How many of you keep a log book?

[TurkeyHunter27]

I just started this year for duck season. i have it in a spreadsheet format with Date, Location, Hunters, Hi/Low Temp, Wind Speed/Direction, Dogs, Harvest #'s and Species for ducks and geese, how many hunts yielded a full limit, and then notes.

At the top i have the totals and averages for the whole season.

Bad year to start because it has pretty well sucked for the most part but interesting to look back on.

I have one with all of my dogs retrieves on it too which includes: Date, Location, number of doves, ducks, geese retrieved; number of doubles, triples; cold blinds and their yardages, and notes. And then at the top it is all total/averaged.

I feel like i will be thankful to have it all one day.

How many of yall do the same or a variation of the same thing?

[Blake Williamson]

I been doing a spread sheet last 4 yrs on computer. Numbers this yr hunting around home has SUCKED!

[arduckslayer]

I've got one that I write in after every hunt. Most of the same info you're keeping. Who I hunted with and where, weather conditions, what we killed, how many my dog picked up, whatever stands out about that day. I've been keeping it since 1994. I tape my licenses from every year inside it. The only regret I have is that I didn't start keeping it earlier. Of course, I started hunting with my dad before I could write, but I started carrying a gun in 1991. Would love to be able to look back and see what my 10 year old self wrote about killing my first duck. I vividly remember the events of that day still, but I'm sure reading about it would stir even more memories.

[champcaller]

I've been logging every hunt since I got Cash six years ago. The entries started off pretty detailed, but now they consist of location, who hunted and how many we killed. I've also been keeping a running total of Cash's retrieves over the years. I actually counted them up the other day because I knew he was closing in on 3k. 2,871 and counting...

[JMitch]

I've been keeping one for about 5 years now. Same as most location, people, weather, dogs, kills and anything else that stands out for the day. It's really interesting to look back over the years.

[jmh600]

This is my second year to keep a log and I would like to make a album book at the end of the season with pictures from the hunt and the log entry in it. Mainly bc I have a bunch of pictures on my phone and I know if I don't do something with them they will will just get lost in "the cloud"

[bmanning3]

This is my second season to keep a constant log book. I write it all down but it's mainly for the dog. I keep #of retrieves, location, wind, temp, and river stage (when applicable)

[rebelduckaholic]

Think mine goes back to 98. Keep one for crappie fishing as well

[GAMESMAN]

Been keeping a log book since 1980/81 season. I highly recommend it. I brings back a lot of great memories when I read thru it today. I killed my first duck on Dec 20 1970 at a green tree I wish I had kept a log in my high school and college years we killed a lot lot of ducks when I was at Ole Miss. I graduated in 1980 been keeping one ever since.

[feather]

Since 2006. Really fun to read and it keeps the details straight.

[Tedl10]

I started mine in 2006, also. Looking back from time to time always brings back memories.

[Greenhead329]

Anyone willing to share their formats of their logbooks

[the doctor]

Anyone willing to share their formats of their logbooks

I dont write anything down...regrettable I know, but I choose to revist my "mental journal" with new and old friends before during and after making new entries. This is aided greatly by a bottle of something or other, a fire, a morning in a blind, and/or the smell of something to eat on a grill nearby.

the doc

[Alex]

I started out writing them down around 2003 and did that for a few years. Stopped taking any notes or keeping a ledger for a few years after that. I started with a yearly hunting record spreadsheet with the same information you mentioned back in 2009 and have been keeping up with it now. Its fun to look back at the end of each year and the beginning of the next year to see what your best weeks were and what birds you were killing. I do the same for turkeys and deer.

[Anatidae]

I use to keep a log. And I'm not scoffing those who do.

The things that are truly significant and important are committed to memory....log or no log. Things like where the open water was last 3 times the river channel froze in the last 30 years.......and why they were never the same spots. Or, when the ducks roost on the river in a full moon.......only when the temps are in the low 20's. Things like where the ducks were in high-water conditions are all subject to change, from event to event.

So some records are just that......records. They don't necessarily help me know where the ducks might be tomorrow (which is about all I care about anymore). And if I had to go back and review 30 years of records to figure-out what to do now.......it just means I haven't paid much attention to anything I've done in the past.

I'm to the point.......if something was worth remembering.......then reading what happened outside of that becomes less significant 'details'. It's just numbers to me, now......and that is also less significant.

Even if I loose my memory......looking through someone else's journal (as it will become) won't take me back to the moments I am still able to share while making more memories.

There's not enough time to keep records, and little need to do so, now. I spend my time preparing for the next hunt, the next season, the next shot, the next retrieve........and let the memories keep my anticipation high. When I loose that - it's time to hang it up.

Nobody but my hunting partner (wife) will care what I 'did' when I'm gone.

Refer to my signature......and Happy Hunting!