Journal of hunts

[turkeykiller22]

How many others keep some sort of record of your hunts? What all do you keep record? Property, beard length, spurs, weight? Do you write a few sentences or couple of paragraphs about successful hunts or even unsuccessful hunts that had a weird twist or funny moment?

[davisd9]

I keep a photo journal with a the date, time, turkey information, calls used, gun used, shell used, yardage shot, where it was killed, why I think I was successful and the overall important details of the hunt.

[Greg Massey]

To old to keep up with pass hunts on paper or whatever, I'm more interested in future hunts, i have always felt if i had time for a hunting journal , i needed to be resting or hunting ..  nothing wrong with keeping one if that's what your into..   Good luck with your journal guys ..

[Southerngobbler]

I make a journal entry every hunt. Got a book for deer and one for turkeys. It allows me to see what percentage of time I heard one gobble and so forth. Also if I go through a dry spell with no gobbling I can look back at last year (or several years back) and see where they were gobbling at the same time of year. One thing my entries have shown me is that rainy weather may turn off the gobbling but cold weather-at least cold for Florida does have much of an impact on gobbling activity.
Also after many years I can go back and catalog what Technics I used to harvest and see whats working best for me.

[LaLongbeard]

I carry a small notebook in my vest, it takes only a minute to write down a few details. When the season is over I have a larger journal that I write everything in. I can tell you the time weather location and the shell I was using for every single gobbler from the first one. It does take some time especially the journal but it's something to do in the off season. I can read over one page of my vest  notebook in July and remember every detail of the day and then write what I think is worth keeping.
A lot of days of course are just a few lines about weather or what I heard or didn't hear etc. the long ones are the successful hunts or  a particular tough gobbler that gave me the slip, or maybe what tactic finally sealed the deal. It's really just the old school way of documenting hunts before the video everything fad started.
      Saying all that it's probably wasted ink as no one but myself will ever read it lol. But every now and then I'll read over a hunt from the early years when I thought I knew what I was doing, and it brings back the hunts just like I was there again. Maybe if I live to be 90 and can't hunt I can read the old hunts again. Besides I'm to far in now to stop I got about 10 journals filled up. It was a lot easier when I worked during Turkey season and only made 5-6 hunts a season. I'm usually pushing 40 days a season now, my hands cramping already just thinking about it. 
     

[LaLongbeard]

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[Happy]

I don't keep a journal or anything like that. I do try to get a picture these days. That's usually enough to bring it back to my memory. And I dont have any facts to get in the way of a good story a few years down the road.

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[MK M GOBL]

I have kept a record of every bird I have killed and every bird I have called to the kill for others, started out on paper but has now evolved to my laptop. I have notes on what has been successful for me, youth hunts, mentored hunts, bow hunters and while I was guiding. I also have kept tabs on "doubles" that have been taken, and things I have created, improved or advanced over the years. I have also done seminars on turkey hunting and keeping track of those. Even have notes on exceptional birds, oddities and such.

Plan to keep this going until I can't anymore.

There is a story to MK M GOBL

[Greg Massey]

I don't keep a journal or anything like that. I do try to get a picture these days. That's usually enough to bring it back to my memory. And I dont have any facts to get in the way of a good story a few years down the road.

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Amen Happy , those are pass kills, I have learned from years of hunting, what works and doesn't.. i'm more interested in the future... good luck guys .. great forum..

[KYHeadhunter02]

I have always taken pictures of my harvest and put them in a book. I wish I had documented my hunts more over the years to use for future hunts. I did start documenting my deer hunts this year. I wanted to keep track of hours hunted. I basically just wrote down the weather, sightings, ect. I kinda wish I had started a physical journal vs. using an app on my phone. I guess there's pro's and cons to both. I also took pictures out of the stand and added them to the entries.

Has anyone had success using notes from previous years?

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[Jrkimbrough]

I have a picture book I keep of all my birds I kill.  I write down time, date, spur/beard length and a brief story of the hunt.  I gather up all the info and put together after the season.  It's fun to look through the book before the season in February, remembering past hunts and get fired up for the upcoming season.

This year I also started doing a video log on my phone after every hunt that way I can look back on it next year.  I describe what I saw, where I saw it, description of the weather that day and the few prior days, how the birds were acting, if I was seeing big groups or alone birds, gobbling activity, etc.  I find this is much easier to do than actually sitting down and writing everything down.  I normally put my phone on video mode, lay it on my console and record the info while driving back home after the hunt while it's all fresh on my mind. 

I think it's really gonna help come next spring when I look back and watch them...

[ddturkeyhunter]

I started to do video logs about four years ago of my kills. Right after I shoot the birds I pull my pnone out of my pocket and record the event from the spot I shot the bird. Most times you can still see the bird do a flop or two. Then I get up and pace off my steps to the kill, so no exaggeration on distance later good or bad. One time on opening day hunting in SD Black Hill at sun rise, I had three come running in an I shot one. The other two headed up the ridge in the direction of my buddy. When I am pacing off the distance of my shot to kill, you can hear the Roar of his gun blast, of my friend shooting one of the other two birds that ran up the ridge to his calls. Its so funny to hear the excitement in my voice while narrating the story and hearing the shot. As I say O, sounds like Paul just shot one also, looks like we are headed to WY.

[Turkeyman]

I don't really journal hunts, per se, but what I do is create a waypoint on my Garmin GPS where the turkey met his demise. I later number the kill then edit the waypoint with such data as weight, beard length and spurs...date and time are recorded with the waypoint. I save that in a Turkeys Killed GPS file. Kind of neat to look back at them over the years.

[PA-strutter]

I keep a journal of all the stories of my successful hunts on a fishing forum I own.

http://pafisherman.com/index.php?threads/pafish-official-turkey-hunting-thread.2048/

[Gobble!]

At 31 my memory is already trash. I log all my kills and misses in a spreadsheet. Write down a brief description of the hunt. Focus on what went right and wrong. In the last couple years I've started including additional detail like weight, spur and beard length.