Any of y'all take notes while you sit?

Started taking much more detailed notes this year--wind, temp, time deer show up, directions they arrive from and leave in, how long they feed for, etc. So far, found it a fun way to pass the time and it's been pretty helpful in patterning movements in certain areas. Doin it on my phone so I can share notes with my buddy that I share stands with. Interesting to compare what we each see.

Curious if anybody else does this? Helpful in the long run? Recommended overall?

I keep notes/records. We all have “daily survey sheets” that we fill out each hunt. Main info is numbers of deer seen and broken down by sex, fawns, general age of bucks. It also asks for general weather info but I’m much better about tracking that than others. I go a step further and transfer that info onto a daily hunting diary that’s a spiral notebook. I’ve kept it for decades and it’s really interesting to look back at it. Anything in dairy would be to learn from for future. Any movement patterns and especially any rutting activity or food source changes. I will sometimes put in there about possible changes to the blind or setup.
It’s all intended to be informative for improved hunting/management but as you said it can give you something to do on long sits.
We have separate record keeping on what was killed with all pertinent stats about the deer but I will also put that info in my diary. It reads a little more like a book/story that way as opposed to referring to spread sheet type data for kill reports.

Sounds too much like work. I hunt to get away from work.

^^^ yep, and not quite that mad at ‘em these days to go through that kind of trouble.

Not in the blind, but I think it's a good idea. I still prefer the ol' pen and paper. It's what got me through college. The older I get, the more notes are required. Super-sticky post-its are the bomb. Lots of folks are extremely adverse to writing a simple note...then they forget.

I've been wanting a hunting journal to keep notes in. Thought it would be cool to look back on when I can't hunt anymore.

If I had the time and was retired maybe, nah, sounds like analysis paralysis to me. I like to be in a relaxed mode while hunting, KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid)

Here's the thing - you can write whatever the ......you want, and no one has to ever see or read it. That's up to you. More people should try it. The results might surprise you.

Good point Creek. I enjoy it so far. If for nothing more than reminding myself of what it was like on a particular sit. Cams only pick up so much of what deer are actually doing and moving so I've found it interesting to track. Not making a novel of it, but have definitely picked up on a few insights. Example bigger bucks have traditionally come from one direction, smaller bucks/does from another. Easy enough to jot down when you're having a sit.

I've been taking very detailed notes for the last 20 years. Every thing from wind direction to the place where I first see the deer. How long the stay, etc
I enjoy reading about previous hunts.

Don’t write notes, but take pics of just about everything I see when I’m the blind and have the history with most areas of the ranch to understand why things are appearing where they are. Those pics bring me back to each hunt and I can remember the specific details.

I take mental notes and that about it. The 1 thing that will increase your odd the most is spending more time in the woods. Your odds go up just by being there more often. Another thing that increases your odds is throwing out hand corn.

About all I can commit to. Started hand corning in NWTX this season after having done it in South Texas for decades. It does work, gets those deer out of the pens looking for it and coming back for more..

I'm constantly taking videos and photos, but I don't take notes. We used to keep detailed blind surveys, but now we just rely on helicopter surveys.

The place I go they fly once a month for predator control, on that ranch and the surrounding ranches. So the deer don't move when they do their helicopter survey.

I carry a gallon bag (half full) of corn every time I hunt. I see way more deer about 150 yards from my feeder @ the hand corn every single time. Started doing it 20 years ago. We only have about 130 acres that we lease, but I saw 9 bucks yesterday @ my hand corn spot that I have been using since bow season started. It works.

I used to keep a detailed journal when I was fishing all the time. Over the years it helped a lot.

I don’t want to put that much effort into writing down what I see while sitting in a box watching a feeder.

I have kept some sort of records from hunting for the last 30+ years. From blind counts to photo to a log book for a while. Now I do blind counts and photos....lots of photos.

I have never done it but I think it would e very interesting to look back over the years.