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Should
You Keep A Hunting Diary?
 Prior
to the 1993 bow season, I carefully
monitored the movements of two Pope
and Young bucks that were regularly
working a river bottom in
northeastern Missouri. Each evening,
the pair would leave their bedding
area, cross the river and enter a
clover field to feed. It looked like
a slam-dunk setup.
On opening evening of bow season,
I strategically positioned myself
high atop a big white oak just
inside the timber’s edge. As the
sun neared the horizon, I knew the
deer soon would be marching across
the nearby river, bringing them
within bow range of my ambush site.
But those bucks didn’t show up
that day. In fact, while I spent
many more hours there that fall
staring at the river crossing in
disgust, they never did come around
again.
As a result of this and other
failed attempts to arrow a P7Y
whitetail, I finally decided to
start keeping a game diary, or
hunting journal. Now, after several
years of doing so, there’s no
doubt that I’ve enhanced my odds.
If you’ve been having trouble
figuring out the tendencies of
mature bucks in your hunting area, a
diary just might help you too.
What
I Record
When I began my diary in the
summer of ’94, I knew that one of
my main challenges was to figure out
which conditions are most conductive
to buck movement. This proved to be
easy, thanks to my recording of the
weather and other environmental
variables on each hunt.
As I write this, just prior to
the ’98 bow season, a review of my
journals over four hunting seasons
allows me to come up with some
interesting statistics regarding
sightings of P&Y bucks. Between
Aug. 1, 1994 and Jan. 15, 1998, I
viewed 43 different P&Y bucks
over the course of 363 hunts, with
the majority of these hunts being in
bow season.
On each hunt, I recorded a number
of environmental conditions: wind
direction and speed; precipitation
type and intensity; available food
sources; moon phase; and of course,
my hunting location (marked on a
topographical map). I also recorded
whether or not I used any scents.
In regard to deer activity, my
diary indicates the total number
seen and makes special note of the
movement of any mature bucks.
Also, in an effort to measure my
skills as a hunter, I record my
“success” in the form of a
personal “win/loss” record. A
“win” is defined as any hunting
during which I am able to see deer
from my stand; a “loss” is
defined as any hunt in which I see
no deer while on stand.
In addition to recording the
details of hunts on which tags are
filled, I keep track of the number
of shots I don’t take. By my definition, a “passes” shot is any situation
in which I opt not to shoot a deer
that comes within range. All else
being equal, the more shot
opportunities I can get each season,
the more I’m improving, for this
is a measure of my ability to select
and hunt stands in range of daytime
deer movement.
For example, during the 1997-98
bow season, I passes up 190 shots in
112 hunts – a huge improvement
over the 1994-95 season, when I
passed up only 34 shots. My time
afield hasn’t changed that much,
and neither have my standards
regarding what I’ll shoot, so in
my view, this is hard evidence that
I’m advancing in my ability to
hunt whitetails.
A
DIARY IN ACTION
To illustrate how a real
whitetail diary works, I provide the
following excerpt from mine. Pick
the format you’re most comfortable
with, but this one has worked well
for me:
Entry
No. 328, 11-13-97, Evening: This
evening’s hunt begins with
disappointment. I have seen more
“book” bucks that in any other
season. I continue to get railroaded
out of shooting opportunities.
Animals worthy of shooting have been
in the brush when shots present
themselves, in range when not enough
shooting light exists, or on the run
in pursuit of does. It’s been a
heartbreaker thus far.
At
2 p.m., a 100 class 8-point passes
by.
At
3:15 p.m., a monster 150-class
12-pointer cruises the opposite wood
line, refusing to respond to the
grunt call. Two does enter the field
from the same vicinity.
At
3:40 p.m., six does and two bucks
enter the field. One of the bucks is
the same 150-class monster seen
earlier. The second buck is a
130-class animal.
At
4:15 p.m., the 10th deer
enters. He is a small 6-pointer. The
field begins to fill up with
animals. Two more does enter then
another small buck.
The
disappointment continues as the two
shooters end up chasing a “hot”
doe 500 yards away to the opposite
end of the corn field.
Six
more deer enter the field closer to
darkness.
CONDITIONS:
Wind: 5-10 mph
Precipitation: Oncoming
storm front
Temperature: 32
Scent used: None
Food Source: Curt corn
field
Moon Phase: Full
Location: “Bulldozed
Haley Point”
Deer seen today: 20
Gross number of deer seen this season: 254
Bucks seen today: 4
Gross number of bucks seen this season: 54
Win/Loss record: 37
successful, 22 unsuccessful
Success percentages of hunts: 63
Shots passed on this hunt: 2
Gross number of shots passes this season: 85
DOES
THE MOON MATTER?
Over the years, much conversation
regarding deer activity has focused
on moon phases. However, my diary
suggests that moon phases have
little effect on the movement of
trophy whitetails. I’ve seen
mature bucks move consistently
during all parts of the lunar cycle,
as long as more significant
conditions were conductive to
movement.
Let me note here that, prior to
starting a diary, I’d always
believed that moon phases were
significant. But the bottom line
appears to be that mature bucks will
move without concern to moon phases
if they feel they can utilize their
senses to detect predators
effectively.**********photo and
excerpts here****
PLAYING
THE WIND
With the exception of the rut,
wind speed seems to be the main
factor affecting the movement of
mature bucks. Because whitetails
rely on sight, smell and sound for
survival, they don’t like to move
in windy conditions.
It’s more difficult for
deer to spot predators when
everything in the woods is swaying
back and forth, and detecting danger
by smell is harder when odors are
being blown around quickly and nondirectionally.
Also, a strong wind creates noise,
which decreases a whitetail’s
ability to hear danger. Relating my
P&Y sightings to wind speed
seems to bear this out:
0-5 mph:
21
6-10 mph:
12
11-15 mph:
6
16-20 mph:
3
21 – plus mph:
1
While I haven’t been hunting as
much on extremely windy days as
under calmer conditions, I believe
that lower wind speed means more
big-buck activity.
THE
BEST MONTH?
As depicted in the opening scene,
you can often view bucks before the
season and then never see them
again. My diary shows just how much
the daytime movement of mature bucks
changes from month to month. My 43
P&Y sightings between Aug. 1,
1994 and Jan. 15, 1998, broke down
as follows:
August:
12
September:
4
October:
6
November:
17
December:
1
January:
3
None of this is too surprising.
In August, mature bucks feast in
open fields, stocking up on the
nutrients necessary to finish off
antler growth and put on fat for the
rut and winter.
Also, in my hunting area, the
mast crop usually doesn’t ripen
until mid September, leaving open
crop fields as the primary August
food source.
As the acorns fall in September
and October, sightings of mature
bucks decrease, as all deer are
afforded the chance to feed in
cover. Thick foliage and limited
daytime movement cut heavily into
sightings.
Then in November, sightings of
P&Y bucks jump dramatically, due
to the rut. That’s when I take my
vacation!
Afterward, my diary suggests,
daytime buck activity rapidly
subsides again.
As a side note to this, I should
note that 76
percent of my P&Y sightings have
occurred on evening hunts.
RAIN,
SLEET & SNOW
Precipitation clearly plays a
major role in deer movement.
Overall, I saw P&Y bucks on 12
percent of my hunts over that
five-year span, but on hunts during
which precipitation was falling or
imminent, P&Y animals were seen
16 percent of the time. My
“success” rates for just seeing
deer from my stand were as follows:
Rain:
75 percent
Snow:
55 percent
Sleet:
100 percent
Fronts:
82 percent
My best-ever “success” rate
for seeing deer from a single stand
location for an entire season is 69
percent, so the above percentages
are quite impressive. If you want to
see big bucks, hunt when
precipitation is falling or at least
approaching with a storm front.
PUTTING
IT ALL TOGETHER
The rewards of keeping a diary
began to pay off for me in ’96.
After reviewing my notes on a
P&Y buck that had been seen
working my hunting area, I
positioned a stand on the edge of a
thick bedding area bordering a cut
corn field.
An hour into the hunt, a small
doe bounded over the fence below,
trotting out into the field. Soon, a
130-class 9-pointer joined her.
After he bred the doe, he trotted
straight toward my stand, heading
back to the thick brush. I drew and
released…and minutes later, walked
up to my first P&Y deer!
Mature whitetail bucks are a
breed apart from other big-game
animals.
That’s why the challenge of
taking big bucks is so great. A game
diary can take at least some of the
mystery out of the pursuit. If you
start keeping notes on every
scouting trip and hunt. I’m
confident that your efforts well pay
off as well for you as mine have for
me.
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