a log on when the scrapes in my hunting areas first open up and when they stop being hit. I make notes after scouting trips of when and where the first rubs were seen as well. This, of course, helps predict the peak of the rut and helps me know when to schedule my week of vacation.

I also make a note of the moon phase each year and look to see if I can find a correlation with the deer movement I see from one year to the next.

I just got a trail cam this November but I can see it will be another tool to help me learn about deer behavior. During the entire rut I had it pointed at a scrape and it is another way to monitor when the scrapes are being used and when they go cold. I am keeping a log everytime I check the camera of total pics, deer pics, buck pics, turkey pics, empty (no animal visible) pics, and "other" pics such as squirrels, racoons etc... My spreadsheet figures the number of deer pics per day for the time period between the last time I checked the cam as another way to monitor when the deer are moving.

After showing my notes to a few buddies they thought it was a great idea and if nothing else you can look back over the years and remember every detail of your hunts. The started to keep their own logs after seeing mine but did not have the discipline to keep it up and have since quit doing it.

I even kept a log back when I was shooting 3D and doing the IBO Triple Crown and ASA Pro-Am. I would write down notes during practice and comment on how things felt or how I shot when working on various parts of my form. I kept a log of which targets gave me the most trouble and there were a few that I would consistently misjudge the yardage! I kept track of my scores and where I finished at each tournament. I noted the weights of my various components such as nocks, bushings, vanes, inserts, brass nocks, string loops, peep sights, etc.... I wrote down the FOC % for the various arrows I have used as well as bow specs such as ATA, brace, nock position, peep position, rest position etc... I have not shot 3D for over 10 years but this year I am getting back into it and reading my old notes has been a huge help in getting me prepared.

Yea my wife makes fun of me for keeping track of everything but I will say one thing, the numbers don't lie!

[dkoutdoors]

Man you have all your I's dotted and T's crossed, I do pretty much what you do and if you go back and look at it you can get a pretty good pattern down and optimize your hunting time.

[slimpikins]

i keep a journal of all the hunts i go on. i record, the weather, location, sightings, and all the normal things that go along with a hunt. this year since i can drive, i am goin to be doin a lot of scouting and i am planning on recording scrape lines and rub lines on a map. i have a few trail cameras i have already set out to record deer activity. ive found an area a big deer is still frequenting and im trying to find his bedding area. maybe it will lead me to taking a nice deer with my bow.

[dkoutdoors]

I do know it definately cant hurt.