To log or not to log

[Pine]

I was just sitting here and wondering, do you keep a hunting log?
I personally have never kept a log, but it could be a neat thing to look back on your hunts.
I have hunted with a few people that will write every hunt in there book.
I also love to listen to the hunting stories told at gatherings like shoots and shows.
So, do you have a log book?

[Wudstix]

No, but try to long all my backpacking trips.
                   

[durp]

started keeping one for elk season about 20 years ago...it helps when u cant remember all the details years down the road...wish i had started doing it back in the 60's

[8upss]

I’ve logged every turkey I’ve ever taken (gun).

I need to start one for trad hunting. Admittedly, it will be much shorter.


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[Sawpilot 75]

I have a logbook for scouting and hunting. I started at 12 years old and I am currently 44. The weather logs are the best part. They really paint a picture for Whitetail hunting. Someday my boys will have some great reading.


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[Orion]

I'd have to go back and check, but I think I've been doing a log (hunting journal) for about 40 years.  Also started another one when I built my cabin about 23 years ago.  That one will stay with the cabin when I'm gone.

Lots of very useful information in my journals, i.e., where and when I shot every deer, bear, turkey, elk, etc. and the conditions under which I shot them. Reviewing these is just good reading and helps me plan future hunts.  It also refreshes my memory on a lot of occurrences over the years, and resolves any camp disputes about what happened when.   

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

No but I do take a lot of pics

[SlowBowKing]

I did this one season (before I hunted with traditional equipment). It is really cool to look back on this and see patterns emerge and remember the fun of the hunt. Of course at that time I was a bachelor with no kids and the only things on my mind were working and hunting...much simpler times!

Maybe next year!

[wood carver 2]

I started one years ago and kept it up for several years. Over time I just got lazy about it and eventually dropped it.
Dave.

[shick]

Been keeping an informal log for quite a few years;  Entertaining if not useful;  Received a leather-bound hunting journal this past Christmas.  Time to get serious.
Shick

[Trenton G.]

Yes, I keep a log/journal. Mostly it's just hunts that I've done while at college. I figure it will be entertaining to read through down the road.

I also have an Excel sheet on the computer with a category for location, sightings, weapon, weather, wind direction, hunters, and date that I fill out after each hunt as well.

[Friend]

I log every deer hunt.

[ron w]

Started writing stuff down in the mid 80’s, kept it up pretty good until about 3 years ago. Hard to record stuff when nothing happens. It is a great tool ......

[TooManyHobbies]

Yup. On the computer. "2008 - Year of the recurve". I've missed some of the turkey hunts, but all of my trad deer hunts are logged. Last couple years I added gun and ML too. Date, location, temp, wind direction, stand, animals seen, shots taken, hours in stand, and description of the hunt, good, bad and other. It just keeps running. At the end of the season, I know how many animals seen per hour on stand.

[greg fields]

I keep a log of every hunt, and shed hunt and fishing trip I have been on over the last 35 years....  where I hunted, what I saw and a brief synopsis of how a hunt occurred if I missed, hit or killed something...  Hard to believe all those years have gone by already....  rereading them shows I have wasted, well not wasted really, but put in a lot of time for the animals I have harvested..  and how few deer I really see while hunting..

[Crittergetter]

Wife got me a leather bound journal a few years ago. I was writing down all my memorable hunts at first but I’ve been neglecting to write them down recently. I need to get back on that!

[Red Beastmaster]

For 32 years I have religiously kept my journals up to date. The title is "Hunting Notes And Lies". I believe I'm on the 11th one now.

What started as a hunting journal has evolved into a diary of sorts. Family news, every hunt or bow shoot, major events, even my thoughts are all written down. There have been so many times I referenced my notebooks to answer questions or relive an event with a friend who has passed away.

I can tell you every hunt, every stand, every state, every hunting buddy, every camp, and even every chipmunk I knocked off a stump. I consider my journals to be pretty valuable above most of the things I own.

I have never taken enough pictures but I have recorded everything that mattered to me for over half my life.

[Petrichor]

Huntx logs my hunts.

[Sam McMichael]

No, I've never kept a journal for any activity.

[Silvius]

I have kept a log of every deer I have shot in an old fashioned leather bound book. I even for some reason write it with an old fashioned ink pen. However I regret not doing it in a more useful way. As it is I just tell the story of how I found and shot the deer. Its interesting to read because it helps me recall not only the experience but where I was in my journey to become a better hunter at that time.

What it lacks is the hard data in a standard format for each location I have hunted -things like weather, wind direction, time, date, light, moon, recently past and forecast weather conditions... It would also be really useful to have some sort of tally charts to quickly show what conditions yielded the most deer.

When I fill the book up I will do better with the next volume. However I mostly just write one page for each animal unless it was a particularly noteworthy experience and I am only half way through with about a hundred pages left. So either I have to write some very long stories or shoot a lot more deer.