Newby stalking log

[Man-o-woods]

Had my interview today with the FEO.
He has suggested that when I go out I should keep a record of my field trip.
Date, time, location, weather condition's/ high seat or other,sex/age so on and so on. Does anyone do this if so is there such a thing as a stalking diary columns you fill out or do you just use normal note pad.

 

[VSS]

There's a few good reasons for doing do:
Firstly, it helps demonstrate to your FEO that you are actually using your rifle (particularly if the written record matches up with some dead deer photos on your phone).
Secondly, over time, reference to the records kept will help you in knowing when and where deer are most likely to be under different weather conditions, as patterns in the record will begin to emerge. This will increase your success rate.
Thirdly, if you ever go down the route of selling carcasses or venison then the record will form part of your requirement for traceability.

Personally, I just keep a basic cull record (date, location, species, sex, age, shot by, abnormalities, carcass tag number) and don't include weather info, wind direction or time of day. However, I think it would have been helpful to do so. Neither do I keep any record of blank outings.

I have printed out cull record sheets that I keep in the larder. Lots of people use a spreadsheet. An ordinary notebook would work just as well.

 

[Tim.243]

Had my interview today with the FEO.
He has suggested that when I go out I should keep a record of my field trip.
Date, time, location, weather condition's/ high seat or other,sex/age so on and so on. Does anyone do this if so is there such a thing as a stalking diary columns you fill out or do you just use normal note pad.

Note pad pen take a picture,
Why picture? years ago my FEO (rip John) told me at the Blackwater County Show and I quote
"you will have to wait until your renewal to get an open ticket"
Total of 14 months he was sitting looking at pages of dead foxes on the lap top, took my paper work and it was posted back 4 days later open.
I just write MJ buck/doe "pregnant"/fox/ "corner field" from start of that month as an example.

Good luck with your journey.

 

[Stalker62]

He has suggested that when I go out I should keep a record of my field trip.

@simon scott

Keeping a record of your shooting is (for me) part of the joy.

I have since 1798 () kept a record of my shooting/fishing/hunting trips (including blanks - of which there are many).

A nice 'Game Book', with a few scribbles and a few snaps (retro) thrown in, can proved a lovely trigger to remember some of the very best (and some of the very worst) days in the field.



I do record the weather and the sunrise/sunset times.

 

[davegixxer]

Amazon do fairly cheap A5 pads

 

[Oh6]

@simon scott

Keeping a record of your shooting is (for me) part of the joy.

I have since 1798 () kept a record of my shooting/fishing/hunting trips (including blanks - of which there are many).View attachment 405263

A nice 'Game Book', with a few scribbles and a few snaps (retro) thrown in, can proved a lovely trigger to remember some of the very best (and some of the very worst) days in the field.
View attachment 405264


I do record the weather and the sunrise/sunset times.

I wish I remembered to fill mine in a lot more regularly, there's some great days recorded in mine, but equally many more that I didn't invest the time to record

 

[pazmino]

I keep a simple diary where I note all successful outings, don’t bother with the unsuccessful ones. I also mark each deer shot on Google Earth.

 

[Cogswell & Harrison]

I kept a diary of everything I did in my quest to become a deerstalker. Variation date, DSC1 booking & course completion dates, NRA SSC, mentored stalking dates with notes on weather and game stalked and taken plus reasons for those not taken. The only thing I recorded but held back was photographic evidence thinking it was maybe inappropriate to provide it though I did indicate that it was available if required.

 

[Cyres]

I have hard back A6 diaries going back 45 yrs.!
You could just take pics you can have geotag on. Store pics in cloud and on hard drive

D

 

[GeoffWood]

Had my interview today with the FEO.
He has suggested that when I go out I should keep a record of my field trip.
Date, time, location, weather condition's/ high seat or other,sex/age so on and so on. Does anyone do this if so is there such a thing as a stalking diary columns you fill out or do you just use normal note pad.

Maybe something like these - made from "Russian Hatch" style deerskin
#1 Field notes type

or #2 Moleskine type

 

[gelert]

I also have a map of my permissions and the location of every deer shot with a sticker, and a different color for deer seen.

 

[Dickie]

I was going to suggest one of these, I now wish I hadn't written in mine and bought another 10.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Country-Sportsmans-Record-Book-Journal/dp/1873590067/ref=sr_1_1?crid=291JL7BSQYQN1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DkKIHma20beTePlaejCRd0ERPNf8PYsIH3y9RV2jLo6TTczIXX-pcX90TDSk9NCm.xs16SmBduLvd1W7JRrRykvnTbN_1Sa5uGZCurgV5RrM&dib_tag=se&keywords=country+sportsman%27s+record+book+and+journal&qid=1739201874&sprefix=a+country+sportsmans%2Caps%2C77&sr=8-1

 

[Man-o-woods]

I also have a map of my permissions and the location of every deer shot with a sticker, and a different color for deer seen.

I like the note book. Where did you get it.

 

[Man-o-woods]

I was going to suggest one of these, I now wish I hadn't written in mine and bought another 10.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Country-Sportsmans-Record-Book-Journal/dp/1873590067/ref=sr_1_1?crid=291JL7BSQYQN1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DkKIHma20beTePlaejCRd0ERPNf8PYsIH3y9RV2jLo6TTczIXX-pcX90TDSk9NCm.xs16SmBduLvd1W7JRrRykvnTbN_1Sa5uGZCurgV5RrM&dib_tag=se&keywords=country+sportsman%27s+record+book+and+journal&qid=1739201874&sprefix=a+country+sportsmans%2Caps%2C77&sr=8-1

Very nice but not quite what I had in mind lol

 

[Monarch Country Products]

Had my interview today with the FEO.
He has suggested that when I go out I should keep a record of my field trip.
Date, time, location, weather condition's/ high seat or other,sex/age so on and so on. Does anyone do this if so is there such a thing as a stalking diary columns you fill out or do you just use normal note pad.

Something to consider on the link below

Stalkers Cull Register

 

[Jh1986]

I run a simple spreadsheet with date, location, species, sex, weight, onward chain, distinguishing notes.

I also have a total culls cell that updates accordingly, along with a pie chart for species (currently 60/40 Fallow/Roe), and a bar graph showing total culls per year

 

[Dorsettaff]

I use a spreadsheet recording date time species location (if successful) range calibre placement larder weight foetus (if applicable) end user (game dealer or person) and notes on numbers of deer seen

I also take photos and use the Zeiss Hunting app to log things.

and yes I am that anal! I just like charts and stats and graphs and tables!

Came in extremely useful when applying for a licence to take deer at night. Our NE assessor eyes lit up with all the data presented.

 

[wytonpjs]

Similar thread IIRC - see my response here:

Post in thread 'Journaling'

Jul 27, 2024

My wife bought me a game book as a present. I use a page per outing, record the date, kit used, location, deer shot (including grid, distance, position (sitting, prone etc)) and then usually do a narrative type write up to accompany the 'stats' as a way of recording the outing. The narrative will include all unusual bits as well, eg. 'saw a barn owl/fox/snake'

I wish I had started this decades ago when I first started game shooting but sadly I didn’t and memories are spread across boxes of old photos, lots of 35mm slides and now in Apple’s great cloud What I did do...

• wytonpjs

• 
• 

As I said, I wish I had started like @Stalker62 to keep a Game Book, etc a long time ago but that didn't happen so when I re-engaged with deer stalking I started to keep a simple spreadsheet to collate all the key details. This has now morphed into my "Business Database" but all of the stalk info is in there, complimented by photographs. The picture below is a screenshot from a presentation I did to local EHOs last month. You get the idea...............

 

[paulst]

I keep a simple diary where I note all successful outings, don’t bother with the unsuccessful ones. I also mark each deer shot on Google Earth.

That is what I do. Link to a photo and add any notes you want to the place mark. Deer and foxes.

 

[User00056]

I misunderstood the thread title and was all set to tell you not to worry as I once spent twenty minutes stalking in to a rock.

I shan't mention it now though.

Oh. Wait.......