Why Keep A Journal?

The desire to record activities can be traced back to the paintings and drawings left on cave walls over 30,000 years ago. Our ancestors knew the importance of recording their deeds. Those early pictures may have served several purposes: records of actual events, plans for future events, training aids from which younger members might learn, and as the legacies of older members no longer physically present but still remembered.

Today, we know as our ancestors did the importance of keeping records—for the same reasons and more.  Our modern lifestyles often mean leisure time for outdoor recreation is limited and the expense of participation in outdoor recreation is high. Maintaining accurate records of our hunting, fishing, shooting activities can help us make better decisions about future outings and to use our time more wisely based on a history of previous outings. How? Over time, such records begin to show patterns. The more information we record, the more detailed and accurate the patterns, which lead to our ability to make better decisions.

For example, if we could look back over the recorded details of several fishing trips to the same location, we could see which lures worked the best in certain water and weather conditions. In a hunting scenario, detailed records of scouting trips might show the times of day and specific locations in which game were sighted more so than at other times of day or at other locations. The patterns indicated by such records can then be put to good use when the hunting season opens.

Of course, you could record the details of your outings in the traditional manner by using paper and pen. However, a better way is with a computer and software designed for such a task. The Outdoor Journal is a software application designed specifically for the recording of hunting, fishing, shooting, and reloading activities. It is easy to use, flexible enough to "grow" with your experiences and its searching/reporting capabilities give it power far beyond that of pen and paper.

Here are just a few examples of how the Outdoor Journal surpasses the traditional paper and pen method of record keeping:

• Let’s say you’re keeping a daily account of a week’s worth of scouting deer in a new area. In each daily entry you would probably write the name of the location, the date, the weather conditions, and other background information—which will be repeated in each day’s entry. However, with the Outdoor Journal, all of this information is accessible with just a few mouse clicks. The drudgery of repetition is completely removed.
• Add once and reuse many times. Throughout the Outdoor Journal are lists that you can add to just by double-clicking on them. Once you add the new entry to the list it is available from that time on until you decide to remove it.
• It’s common to take photographs during outdoor activities. And it’s also become commonplace to store those photos on computers. With the Outdoor Journal, you can easily reference any photo on your computer from the Outdoor Journal’s Photo Gallery section. You can add captions to the photos and you can categorize them for easy sorting and filtering later on.
• The most dynamic aspects of the Outdoor Journal is that it is searchable and that the information within it can be filtered. Suppose you wanted to look up the information about a particular campground where you once stayed. It’s been years since you last visited there, but you know you entered information about it in the Reference Library section of the Outdoor Journal. All you need do is use the search tool to look for "campground" within the Reference Library.  All entries containing the word campground are instantly displayed. In fact, the entire Outdoor Journal is searchable. In another example, let’s say you have several fish photos referenced in the Photo Gallery scattered among the dozens of other photos, and you want to show a friend only the fish photos.  Click in the Category box and click the search icon to find any photo belonging to the Fish category, then click the filter icon to instantly filter from view all photos not pertaining to the Fish category. To undo the filter, simple click the remove filter icon.
• The Outdoor Journal’s built-in report mechanism automatically collates much of the information entered and produces the results in the form of printed reports. These reports list a variety of information including totals of fish/game taken, the hunters/fishers who took them, the locations, the lures/flies/baits used, and other details. Collating information like this with traditional pen and paper would be time-consuming, difficult, and prone to errors.  The Outdoor Journal contains 21 reports.

But the Outdoor Journal is much more than just an electronic diary. In addition to the components mentioned above, it also contains the following components: Firearms Inventory, Reload Recipes, Hiking/Backpacking Log, Camping Log, and a Fish Weight Calculator, plus hiking, camping, hunting, and fishing Checklists that you can customize and print. See for yourself by viewing the sample screens.

The Reference Library is a powerful tool in its own right. It can be customized and used many ways. You can catalog books, magazine articles, CDs, video tapes, and DVDs. You can copy and paste text from Internet forums, newsgroups, e-mail messages, and Web sites. You can store cooking recipes, fly pattern recipes, personal reminders, and text pertaining to anything you want. You can also customize the Topics list to suit your personal interests.

The Firearms Inventory enables you to list all of the details imaginable about a given firearm: make, model, serial number, cost, distinguishing marks, resell price, estimated value, alterations, purchase location, who it was sold to, and much more. It also contains a report suitable for insurance and law-enforcement agencies, should you ever need a detailed list of your firearms due to theft or natural disaster.

Reloading one’s own ammunition can be an economical and rewarding hobby. The Outdoor Journal’s Reloading Recipes section allows you to record the details of handloads. But it also contains an area where you can record ballistic information and the results of bench-testing those handloads. A Bullet Energy Calculator is also included. Blank input sheets can also be printed and taken to the range with you. Fill them in during testing then transfer that information into the Outdoor Journal at your leisure.

The Fish Weight Calculator is a useful utility directly accessible from the Fishing Log window with a single mouse click. Just select the fish’s body shape, enter its length and girth (if known); the fish’s weight is calculated and displayed. You can repeat the calculation for more fish or close the calculator and return to the Fishing Log. It’s simple and convenient.

The Hiking/Backpacking and Camping Logs allow you to record the details pertaining to your hiking and camping trips. The two logs each have checklists in which you can add or remove items to take along and then print the checklists so you can cross off the items as you pack them for the outings.

There are many electronic diaries and journals available today. Some are specific to hunting, some to fishing; others are generic, without any specific focus on outdoor activities. Only the Outdoor Journal contains logs for hunting, fishing, shooting, hiking, camping, and reloading. And none of the other journals include a Firearms Inventory and customizable Reference Library—-not to mention fish weight and bullet energy calculators.

Order the Outdoor Journal today and start recording your outdoor memories.