[ScipioCreekAssasin]

Well, its been one hell of a season in Zone 3 for me. Gobs of new info on how the deer use my property which I am hoping will pay dividends in the future. This is only my second season hunting this piece and I think after this season I am ready and confident enough to start make land adjustments to better my hunting. Seeing the pics and corresponding data for this contest I think its safe to assume most on here feel the same way. We have been blessed enough to still be standing above ground without injury, most anyway , and almost all of us were successful in putting those fast moving tasty creatures in our freezer.

With that said I would like to apologize for taking so long to get this to you guys. A family member has fallen ill which has made me spend more time in Ann Arbor than anyone would ever want to. As promised below are the observations I have made when evaluating this years contest data. I am mainly going to combine all teams data. If a team wants specific data just let me know and I can get it to you.

Firstly - here are my tally of final number for the team as well as total rack points and number of harvests for each team. Aligned with the graph is a breakdown of Gender harvests by team. I can account for variances to QDMAMAN's numbers though they did not change result of top 3. What is interesting here is the difference in rack points. I would suspect the winning team to have the most amount of rack points, especially when the top two teams have the same amount of harvests. However, after looking at the data Ts Booger entered more bucks but some entered as a doe which does not count rack points. This means either T's Boogers are some buck killers or...they need to shoot more doe. J/K! Good job to both teams for some impressive harvests. Either way - archery doe win this contest IMO.

Next, lets take a look at the terrain and success rates by method of hunt and weapon used to harvest. This view shows us that we are far more successful with our archery equipment when compared to gun. Could be archery is more rewarding as some people choose to only archery hunt or most likely due to the greater amount of time allowed afield with archery equipment. We have a couple individuals who like to stalk, and were successful, however its safe to say we all enjoy the open air and views from our tree stand. Also, we prefer to hunt in timber by a far margin. I would be interested to see the results if bait were added to the data.

 

[ScipioCreekAssasin]

Below we can see that, while Zone 1 didn't provide us very much data, I think its safe to assume it will follow the same pattern as zones 2 and 3. Again illustrating our success with archery equipment over gun. We can also see that we are slightly more successful in the afternoon with both gun and archery when compared to morning. Maybe some of us prefer to sleep in? Or my issue - hard as hell to sneak back in the AM without pushing every deer in the section off.

The graph below illustrates our harvest rates by day of week with the orange color representing bucks and blue representing doe. No real surprise here as Friday, Saturday and Sunday are our most successful days. Obvious conclusion here for me is its the time we have free to hunt. Working for the man really sucks.

 

[ScipioCreekAssasin]

Finally, our success breakdown by day for the entire season. I went ahead and labeled the dates on our harvest spikes. The breaks in the dates along bottom are due to some days having no harvests at all. The program groups data weird sometimes. Again buck harvest is in orange and doe in blue. Also, the weather data I am assigning to each spike is our state average, from NOAA, as assigning to zone would take some time and I don't have a structure set up for that. Maybe next season. It is also easy to see a weekly pattern form at least at the beginning of the season and beginning of rut. Our harvests fall on the days we are available to hunt. However, it is also evident our buck harvest start to increase the last week of October and begin to fall off the last week or two of November. Have to love rutting bucks!!

The 7th of October(Monday) was our first spike in harvests for the season with a total of 6 doe harvests and 1 buck. While the temp on the 6th was 64.5 and on the 7th 60.5 this did not result in a large temp swing that we look for. However, it was following a storm that produced an average of .12" for the state.

The 13th(Sunday) follows a similar story above with 3 doe and 1 buck. It actually got warmer on the 13th vs the 12! However, the 13th followed another storm that produced about .13" of rain. This is a trend I can get behind!

The 2nd(Saturday) also does not fall in line with my prediction that these spikes would be on cold front. We had a total of 6 bucks harvested and 1 doe. Must have been the day the bucks decided it was time for a lady friend. Again, it actually got warmer on the 2nd when compared to the first. It was actually raining as well.

The 8th(Friday) was not the result of a large temp swing either. We harvested a total of 5 bucks and 2 doe. The 9th(Saturday) saw a slight temp dip and we harvested a total of 5 bucks and 1 doe. The 8th, however, did follow another storm that produced .03" of precipitation with .02" of that being snow. Easier to see them?

 

[ScipioCreekAssasin]

The 15th is obvious as it is one of our Holidays. A total of 10 bucks and 6 doe were taken. The 16th was almost as successful with a total of 11 bucks and 2 doe harvested.

The 23rd(Saturday) finally followed our prediction of cold fronts with a decent drop in temps. We successfully harvested 4 bucks and 1 doe. Buck harvests are still up at this point when compared to season.

Finally, the 29th(Friday) we harvested a total of 4 bucks and 3 doe. No major weather pattern that would ave predicted anything.

I am taking from this I need to be in the woods after a storm more so than when a cold front presents itself. Any other ways of looking at the data you would like to see? Any insights I may have missed? Let me know.

 

[Namrock]

Wow! Very well done. I'd like to thank for putting forth the time & effort in analyzing this contests harvest #'s. Some valuable information, especially (for me anyway) the "after significant rainfall" numbers. Something else I'll definitely use in the future when tracking weather patterns during deer season. Bravo Sir, it's much appreciated.

 

[Lumberman]

That is very cool. Well done.

 

[U of M Fan]

Great job.

 

[bigbucks160]

Great data, I will be referring back to this and looking at the trends deeper. Thanks for putting it together.

 

[bowhunter426]

Thanks for compiling this

 

[Joe Archer]

Nice job!
The breakdown of deer by zone is a bit surprising for me. According to your numbers -
03.8% of the deer entered were from Zone 1,
25.7% of the deer entered were from Zone 2,
70.5% of the deer entered were from Zone 3!

It would be nice to see a comparison of success rates for each zone.
<----<<<

 

[snortwheeze]

Lot's of work put into that, thank you !! @mich buckmaster would've turned his doe we would've been top 3

Hope for you that your family member gets better too !

 

[michiganreaper]

Thank for all the hard work. Definitely some good information to look at for what days to make sure to be in the field next season.

 

[Huntahalic]

Great data collection and breakdown. If everyone that showed photos and spoke of their success would have posted on the successful thread your data would be different I'm sure.
Very impressive data nonetheless, thanks for your work. Speedy recovery to your family member.

 

[Luv2hunteup]

Thanks for sharing. Great job.

 

[Hoytman5]

This is all great information that I will study closely and compare to my own experiences on some of those days. Thanks for taking the time to compile all this information.

 

[83mulligan]

Thanks for putting this all together, appreciate the time and effort!

 

[Sprytle]

Thanks! Great information.

 

[QDMAMAN]

Outstanding effort SCA! Thank you, and thanks to all of the participants that so willingly offered up the requested additional data!

 

[QDMAMAN]

The 15th is obvious as it is one of our Holidays. A total of 10 bucks and 6 doe were taken. The 16th was almost as successful with a total of 11 bucks and 2 doe harvested.
View attachment 481073

The 23rd(Saturday) finally followed our prediction of cold fronts with a decent drop in temps. We successfully harvested 4 bucks and 1 doe. Buck harvests are still up at this point when compared to season.
View attachment 481075

Finally, the 29th(Friday) we harvested a total of 4 bucks and 3 doe. No major weather pattern that would ave predicted anything.
View attachment 481077

I am taking from this I need to be in the woods after a storm more so than when a cold front presents itself. Any other ways of looking at the data you would like to see? Any insights I may have missed? Let me know.

SCA, you up for this again this season?

 

[ScipioCreekAssasin]

SCA, you up for this again this season?

Absolutely! Really enjoyed seeing what the results were last season. Open to other data points as well if people have suggestions. This will be an interesting season as well in regards to all that's going on in the world and its potential impact.