Just wondering if anyone else out there keeps a hunt journal? And if so is it more of a technical journal detailing all the specs of the hunt such as time, temp, barometric pressure, location, sightings etc. or as I do a journal to detail the parts of the hunt that made it memorable?
For me the hunt is about the experience, the events that add up, whether they be moments of sheer boredom interrupted by intense excitement or just the awesome amazement of being outdoors. I like to record the details of what my decisions were during the hunt and why, my thoughts before during and after the shot, and what was most memorable about the hunt.
For example the biggest body deer I've killed so far was about 3 years ago. I shot it with my .308 at roughly 210 yards or so. It bounded off, tail up as if I didn't hit it, crossed a fence onto the neighboring property and disappeared. I waited a bit, got down and found no blood. Finally after going back a third time to where it crossed the fence i found a single drop of blood on a pine needle. Fearing I had wounded the deer I secured permission to cross the fence and look a bit. Once across and after scanning for a moment or so I found the deer laying across a log less than 10 yards from the fence. There was blood sprayed all over the place on that side of the fence. It didn't start spraying blood until it jumped. What makes it memorable is my fears of wounding a deer, second guessing my shot placement, frustration of maybe losing a deer and the sheer relief and elation at finding it.
I do record rifle and load used, location of the hunt and distance. I'm thinking about expanding that info some.
So who else keeps a hunt journal and what do you record?
For me the hunt is about the experience, the events that add up, whether they be moments of sheer boredom interrupted by intense excitement or just the awesome amazement of being outdoors. I like to record the details of what my decisions were during the hunt and why, my thoughts before during and after the shot, and what was most memorable about the hunt.
For example the biggest body deer I've killed so far was about 3 years ago. I shot it with my .308 at roughly 210 yards or so. It bounded off, tail up as if I didn't hit it, crossed a fence onto the neighboring property and disappeared. I waited a bit, got down and found no blood. Finally after going back a third time to where it crossed the fence i found a single drop of blood on a pine needle. Fearing I had wounded the deer I secured permission to cross the fence and look a bit. Once across and after scanning for a moment or so I found the deer laying across a log less than 10 yards from the fence. There was blood sprayed all over the place on that side of the fence. It didn't start spraying blood until it jumped. What makes it memorable is my fears of wounding a deer, second guessing my shot placement, frustration of maybe losing a deer and the sheer relief and elation at finding it.
I do record rifle and load used, location of the hunt and distance. I'm thinking about expanding that info some.
So who else keeps a hunt journal and what do you record?
