about.com Deer Expert Article
This interesting software can help hunters determine how best to hunt deer. There's
a unique software program out, called Deer Expert, that can help hunters, especially
novice hunters, determine the best way to hunt deer. Considering factors like type
of deer hunted (large bucks, or does and small bucks), number of hunters in your
party, wind speed, weather, terrain type, time of day, and time of the season, this
software provides suggestions on the best hunting methods for those conditions.
Also included are various text files, on such subjects as drive techniques, preparing
hides for tanning, choosing a hunting knife, dealing with ticks, etc. Several of
these files are meant to be completed by the user for compiling a hunting log, equipment
list, hunting plan, and more. The file on safety is a great addition.
...
This program is a useful tool for folks wanting to access advice based on conventional
hunting wisdom from a seasoned hunter. For a beginner without much experience, it
will probably prove helpful. By using the hunting suggestions in this software and
modifying those techniques over time through his or her personal experience, it
could certainly help increase one's odds of success. The increased confidence for
a beginning hunter could even be a help, as mindset has a lot to do with our success
in the field.
For the experienced hunter, it helps affirm what
has already proven successful, as well as helping one determine what methods to
use in unfamiliar territory. By customizing the program as I mentioned above, hunters
can help focus the program's suggestions on their own particular area of experience,
possibly leading to further success. And it helps to be able to take all of the
variables into account, which is sometimes pretty tough for this hunter's brain.
Between the hunting advice and the safety info included, I think this program could
definitely help deer hunters stay safer and make their trips afield more enjoyable.
The section on recovering wounded deer is a useful addition, though it seems to
get "confused." After I told it there is "no blood present near hit," it forced
me to choose between "blood contains yellow or green matter" and "blood spurting
to both sides of track." Probably this is an anomaly that will be corrected as soon
as I bring it to Mr. Ceille's attention, which I am in the process of doing.
Russ Chastain
Deer Hunting Expert Outdoor Life Article
Computer Figures Best Deer Hunting Method
by Bill Clede
(Items in [] are current corrections to article by Strat-Tech, Inc.)
Deer hunters need to match their hunting techniques to the terrain and conditions they face. Hunting pressure, weather, which part of the season, all these things influence animals' behavior. And even when you've an area before, it's helpful to know how the experts would do it.
Your computer can now give you this expert advice. It's easy, and it's cheap.
I keep in touch with sportsmen of all outdoor persuasions on CompuServe's Outdoor Forum. CompuServe Information Service is a data network that offers access to research databases, electronic mail, special interest forums, and many other services I never use -- like stock reports. Outdoor forum is open to all who are on the service.
Browsing in the forum's library one day, I found a file called DEERHU.EXE. Curious, I downloaded it into my computer and found the wisdom of hundreds of hunting experts.
The Deer Expert System is a planning tool, based on the author's study and scholarly search into whitetail deer behavior. He compiled it with the advice of deer hunting experts. The program asks you questions about the conditions and circumstances of your planned hunt, compares your responses with its database of deer hunting logic and reports back the method most likely to succeed -- under those conditions.
The program's author, Chester Ceille of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said his 1988 deer hunting party took three deer out of six tags available, because Ceille chose not to take a doe and another in the party missed his shot. In 1987, they took five deer on six tags in two days using the program.
"I think the program can help people enjoy the hunt more, and help them be more successful and safe," Ceille says. "My own experience is that the better you plan the hunt, the more safety conditions come to mind, and the better prepared you are for varying conditions."
The opening menu lets you list methods, list variables, start the program, or exit the system.
Methods list includes Stand, Tree Stand, Drive, Stillhunt, Tracking, and Rattling. Variables include time of day, opening day or not, snow or rain falling, type of terrain and ground cover, if the rut is on, temperature, number in party, and if you can find your way in the woods.
As an example, I used the time my late father-in-law and I went hunting in northern Maine woods.
If I responded that we were only two in the party, after opening day, in hilly and wooded terrain, with light snow on the ground, the program told me "Tracking" would be the best method to use. If I said we were more than two, under similar circumstances, on opening day, it said to use "Stand hunting. "
That sounds logical.
. . .
The Deer Expert System is shareware. If you like it, the author asks for a $20 [now $25.95] registration fee. And there's good reason to do this.
When you register, you receive version 3 [now 5.0] that upgrades the program's technical level by adding more conditions to distinguish the large buck's environmental preferences from those of other deer. A new question asks "After Big Bucks?" A "yes" answer will branch to a logic base specific to big deer. A "no" answer will go to the present base.
"Under some conditions, big bucks are more wary than smaller bucks. You have to look for trophies in secluded, wooded, high country areas," Ceille said.
. . .
"I plan to elaborate on the menus and perhaps add one or two other new sections," Ceille adds. "They might be on deer scents, scouting, tracking, cleaning the deer -- this would be information added primarily to stimulate the planning of the hunt."
The program now in the forum library is an improvement over the one I first used. "We include some technical niceties. We now have a color display and printing of results," Ceille says. "We made it self extracting so it's easier to set up. We changed the database to improve some of the conditions as a result of situations pointed out to us by users of the program."
Many's the time on hunting trips I've chatted with locals to learn the techniques they use. It's nice to be able to ask so many experts all at once.
Copyright Bill Clede. All rights reserved.
Reprinted in Outdoor Life Yearbook.
Reprinted by Strat-Tech, Inc. with permission of the author. See our links page for more information on Bill Clede.
Deer Expert - WI DNR Message
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Excerpts
The revenues generated from deer hunting also help support other
wildlife programs. Deer hunting licenses brought in more than $23 million
in 1991 ($60 million in 2001) - and total state economic impact has grown to over 1
billion dollars annually. In addition to deer-related programs and activities, these funds
also support a wide variety of wildlife related activities, including land
acquisition and management to benefit wildlife, wildlife education
programs, wildlife research, and law enforcement.