Mining the Deer Log

I was playing around with the camp’s deer log, and I cooked up some charts to display some of the data.

Most of the concepts are not new to you.

First off, let’s look at the barometer and see how it has influenced our deer harvest: (Click on the graphs to get a full-sized image)

Generally speaking, 29.80″ – 30.60″ is considered a good range for taking deer. 30.01″ – 30.40″ is considered Optimal. Sure enough, at our place over 18 seasons we’ve seen exactly that. Of course, below 29.8, it’s usually pouring rain, and above 30.6 it’s windy and cold in November. However, you’ve proof in the log that the general wisdom holds up.

If we have a rising barometer, we’re about twice as likely to see deer as if it is falling or holding steady:

How about moon phase?

A Waxing Moon is far and away the best. The last quarter has almost no deer taken.

Lastly, what part of the season do we take the most deer?

This is where the biases start to show themselves. We’re rifle hunters, so we’re hitting the woods for the Rifle Opener, 2nd Saturday of November, and that floats around from year to year.

You can sure see it on this graph– that second week of November is filled with deer, as is the last possible day of season, the 27th.

Truth is, our window of success is even more compacted than this graph would indicate. It boils down to the simple fact that if we have not harvested a buck by 10 AM on the Opener, the chances that we will harvest a buck go down dramatically.

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