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Outdoor Life Hunting

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.

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.

Outdoor Life Fishing

Fishing by Computer by Bill Clede

If you're a science fiction fan like me, just imagine. It's a lake you don't know very well. You're not sure of the techniques that will work best under the conditions you find there. Along with your tackle box and rods, you also put a brief case into the boat.

You open the briefcase to expose a portable computer. Calling up the map program, you study a chart of the lake. You zoom in on the more likely spots to reveal greater detail of the growth and structure underwater. It shows you the weed beds, a sunken wreck and a deep trough.

Then you bring up the Fish Expert program and enter the type of fish you're after, the time of day, time of year, type of water, water clarity and depth, wind and weather, the season, the spawning stage, weed conditions, water temperature, type of bottom, and whether the barometer is rising or falling. The computer then tells you the technique and type of bait most likely to succeed.

When you've boated your limit, you open up the computer again. You bring up Fish Expert program again and enter the day's information into your log. It's a database that you can review later to recheck what worked and what didn't under different conditions.

But this isn't science fiction.

Well almost, I don't know of anyone offering charts of lakes, but computer mapping of streets, right down to house numbers, is being used by surveyors and emergency service agencies today. The only reason it hasn't been done with fishing waters is that no one's identified the market for such a product yet -- and it's expensive.

Chester Ceille of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has identified a market for the fishing program. He started with a program he calls the Deer Expert System (reported in Outdoor Life, December 1989); and what he learned perfecting it, he applied to fishing.

A computer expert system is not quite artificial intelligence, but almost. For every possible variable you enter, there are many different answers. As you more closely define the conditions, the program homes in on fewer possible answers. When you've told it all it needs to know, the program displays the best advice for catching fish.

For example, say you're after largemouth bass. The program covers largemouth bass, trout, walleye, and boat control, so far. I defined a sunny summer day on a river of moderate depth. The program suggested I still fish or cast into shallows and weed beds, look for structure, use topographic maps to find sharp break in bottom contour. If I defined the same circumstances but at night, it suggest cast or still fish with spinnerbaits or other vibration/sound lures, try the points when the bottom breaks sharply, then reminded me that fish are more active at night. If I made the season autumn, it said to cast or still fish backwater holes.

Yes, I said boat control. When I answered "no" to get past the fish species, it asked if I was wondering about boat control. I said "yes." Then the program asked about conditions. I set up the same situation as above on a sunny bright day with light winds. "Anchor upwind or up current from where the fish are," it said. "Drift back to the fish with the sun at your back." Seems that fish don't look into the sun so they're less likely to see your boat.

The Fish Expert's main menu gives you five choices: general overview, determine method (enter conditions), library, fishing logs, and exit. The general overview tells you about the program.

The library is filled with information on line, lures, methods, gear, and tips from professional fishermen.

Fishing logs is a collection of files where you can inventory your rods, reels, lures, clothing, boat, motor, and electronics. Another section prompts you to enter descriptions of the lakes you fish so you can refer to this information later. There's a Names file, an address/phone book of places and services you want to remember. And a Notes section with tips on trip planning already there. There's plenty of room for you to add whatever else you want to make note of.

The Packing file is a checklist of all those little things likely to be forgotten when you pack for a trip. A Quality file is a productivity chart so you can figure if the particular waters produced a high ratio of big fish. And there's a section where you can add all your favorite recipes.

You'll like the Record section. Here you enter your catch record, date, waters, weather, species, size/weight, bait, time, method, and location. As this file builds, there's a search function so you can quickly find information on past activity at a particular body of water. Safety includes tips and what to do when you're boating, wading, encounter lightning, tips on survival and contents for a survival kit. The last section, Sources, is a bibliography.

One of my favorite sources of information has always been to strike up a conversation with some salty looking character at the launching ramp. It will continue to be. That's how you learn what to put into your Fish Expert program, besides your own observations and experience. If you're at all active, I'd guess you will build up quite a base of helpful data in one season.

Then, when you go back next year, you have all that data at your fingertips. You'll have forgotten what the old man said, but the computer won't. You may remember the size of the lunker, but what were the weather conditions that day?

Reprinted by Strat-Tech, Inc. with permission of the author.

Bass Masters Rated #1

Review from Bass Masters Magazine - March 2002

Pros' Press Conference

By Craig Lamb - The B.A.S.S. pros and other fishing experts answer your questions about bass fishing . . .

Question: What is the pros' favorite software application . . . Glenn Curtis, Rockville, Md.

Answer: Craig Lamb, BASSMASTER Senior Writer:

"Fishing Expert" is a software program that has been on the market since 1990. It has a fishing log application allowing users to database their catches and much more. Extras include a forecast analysis feature, making it possible to create various scenarios based on seasons and weather with the predicted outcome displayed.

The latest version is based on recent fishery research about fish behavior, and involves a literature search of current writings. The database contains hundreds of possibilities linked to the system. You can "test drive" this product using its web version at www.st-tech.com.

Rated top 10 in Fishing by About.com
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