Custom log form for documenting hunts

[PSS1963]

Got tired of scribbling half-assed notes about my hunts in an old spiral notebook and decided that some type of preprinted log book along the lines of what we use in diving would be just the thing to tidy it up and impose a little organization on the process. I looked online and found only one preprinted log tailored to MDing and I really didn't like the layout and it wouldn't easily record the info that I wanted, so a custom job was in order.

Below is a jpg screenshot of my form so if it looks fuzzy in places its because things didn't always line up well with the scan lines on the monitor and I wasn't able to save directly to jpg. The original was done on Framemaker and prints crystal clear on a laser printer at 600dpi. Anybody handy with a graphics editor could whip up something similar, customised to their own liking, using Visio or some other suitable program.

Some of my goals in creating this form were to combine overall ease of use with detailed year-to-date tracking of clad finds and flexibility in recording older coins and other items. Having my detectors and coils listed with check boxes was inspired by dive logs that use a similar system for gear used on a dive. Separating zinc and copper pennies for individual tracking was kind of a judgement call, but since I had been keeping separate data for them it seemed like the thing to do. They do detect like completely different coins and I will often skip the zincs if I'm cherry-picking for some quick clad. It worked out that 3 hunts fit pretty nice on one page which keeps things fairly compact. Then its two forms (6 hunts) into each sheet protector and into a 3-ring binder. I might intersperse log pages with those sheets that hold the 2x2 carboard flips so my finds and records of the hunts are stored together.

If anybody has a cool system for keeping records of their hunts, please share!

-pete

[attachment 314555 log_form_ver2.jpg]

 

[OregonMike]

This looks like a great system! My system is to throw everything I find into a sandwich baggie and leave it sitting around until several months go by. Then one day when I get tired of looking at all the sandwich baggies with dirty coins in them, I dump them all in a bucket of soapy water and swish them around. Then I get them out, dry them off, and put them in a coffee can. Of course wheat cents, older nickels, and silver coins get different treatment than that. The consequence is, of course, I have no idea how much I found on any given hunt, or where I found them, as all the bags look pretty much alike. I currently have bags starting in March of this year.

Somehow I have a feeling the original poster and I would be the Felix and Oscar of metal detecting. ("Odd couple" reference for those who don't get the names...) (Ok, for those who don't know what the "Odd Couple" is, it's about two friends whose wives kick them out and they're pretty much forced to live together to save on expenses. Oscar is a "slob" and Felix is a "neat freak." Hilarity ensues.)

Anyway, if I were to decide to get more serious about keeping track of my finds I would definitely "borrow" your system as it truly does look good to me.

All the best as you continue your hunting,

Mike

 

[bootyhoundpa]

Reminds me too much of work, like i gotta fill out another form sheeeesh!! However ,i do kind of wished i had kept some sort of log of the colonial era finds ive made... but clad , fill out a form for clad, forgetaboutit....... for me personally im in this hobby to get away from paperwork and corporate thinking , but hey thats just me .... to each his own ...

 

[Mega]

Alot of thought has gone into this finds/location log and it could well help alot of fellow detectorist,but i am one of these folks who like to keep it simple,must admit i also hate filling forms out but thats just me personally.I do carry a small pocket digital camera with me and also a GPS in my inner pocket,just to quickly record any interesting locations or possible hoard sites that i need to go back again to the same location again.

Basically with a small camera and a GPS its just 2 clicks and its recorded most of the information for me,rather than filling in a form,its great that you have designed a form for others to use.Good luck to all that use it.

 

[mudpuppy]

I did that one year in a spiral bound notebook, just to sort of see what a guy is capable of..dated, amount of time in field, any secondary finds of note...etc...

.Now you got me thinking...I wonder if detecting clubs have standard forms for members wanting to attempt a Big Year?

for Cladders, a simple # of coins, $value, coins/hr, or the like?..Fun and friendly Competition is a good motivator, it also forces one to learn new disciplines from what is working for the others...plus they could then issue patches! like a 8k coin yr, or 10k coin yr! Like merit badges! Good work there Pete!
Mud

 

[ironsight]

I keep a helter skelter log of sorts, nowhere near that kind of detail.
Only place, date, finds, and at productive silver sites either a crude hand drawn map or a google earth map of the finds locations. Usually don't even include clad details just the total amt. but only if a handful or more.
There are times i wished i would of documented the coil used, temperature, depth and ID of good keepers and important detector settings.

Taking this log idea one step further, if i had the time, motivation and energy to do it, i'd do something similar to the OPers log only enter all that data into an Excel spread sheet. One could then sort the data any which way.
Such as sort for best clad sites, silver sites, jewelry sites, most or best finds with a particular coil, phase of the moon, etc. etc. Could even put the data into graph form.
There's got to be some doing this already.

 

[WV62]

Here is a sample of the excel spread sheet that I made and use to log my detector info. I use 1 line for each hunt or event that I want to record. If I buy or sale a detector or equipment I log that in and the dollars, comes in handy if want to sale the same item at a later date I can look back and see how much I have in it.

Ron in WV

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

This looks like a great system! My system is to throw everything I find into a sandwich baggie and leave it sitting around until several months go by. Then one day when I get tired of looking at all the sandwich baggies with dirty coins in them, I dump them all in a bucket of soapy water and swish them around. Then I get them out, dry them off, and put them in a coffee can. Of course wheat cents, older nickels, and silver coins get different treatment than that. The consequence is, of course, I have no idea how much I found on any given hunt, or where I found them, as all the bags look pretty much alike. I currently have bags starting in March of this year.

Somehow I have a feeling the original poster and I would be the Felix and Oscar of metal detecting. ("Odd couple" reference for those who don't get the names...) (Ok, for those who don't know what the "Odd Couple" is, it's about two friends whose wives kick them out and they're pretty much forced to live together to save on expenses. Oscar is a "slob" and Felix is a "neat freak." Hilarity ensues.)

Anyway, if I were to decide to get more serious about keeping track of my finds I would definitely "borrow" your system as it truly does look good to me.

All the best as you continue your hunting,

Mike

Oh WOW!!!

I've got a doppelganger!!!

PSS1963 - I LOVE the idea but I'd never have the discipline to follow it. I do have an Android app called Memento Database which I use in a similar way (when I remember). I sure wish I had kept track after all these years - might even be able to convince the wife that this is a money-making hobby.innochio

 

[ironsight]

Here is a sample of the excel spread sheet that I made and use to log my detector info. I use 1 line for each hunt or event that I want to record. If I buy or sale a detector or equipment I log that in and the dollars, comes in handy if want to sale the same item at a later date I can look back and see how much I have in it.
Ron in WV

Way cool Ron! I knew someone was using a spread sheet!

Since i'm not particularly interested in clad, i myself would delete all that detailed clad data-just maybe the totals then add detector used, coil used, good find depths, good target IDs, temperature, detector settings, maybe soil conditions and of course the all important phase of the moon.

 

[WV62]

Don't care to share, if anybody would want the file just PM me your email address and I will send it out.

It does some math for coins I record but that is pretty easy to delete and the headers you can just change 2 what ever you want.

Ron in WV

 

[PSS1963]

I keep a helter skelter log of sorts, nowhere near that kind of detail.
Only place, date, finds, and at productive silver sites either a crude hand drawn map or a google earth map of the finds locations. Usually don't even include clad details just the total amt. but only if a handful or more.
There are times i wished i would of documented the coil used, temperature, depth and ID of good keepers and important detector settings.

Taking this log idea one step further, if i had the time, motivation and energy to do it, i'd do something similar to the OPers log only enter all that data into an Excel spread sheet. One could then sort the data any which way.
Such as sort for best clad sites, silver sites, jewelry sites, most or best finds with a particular coil, phase of the moon, etc. etc. Could even put the data into graph form.
There's got to be some doing this already.

The Excel idea has a lot of merit and it is certainly the best way to go when analysis of the data is a priority since it does all the math for ya and won't make a mistake once its set up correctly. One of my priorities I didn't mention in the original post was that I wanted the result to look good when printed out and I've never been very happy with Excel on that point. I guess I'm kinda old-school in that I like to have hard copies of stuff rather than everything on the computer - I like the portability.

-pete

 

[ironsight]

I used Excel a lot in my last job for plotting test data and then graphing it for presentations, reports and design reviews. Now that i've been retired for a while, i'd have to re-learn the advanced features all over again.
It took a while to become proficient at it, some of the advanced features are not that straight forward.
The best part, at that time i got paid for learning it at work.

Printing the spread sheet sometimes takes trial and error as there are a lot of cell format and print options. Start out experimenting with a simple maybe a 3 or 4 column spread sheet then experiment.
Some of the first print problems i had was trying to squeeze a large spread sheet into an 8.5X11 sheet of paper, formatting cell text and formating cell column-row lines for a cleaner looking printout. It all can be done.