A Solid Hunting Strategy For Next Year
Author: Kevin A. Gardner
We use the word postmortem to communicate after the fact of life analysis of an animal. The word postmortem however can mean more than after death; it can mean analysis after an event as well. For example, this word gets slung around in the office setting in some companies as a methodical analysis of how something went at an event such as a tradeshow or a big sales meeting. The analysis of the facts, findings and the haul made from the event are all scrutinized and discussed for a better execution at the next event. Thus a postmortem is truly a review of after the fact data in this sense.
With hunting season 2008 firmly in the rearview mirror at this point, and staying in line with business strategy speak, perhaps a postmortem of the season would help the outcome of 2009. Has a thorough discussion of the season ever been formally done by all involved in your hunting party? Too often we allow valuable data to pass right by and never scrutinize it for all it has to teach us. A collective gathering of information or postmortem could be quite revealing of deficient strategies and the basis for a new plan of action.
Once information is gathered and scrutinized, the next agenda item is the task of categorizing it for the record. With today’s technology, information analysis and planning is incredibly easy if you explore some of the basic offerings that may already be on your home PC. Even the best of analytical data collection will not be valuable unless the information itself is truly precise and all inclusive to be able to notice variances that will reveal a need for change. Side by side comparisons of data over time become an invaluable resource
To effectively review the events of last hunting season for example, it is imperative to look beyond everything that happened from the last scouting trip in pre-season to the fading light of the last day of the season, which is what we tend to focus our attention on when replaying the season in our mind. An effective review will need to encompass day one after the previous season to the end of that last day of hunting this year. Therefore to really look at 2008 we would need, for example to start at the beginning, which is in reality the end of 2007. After careful review, the stage is now set for a plan. Again staying with the business speak, plans are formed in the way of projects and managing those projects is done through a process called project management. Being successful is within reach and with good data, a good plan and righteous information, 2009 can be the best you have ever had.
Project management sounds out of place when talking about a hunting strategy, but it is exactly what process will yield the result you seek. If you have ever been involved conceptually with project management at any level, you know that there is an assignment of tasks and milestones along the way to help keep the plan on track. Theses milestones or waypoints are simply trigger points placed in the plan to review the results of the process to date and to keep on track systematically to achieve the end goal. The end goal in this case is greater success in the field and knowing that fact is the first element of good project management, starting with the end in mind. What I am talking about is a true project management plan that will bring better results next season. A paper or computer generated layout of a strategy for 2009 complete with tasks and milestones committed to by all in the camp, to keep the process on track. Significant data that will actually be valuable can be gathered and learned from, so collection and review of data will naturally become more intense and scientific in nature.
There exist a few tools that can help with this process. Some of the basics are listed below as suggestions. Some of the equipment may take time to gather and initial expenses are inevitable, but this short list is a start.
1. A scouting journal- This should be a very detailed journal that you may find commercially or you may need to create on your own. Key components of a scientific scouting journal are; base weather conditions, temperature, barometric pressure, wind direction and approximate speed (can be rated by severity),prevailing ground conditions, time of day, impending weather and most importantly, detailed observation.
2. A means to measure barometric pressure.
3. A means to measure temperature.
4. A weather radio to log the future 24 hour forecast.
5. Binoculars and/or spotting scope for distant observation.
6. Computer software to generate a plan (Microsoft Project for example) complete with milestones and dates, or a spreadsheet (or calendar) to pinpoint desired activity dates and goal setting if a software system is out of reach.
7. Trail cameras.
8. A good clipboard for use as a writing surface in the field. Do not try to commit details to memory for later entry, do it now in the field.
After a thorough debriefing from all involved about everything they can remember from the previous season, a.k.a a postmortem, a lead project manager should be selected. Since you are reading this article and giving this process consideration, it will likely be you for the first year but should be rotated if possible. This project manager will be responsible for owning the data and collecting it not only firsthand, but the results of data collected from others as assigned by task. This is a strong commitment on the part of the manager, and involves much greater levels of communication among team members and actual field action that is probably unprecedented. Duplicate scouting efforts, which is common when everyone is doing their own thing, yield observations that never really get discussed among team members. With project management in place this activity will no longer be individual exercises in miscommunication and will become a strategic and key benefit to the plan.
Planning
Start by setting a monthly scouting goal. This responsibility will be delegated to each member of the team to take a month and be responsible for returning the scouting data for their tour. This should breakdown an enormous task into small manageable events where each member of the team may be responsible for two or three trips over the course of the year, but the entire team gets the benefit of having a much greater presence in the woods gaining valuable data collected. Each trip should be meaningful and not a quick walk through the woods with a specific goal in mind, open minded observation will yield best results. All of the data in the scouting journal should be collected and very detailed observations noted. Some incredible findings will begin to be revealed as things progress, notably how weather conditions and barometric pressure influences movement and activity. Usage patterns will become more obvious, and escape routes may be uncovered. Trends are what good data collection is about and communication of these details will show trends.
Communication
Schedule semi-monthly or quarterly meetings for yet another postmortem of activity and recent events and observation. If in person meetings are too hard to accommodate, look into phone or internet conferencing services that are reasonably inexpensive and facilitate a call-in session. Each member becomes responsible for a report and the project manager emails the agenda in advance. A review of the goals and upcoming waypoints should be covered. Each member of the team should be called upon for at least one major event based on their particular skill, financial ability and offering to the group. Perhaps it is obtaining a topographic or aerial map that can be laminated and used to strategize, or the purchase and distribution of mineral or vitamin blocks for example, whatever the case, everyone has skin in the game.
The benefits of this type of plan should already begin to start making sense to you. As wildlife researchers we must be able to find animals in all conditions at any given time, and this is very much the way a systematic and scientific approach is used to gather data and locate the animals we need to lay our hands on to manage them according to a goal. Our eyes and ears in the field reveal what we need to do to locate our study at any given time and it is a shared, documented and well communicated process. It takes time to get that process in place, as every locale is obviously different so be patient and prudent.
Fine tuning
With established communication and collective data gathering in place, the project manager may want to begin expanding the field study tours to include things like specific approach routes, or adjoining land scouting. Food plot planning may become evident as a strong need if the area is not holding the animals. Each member could become responsible for researching a particular food plot species to strategically place in the area, learning all there is to know and suggesting a plot size and location. Drilling down even further would be identifying exactly which plots may be the most beneficial at key times of the year to support things like lactation for developing young or key times that bio-mass may be needed to facilitate an overabundance of material which is the only way to increase antler mass. Only that food energy above and beyond the need for daily survival can be utilized by the body to add additional inches to the antler or horn, thus key times of the year and food availability play a significant role in antler development.
Not just for deer
This approach has a universal application, whether you are hunting the big woods of the northeast, the rolling hills of the south, the flat plains of the Midwest or the great mountain states. Those areas where the animals migrate over great distances are even more so subject to hands on scrutiny. I have played the role of scout for a hunting party in the west and believe me, it can be a very consuming process. Following transitional animals can be maddening and the ability to read nature’s evidence in lieu of actually seeing the animal takes time to develop. Good observation practices can speak as much to animals in the area as seeing them firsthand every time afield.
You may find yourself like I did and be acting as the sole owner of this entire process, you may be project manager and only member on your own team. The long and the short of it is that planning and seriously scrutinizing all of the available data, be it last year’s activities or new observation from a trip afield today, the details will reveal what steps need to be taken next. The adage that if you always do what you have always done, you’ll always get what you always got is the truth, and why words like postmortem and project management have become staple statements in the parallel of business, everyday is survival.
Adapt this logic to the hunting camp and see where science can actually begin to take you. I always try to keep this one phrase in mind however, I have found it to help keep me humble when trying to speak with authority about wildlife and keeps my foot out of my mouth; The one thing you always know is that you don’t always know, and that is the one thing you can always count on.
Enjoy your resources.
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