jerry d

Let's here about it. What your favorite animal to hunt and why is it your favorite?

Rob in VT

I have hunted a number of different species, but mule deer is my favorite. The reason is simple, it is very fun. Where I go I see a lot of animals and it is a target rich environment. I would say caribou in Newfoundland was a close second for the same reasons.

Muley Hunter

My dad took me on my first elk hunt when I was 12. I've been hooked on elk hunting ever since.

Although i've retired from it this year. 60 years, and only missed one hunt due to a broken back.

I do enjoy hunting for a mature muley too, and they're just a notch behind elk.

kidoggy

coyote.
elk and mulies are fun also but they are a lot of work too.very little shooting opportunity through coarse of season, and at least here in IDAHO ONCE YOU SCORE YOUR SEASON IS OVER.

COYOTES just keep on giving and are much easier for an old fart to hunt.

flags

Elk. They are a very impressive animal, live in beautiful country, are fairly difficult to get, tags are easy to come by and one will feed me and my wife for 2 years.

After that I'd probably go with pronghorn. I like hunting the open prairies and having to belly crawl up on a good buck. I don't snipe at them from long range I usually get within 100 yards before I fire and that takes some effort.

For me deer have always been a meat animal. I hunt them to fill the freezer.

redgreen

Elk. Bear is a close second.

Topgun 3006

For me it's bow hunting elk during the September rut, followed by hunting for a big mulie and then there's Spring longbeards!

CalHunter

Hard call to make. Elk is probably my favorite simply because it's so much fun and they are such a noble animal. Probably my favorite wild game meat also. Antelope and mule deer would be next but not quite on the level of elk. If you had asked what animal I spend the most time hunting from season to season, however, that's easily turkey.

archeryelk1

Hands down it's hunting elk with a bow during the rut.

buffybr

My favorite big game animal to hunt is mountain sheep.

I was lucky enough to have lived in Montana back when a resident bighorn ram tag cost $25, there were 10 or so unlimited tag areas where we could just buy a tag for if we didn't draw in one of the limited units, the season ran from early September to the end of November and often the quota would not be filled, and there were very few other hunters hunting in those units.

Bighorn sheep country in early September is some of the most beautiful country in the world. At that time of year, the rams are often found at or near timberline in wilderness basins that most people never see. IMO a bighorn ram is one of the most magnificent wild animals and is truly a symbol of the wilderness. I also consider wild sheep meat to be the best of all of the wild venison meats.

I was able to go on at least 10 of those unlimited tag bighorn ram hunts, but I really didn't take those hunt as seriously as I should have. Most of those unlimited tag units were within 100 miles or so of my house and I never hunted for more than a three or four day hunt each year. All of my bighorn sheep hunts were DIY, and many were solo hunts that I either backpacked in or went in with my horses.

I only killed 3 of my own rams on those hunts, and I finished off another ram that I had passed up on then a guided hunter on the mountain above me wounded and lost.

About 15 years ago, I was able to go on a cancellation Dall ram hunt in the Mackenzie mountains of Canada's Northwest Territories. That was my first ever guided hunt and it involved a float plane flight to the base camp, then a super cub flight deeper into the mountains, and then my guide and I backpacking into our spike camp.

Although I don't think that they compare to mountain sheep, I have also killed an aoudad ram in West Texas, and an Arapawa ram in New Zealand.