TrophyTracks – The Idea!

I remember as a young kid when I would go hunting with my dad, he would always say “Once you get back, jot some notes down on an index card.” I used to do this, at least for the first few years, just write down what I harvested, the date/time, who all was there, maybe the weather conditions, or anything else memorable about the hunt. But, later in life I got busy, with school, with work, just life in general and I got away from it. I often wondered why and would sit in my tree stand for long hours thinking of a way I can keep up with this, so why not create a hunting journal app that you can use while you hunt?

The idea isn’t anything new, people have been keeping hunting journals, log books, and field notes for ages, we even see evidence from early caveman. The days of coming back and opening up a journal and writing, using a spreadsheet, or any sort of word document or homegrown database is gone. TrophyTracks will allow hunters to make field notes live, while you hunt, document what you see from your current location, track weather conditions, and monitor sun and moon phases.

In the beginning of 2017, my idea was selected to be part of the Happy Valley Launchbox at Penn State University. The Launchbox is a program designed for start-ups and entrepreneurs, helping you get the business started, getting you out of the building to talk to potential customers, build a team, and start working on your product. I also have over ten years of experience in the IT field, so having that background certainly helped from the technological aspect of building an app.

The premise of the app is quite simple, as you get to your hunting spot or location, begin using the app to log a hunt. All your information is private to you, hunters aren’t really into sharing their own secrets publically. TrophyTracks will drop a pin on the map of your location, and automatically add in all the weather information. All the hunter will do is jot down the game they observe as the see it. The hunter will be able to add pictures, field notes, or anything else relevant to the hunt. Over time, as you create more and more hunting logs, you can then start patterning the game and using the app becomes more predictive – putting you in the right spot at the right time.

The app will be free to download and use in the Alpha release later this fall. I’m really excited to show you what we’ve been working on all summer, and hope that you use it and submit feedback to us. We want to continue to make it better, but we need hunters like you to help keep the momentum going! Use the form on the homepage to drop us your name & email address, we’ll let you know when it’s ready to download and use.

Dan Hansel
Founder – TrophyTracks