A method for pulsed neutron well logging of a subsurface formation, includes irradiating the formation with a plurality of bursts of neutrons of a group of selected durations; detecting gamma rays resulting from interaction of the neutrons during a group of selected time gates which contains at least some early and late gamma ray counts. The gamma rays are detected at at least two axially spaced apart locations from a position of the irradiating. A weighted sum of the numbers of gamma rays detected in each of the time gates is calculated. A ratio of the weighted sum of detected gamma rays at a first axial spacing to the weighted sum at a second axial spacing is determined. The ratio is used to determine a hydrogen index of the subsurface formation.