The Magic Watch

I have a Casio hunting watch, that supposedly tells me the optimum times for hunting. I have used it for 3 years now. It's calculations of sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset are within 5 minutes of my observations and my GPS. On that basis alone I find it a handy device.

Last year, I had Mooseboy up in the stand with me, and things were going slowly. I fumbled around with the watch and found out we were due for a minor hunting maximum in an hour or so.

It came down to the last minute, and we counted the final seconds-- three, two, one. . . (rustle, rustle) Success! We heard something coming. I had him get his rifle ready. We waited. The sound was coming from the opposite side of a fence corner. It sounded like something was moving towards the corner and would show itself in just a few steps.

Squirrel. (Drat!)

Mooseboy dozed off. However, less than a half-hour later a small buck did show up and Mooseboy woke up and aired the little guy out, closing out his career as a youth hunter.


What is my take on all this? First off, no other source seems to agree with my watch, not exactly. Second, after 3 deer seasons, I know that if a hunting maximum occurs right around the time the sun rises or sets, I'll see deer with about the same regularity I do without looking at a watch or tables. If it's any other time of day, forget it.

Also remember that local conditions will influence these hunting peaks. That means things like precipitation, temperature, and hunting pressure. These peaks come 3-4 times in a 24 hour period and may be perturbed by an hour or more.

Let's see:
24/4 = 6==> #(roughly) of hours between peaks.
2==> 1 hour each side of the peak for slush
6*2=12 ==> Number of hours per day where a positive hunting experience
could be theoretically linked to one of these hunting maximums.

Divide that by 2, because half the occurances are going to occur at night, and you end up with 6 hours per day where you can bag a deer and possibly attribute it to the magic watch or magic chart.

1) I see more deer when I am in my stand than when I am indoors
2) I see more deer when I am not looking at my watch

Don't get me wrong; I love my watch. It accurately predicts sunrise and sunset, and all I need to do is be there a little before one of those things happen, and I am going to be just fine.