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1990-01-16
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HIGH-TECH HUNTING by Bill Clede
OUTDOOR LIFE feature article December, 1989
"Let your computer take a 'byte' out of deer hunting preparation.
The Deer Expert System may just be the planning tool you need to
bridge the gap between you and your whitetail."
Deer hunters need to match their hunting techniques to the
conditions they face. Hunting pressure, terrain and weather can
all influence animals' behavior. And even if you've hunted 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 fairly inexpensive.
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 useful services.
Outdoor Forum is open to all who subscribe to the service.
Looking through the Forum's library one day, I found a file called
DEERHU.EXE. Curious, I loaded 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 research into whitetail deer behavior that is compiled
with the advice of deer hunting experts. It covers the type of
hunting found in the Midwestern and Eastern portions of the U.S.
as well as Eastern Canada.
The program first 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 with the method
most likely to succeed under those conditions. The program's
author, Chester Ceille, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said that his 1988
deer hunting party took three deer out of six tags available,
because Ceille chose not to take a doe and another hunter missed
his shot. In 1987, they took five deer on six tags in two days.
"I think the program can help people enjoy the hunt more and help
them to 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 program consists of a methods list and a variables list from
which the hunter can select the conditions and circumstances under
which he thinks he'll hunt.
The 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 the northern Maine woods.
If I responded that we were only two in the party, after opening
day, in hilly and wooded terrain and with light snow on the ground,
the program told me that tracking would be the best method to use.
If I said that there were more than two in our party, with similar
terrain and weather conditions, on opening day, the program
suggested stand hunting.
Sounds logical.
Now for the fun part. You need an IBM-compatible computer, modem
and communications software to telecommunicate. If you're not on
CompuServe, get a start-up kit from your local dealer. It will
explain how to subscribe to the network. [see NAMES log in Hunting
Log section of this program for an 800 number to call to get the
start-up kit]
Once your set up, at any system prompt type "Go Outdoors" and
join the Forum. Then leave a message to "All" to let us know you
arrived. You can find the program DEERHU.EXE on file in library 6.
Once you get it into your computer and type DEERHU the program
unpacks itself into program files and a document file.
The Deer Expert System is "shareware," or programs that are posted
in bulletin board style on the Forum menu. If you like it the
author asks for a one-time $20 registration fee. And there's good
reason to do this. When you register, you receive version 3, which
upgrades the program's technical level by adding more conditions
to distinguish the large whitetail buck's environment from that
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 small bucks.
You have to look for trophies in secluded, wooded, high-country
areas," Ceille said.
If you send in $28, you automatically get version 4 when it comes
out. It will include version 3 plus tie-ins to safety precautions
you should take on your hunt. For the "drive" method, it will
remind you about particular concerns for this method and details
on equipment.
"I plan to elaborate on the menu 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."
"If you would like more information about the Deer Expert System or
how to receive Outdoor Forum, contact Chester Ceille at
Strat-Tech, Inc., Box 1957, Milwaukee, WI 53201 (414-271-0980).
[800-783-9544 - toll free]
The program now in the forum library is an improvement over the
first one I used.
"We include some technical niceties. We now have a color display
and printing of results," Ceille says. "And we changed the data-
base 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 that 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 with permission of Clare Conley - Editor in Chief -
Outdoor Life and Bill Clede.
[] comments added to original article