Support — Buckhour

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Get in touch

Email support@escapeplan.software. A person reads every message. Tell us you're writing about Buckhour, which iPhone and iOS version you're on, and what you expected to see. In the app, Settings → Contact Support fills in the app version for you. Please don't send stand locations or photos unless we ask for something specific.

Buckhour describes hunting conditions and keeps your log. It does not predict deer, and it does not show legal hunting hours, seasons or limits. Your state or provincial wildlife agency, or the hunting authority where you hunt, has those.

Frequently asked questions

• How do I add a stand? On the Stands tab, tap the + button (Add Stand), move the map until the cross is on your stand and tap Place Stand Here. Name it, choose the type and the ground, and drag around the compass ring to pick the winds that work there. You don't need to allow location.
• What is a "good wind"? The directions the wind can come from while carrying your scent away from where deer approach your stand. You set them for each stand. Directions are always where the wind comes from, like a weather report: a NW wind blows your scent to the SE.
• What do the colors mean? Green: the wind is in the stand's good range. Amber: just outside it (a shift or gust could carry scent the wrong way). Red: wrong wind. Blue-gray: under 3 mph, when scent pools and swirls.
• What is the scent cone on the map? An illustration of the downwind direction for the hour you pick on the map's hour ruler. It widens in light, gusty wind. Real scent also depends on terrain and thermals, so treat it as direction, not distance.
• How is the sit rating worked out? Mostly from the wind at the stand, then light (first light to two hours after sunrise, and the last two hours of daylight), with small weight for a drop in temperature against the same hour yesterday, pressure trend, rain and solunar periods. Tap any hour in the forecast to see every factor. It describes conditions; it isn't a prediction.
• Where does the weather come from? Apple Weather. Buckhour sends each stand's area rounded to about 1 km, never the exact spot. The forecast covers today and the next nine days, hour by hour.
• Why doesn't Buckhour show exact wind speeds or temperatures? It shows its own bands instead: wind from 8 directions and from calm (under 3 mph) to very strong (20 mph and up), temperature as cold, cool, mild or warm, and trends for temperature, pressure and rain. Those are what a sit decision turns on. Settings → How ratings work lists every band. Band limits and temperature changes are shown in your region's units (mph and °F in the US). For exact readings, use a weather app.
• Will it work with no signal? Yes, with the last forecast you downloaded, for up to 3 days. The app shows how old it is. Open Buckhour once with a connection before you head out.
• Why does it say "Sample weather, not a forecast"? On the first look before subscribing, if Apple Weather can't be reached, Buckhour shows built-in sample weather so you can see how it works. It is labeled as a sample and is never your forecast.
• Are first and last light legal hunting hours? No. First light is the start of civil twilight (sun 6° below the horizon) and last light is its end. Legal hours are set where you hunt (your state or province, or your country's hunting law); check those regulations.
• How accurate are the Moon and solunar times? They are calculated on your iPhone. In our tests against US Naval Observatory tables, sun and moon rise, set and transit times were within a minute. Solunar periods themselves are a traditional method with weak evidence, and the app says so.
• What happens around the clock change? Times are shown in the stand's local time. On the day clocks go back, the day has 25 hours and the repeated hour is shown twice with its time zone (for example 1 AM EDT and 1 AM EST).
• How does the hunt log work? On the Log tab, tap Start a Sit at [stand] (Choose Another Stand picks a different one), or Start a Sit on a stand's page; the wind, temperature and pressure trend are noted for you in broad categories. While you sit, count does, bucks and other deer, say whether the wind at the stand was as forecast, different or swirling, and tap End Sit when you leave. Tap a sit in the log to add a note or a photo or to correct it. The + button adds a past sit.
• When does Your Data show something? After 10 finished sits. It shows deer seen per sit in your log by wind direction, wind at the stand, temperature change against the day before, pressure trend, time of day and stand, and how often the wind at the stand matched the forecast, with the number of sits behind each figure; groups with few sits are marked.
• How do rut dates work? Settings → Season → My rut dates. Set your own dates and, if you like, a peak date; the forecast marks those days. Buckhour doesn't estimate the rut. In the US and Canada the dates start at the whitetail's usual three weeks from November 1 for you to adjust, and you can pick your state or province to get a link to its wildlife agency (and its rut timing page, where one exists). Elsewhere the dates start at today and you set them: the rut depends on the species where you hunt.
• What is the evening wind reminder? An optional local notification the day before, at a time you choose, when one of your stands has at least two good-wind hours in tomorrow's sit (morning or evening, as you choose in Settings → Reminder). It is planned three evenings ahead each time you open Buckhour, and again in the background when iOS allows it, and only while your subscription is active.

Subscriptions and purchases

• What's free, and what needs a subscription? Before subscribing you can place your first stand and see its best sit windows for tomorrow, free. Everything else needs a subscription: one plan with everything included, billed yearly (with a 7-day free trial for eligible new subscribers) or monthly. There are no higher tiers. The first screen shows the prices before you start.
• Cancel or change a subscription: open your device's Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, or use Settings → Manage Subscription in Buckhour. Canceling stops the next renewal; you keep access until the current period ends. To avoid being charged after a free trial, cancel at least 24 hours before it ends.
• Restore a purchase on a new device: sign in with the same Apple Account and use Restore Purchases on the subscription screen or in Buckhour's Settings. Your stands and sits are not transferred automatically: they are in your device backup.
• Refunds: Apple decides refunds. Request one in Buckhour's Settings → Request a Refund (shown while a purchase you paid for is active) or at reportaproblem.apple.com. If Apple turns you down and you think that's wrong, write to us and we'll look into it.

Your data

Buckhour does not collect personal data about you; your stands, sits and photos stay on your iPhone. Delete them any time in Settings → Delete All Stands and Sits. To improve the app it sends anonymous usage counts, never a stand, a place or the weather; turn them off in Settings → Share anonymous usage counts (without a subscription: "Your Data" at the bottom of the subscription screen). See the Buckhour privacy policy. To ask about any data we hold from an email you sent us, or to have it deleted, email support@escapeplan.software; we answer within one month.

Report a bug

Send the steps to reproduce it, the app version (shown in Buckhour's Settings) and your device's iOS version. For a weather question, the town and the hour you were looking at help most.