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Outfitter Spartanforge, is anyone using it and what is your opinion?

MaxJac said:
Well, that's my point. All other apps predict good movement and activity today, Spartanforge shows zero in my area
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So it’s very reasonable that they are all going to tell the same thing, it’s all coming from the same chart.

The other side of that is if you trust solunar charts for deer movement. I personally think it’s a crock & over rated. Pretty sure he has some data from NC State studies, I’m curious to see how it plays out. I know there’s some from Ga & SC.


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The little bit of looking I did at spartanforge's predictions correlated pretty much with cold fronts coming through an area. Not sure what else goes on behind the curtain but it pretty much predicted an expansion in range every time the temperature dropped. Kinda a let down. If they deliver on the promise to be able to predict deer movement on an aerial map, that's worth taking a 2nd look at. Until then, color me very lukewarm. Kinda disappointed in what I've seen so far vs what got hyped.
 
Nutterbuster said:
The little bit of looking I did at spartanforge's predictions correlated pretty much with cold fronts coming through an area. Not sure what else goes on behind the curtain but it pretty much predicted an expansion in range every time the temperature dropped. Kinda a let down. If they deliver on the promise to be able to predict deer movement on an aerial map, that's worth taking a 2nd look at. Until then, color me very lukewarm. Kinda disappointed in what I've seen so far vs what got hyped.
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They're not wrong.
 
mattsteg said:
They're not wrong.
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Hey, yall know I'm a Dr. Sheppard fan boy! Cold fronts are where it's at. I'm just not paying for something I can get for free. I've got 17 different apps that all tell me when the mercury is gonna drop. I don't need one to tell me that information means I should go hunt!
 
Nutterbuster said:
Hey, yall know I'm a Dr. Sheppard fan boy! Cold fronts are where it's at. I'm just not paying for something I can get for free. I've got 17 different apps that all tell me when the mercury is gonna drop. I don't need one to tell me that information means I should go hunt!
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Would you feel better if it was telling you to hunt heatwaves?

What is Spartan Forge really promising other than throwing more computing power ("AI", "machine learning" - all stuff that tries to fill in more blanks with less information) at the same problem Doc Sheppard did, only with a different dataset? (almost certainly not as strong of a dataset to start)

Best case, over time a bunch of people are logging data all over the place, including lots of sightings, trailcam pics, etc. that build up a dataset far in excess of Doc Sheppard's and maybe some data from the crazy dudes who follow the dame deer like 5 years in a row somehow filters down to being able to make interesting predictions and wild shot-calls. More likely it captures some mildly-interesting secondary effects that account for say 10% of movement data (but are dwarfed by things like temp). Or just operates like a cloud version of the good Dr.'s database program.
 
mattsteg said:
Would you feel better if it was telling you to hunt heatwaves?

What is Spartan Forge really promising other than throwing more computing power ("AI", "machine learning" - all stuff that tries to fill in more blanks with less information) at the same problem Doc Sheppard did, only with a different dataset? (almost certainly not as strong of a dataset to start)

Best case, over time a bunch of people are logging data all over the place, including lots of sightings, trailcam pics, etc. that build up a dataset far in excess of Doc Sheppard's and maybe some data from the crazy dudes who follow the dame deer like 5 years in a row somehow filters down to being able to make interesting predictions and wild shot-calls. More likely it captures some mildly-interesting secondary effects that account for say 10% of movement data (but are dwarfed by things like temp). Or just operates like a cloud version of the good Dr.'s database program.
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That’s basically the same that Bill Thompson has said regarding Charles Alsheimer’s work on Moon phase.. he’s a self described Alsheimer disciple. But as of yet, he cannot prove that moon phase affects movement.


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mattsteg said:
Would you feel better if it was telling you to hunt heatwaves?

What is Spartan Forge really promising other than throwing more computing power ("AI", "machine learning" - all stuff that tries to fill in more blanks with less information) at the same problem Doc Sheppard did, only with a different dataset? (almost certainly not as strong of a dataset to start)

Best case, over time a bunch of people are logging data all over the place, including lots of sightings, trailcam pics, etc. that build up a dataset far in excess of Doc Sheppard's and maybe some data from the crazy dudes who follow the dame deer like 5 years in a row somehow filters down to being able to make interesting predictions and wild shot-calls. More likely it captures some mildly-interesting secondary effects that account for say 10% of movement data (but are dwarfed by things like temp). Or just operates like a cloud version of the good Dr.'s database program.
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I'm with ya. Until such a time (if it comes) that they can generate models postulating how deer should move on a map, it's just a new coat of paint on an old idea.
 
Nchunter1989 said:
That’s basically the same that Bill Thompson has said regarding Charles Alsheimer’s work on Moon phase.. he’s a self described Alsheimer disciple. But as of yet, he cannot prove that moon phase affects movement.


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Sheppard said that once his database grew large enough the apparent effect the moon had on movement vanished, much to his surprise.
 
Nutterbuster said:
Sheppard said that once his database grew large enough the apparent effect the moon had on movement vanished, much to his surprise.
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But yet some still stake their season on it.. One of the issues I have with the Drurys.. along with the fact I can’t relate to box stands & food plots anymore.


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Nutterbuster said:
I'm with ya. Until such a time (if it comes) that they can generate models postulating how deer should move on a map, it's just a new coat of paint on an old idea.
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The real power of any of these is if they can get people feeding lots of trailcam info into them and from that building a monster dataset that's big enough to actually come up with something novel and meaningful. say the merge of spartan forge and deerlab. Or (honestly this is probably what they really need) if they can get access to data from a bunch of radio-collar tracking and effectively merge all of that in as well. That'd be cool as all heck to lay hands on some of those datasets to play with.

All of this AI stuff needs a big ol' dataset to start with, so that it can start throwing darts with any reliability. And the more I think of if there's opportunity it's in tracker study data.

Nutterbuster said:
Sheppard said that once his database grew large enough the apparent effect the moon had on movement vanished, much to his surprise.
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I feel fairly comfortable that most things the Doc says don't matter are at most minor considerations, at least in overall movement level.
 
mattsteg said:
The real power of any of these is if they can get people feeding lots of trailcam info into them and from that building a monster dataset that's big enough to actually come up with something novel and meaningful. say the merge of spartan forge and deerlab. Or (honestly this is probably what they really need) if they can get access to data from a bunch of radio-collar tracking and effectively merge all of that in as well. That'd be cool as all heck to lay hands on some of those datasets to play with.

All of this AI stuff needs a big ol' dataset to start with, so that it can start throwing darts with any reliability. And the more I think of if there's opportunity it's in tracker study data.


I feel fairly comfortable that most things the Doc says don't matter are at most minor considerations, at least in overall movement level.
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What rock have you been under? Lol Spartanforge IS built on gps collar data, from all across the country. Some 8 million data points supposedly. You boys seriously need to listen to more podcasts..


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Nchunter1989 said:
What rock have you been under? Lol Spartanforge IS built on gps collar data, from all across the country. Some 8 million data points supposedly. You boys seriously need to listen to more podcasts..


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Right, but so far it's apparently just outputting common knowledge. Either there's not much to be learned, or they still need more data to be able to generate novel insight. They've got the big piece but there's a ton of work on top of that.

Honestly I figure any of this stuff is going to take a few years to mature to the point where it makes an impact, so I don't prioritize listening to podcasts about apps with no app and websites with no public-facing information other than generic marketing (and apparently is a letdown in feature set).

Spartanforge feels like all marketing buzzwords, no content. It sounds like they have a nice dataset as a starting point...but need to merge that with more local data to come even close to what the minimal info on their site suggests that they want to be.
 
Nchunter1989 said:
So we’re saying Spartan Forge is going to be the “Tethrd” of hunting apps…


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Self-proclaimed gamechanger?

They can't even publish a screenshot or 2 on their site? That really makes me distrust the quality of their product.

The way I see it
  • I imagine that their activity indicators are probably pretty good, with a better grounding than other apps.
  • I also suspect the same of Dr. Sheppards work - and at some point this is at most a go/no-go decision. If a day's really good I figure both will likely flag it
  • If they're just flagging activity levels - then they're reducing all of that wonderful data to 1-2 numbers (well, 3-levels of movement and a claim whether deer are moving core/transition/fullrange - but these overlap a lot) , and not really leveraging it.
They know so much more about those deer than how much they were moving and whether they were in their core area etc. Integrating the data with detailed topo data + wind model data + land cover data and/or AI recognition of satellite data to classify movement by type of terrain is where the next and more interesting step is (which they claim is on the way, at least some manner). After that integrating your observations and scouting into the model if the data is granular enough (i.e. mapping rubs, scrapes, beds etc and then based on surrounding terrain type and deer activity surmise possible core/bedding areas etc. and even project possible excursion locations.)

So mostly the current form of the product just feels like it's not doing what it should.
 
Played with it last yr and didn’t find much value other than the neatness to which it compiled and presented data. I did the middle package which for a guy moving cell cams and observation locations - burned up the number of spots allocated quickly. Not sure all the changes made but we often (as do the conclusion jumpers here especially here) associate success with these things to the level of ethics and cheating. Just like cell cams, crossbows, bait piles and Sendero blinds- they all work and help but there’s no game changing here.


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FYI for anyone interested-

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Ok, so just what the hell is spartenforge? I know it’s heavily advertised on all the podcast and YouTube channels I watch but it doesn’t really make sense. I feel like I don’t trust anyone’s opinion on it because they are sponsoring so many people (I’m sure on this forum too). All they say is you better sign up now before the price goes up. The app was due out a week ago but it’s still not released. The website doesn’t really say much about what it does but I did hear something about following radio collared deer? Is it me or does something seem off here? If so we should be warning members about this.
 
Shakeandbake said:
Ok, so just what the hell is spartenforge? I know it’s heavily advertised on all the podcast and YouTube channels I watch but it doesn’t really make sense. I feel like I don’t trust anyone’s opinion on it because they are sponsoring so many people (I’m sure on this forum too). All they say is you better sign up now before the price goes up. The app was due out a week ago but it’s still not released. The website doesn’t really say much about what it does but I did hear something about following radio collared deer? Is it me or does something seem off here? If so we should be warning members about this.
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Well, I started this thread a little while ago because I had the exact same questions and concerns. After following the conversation here and waiting for something happening on the website and a launch of an app, I canceled my trial subscription before it hits the pay period. I'm not saying "they" have ill intentions and try to take advantage, but I just refuse to follow an artificial hype on something in development. When did it start that we pay for something in advance before a final product is available? I remember a while back Tethrd did pre-orders and got really stuck in some supply challenges. Again, no ill will intended, but as a consumer, I just don't respond. Now, some say, this is entrepreneurship and all, in my opinion, it's just a very unstable business practice from a consumer point of view. Consumer satisfaction and my integrity as business owner is what carries a much higher value than just the raised funds. ...at least in my opinion as business owner for over 30 years. I hope this is not seen as a rant, but rather an insight of a consumer. If you want my money, have a product and deliver what's promised first.
 
MaxJac said:
Well, I started this thread a little while ago because I had the exact same questions and concerns. After following the conversation here and waiting for something happening on the website and a launch of an app, I canceled my trial subscription before it hits the pay period. I'm not saying "they" have ill intentions and try to take advantage, but I just refuse to follow an artificial hype on something in development. When did it start that we pay for something in advance before a final product is available? I remember a while back Tethrd did pre-orders and got really stuck in some supply challenges. Again, no ill will intended, but as a consumer, I just don't respond. Now, some say, this is entrepreneurship and all, in my opinion, it's just a very unstable business practice from a consumer point of view. Consumer satisfaction and my integrity as business owner is what carries a much higher value than just the raised funds. ...at least in my opinion as business owner for over 30 years. I hope this is not seen as a rant, but rather an insight of a consumer. If you want my money, have a product and deliver what's promised first.
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No that’s not a rant, this is great. More people need to know and to save their money. The few podcast I listen to are asking people to hang in there because it’s worth the wait. It’s crazy haha
 
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