I would have to say that the toughest game animal to harvest in the entire USA would have to be the 3 1/2 yr. old or older antlered whitetail deer residing on public ground during the centerfire rifle season!
nyflyer, you hit the nail right on the head!

let me start by saying that i have not yet hunted big game. I have stalked plenty with a camera ( elk, mule deer and whitetails, big horns, and mountain lion) i have plent of pictures of all but lions. i have been enthralled by big game hunting for the past couple three years and have read everything i can get my hands on about it.

I think the game animal with the greatest level of difficulty to hunt would have to be an african species. there is the travel it takes to get to the dark contant and then there is the level of expense envolved, finding the outfitter paying the ph and the tracker, the torphy fees. Some of the antelope species are extriemily hard to get within range ( so i've read), then there is the dangerous game -- it want's you as bad as you want it. Last but not least obtaining the fire arms to do a safari right can be very hard to do. have you seen the price tag on a big bore double -- the $ for a wetherby dangerous game rifel or a ruger express is pretty high.

just the oppinion of an inexperienced dreamer

i havent been hunting for very long but were i hunt in wisconsin it is hard to get a big whitetail buck. i would really like to try hunting elk or mule deer though.

A PA whitetail, on public land, 10 minutes after gun season starts![X(]

Terrain aside, I'm casting another vote for Blacktails! Esp. a mature buck. Almost completely nocturnal and live in places so brushy humans ca'nt see, can hardly walk through, let alone hunt effectively.

I will put my vote in for blacktails on the coast range of Oregon or Washington.

I have hunted goats, sheep, elk, mule deer, bear and cats from those that I have the ability to compare the blacktails on the coast range are by far the most dificult.

The terrain is misserable, steep doesnt describe the ridges its wet and the ground gives away under your feet constantly, the only thing with roots strong enough to hold a person more often than not has thorns on it.

The large bucks are almost completely nocturnal and will let a hunter walk within a few feet and never move. Although not that it matters because in most of that country its tough to see any farther than a few feet.

I hunted the alsea unit of Oregon once and got into a patch of ferns that were aproxamately 7 feet tall. The elk had a series of trails through them. I was standing on one of these trails when my buddy spooked the elk out of the bottom and they took the trail that ran parallel to mine. These elk were only 3 feet from me and I was actually able to reach through the ferns and touch them on the way by. If they had chosen the trail I was on I probably would still be there in a puddle. That is the kind of stuff the dang blacktails live in and as far as I am concerned they can keep it all to them selves.

would have to say the toughest to hunt would be humans especia;y if they hunt but seriously i think the wild turkey with it almost 380 degree vision thay can see u if blink or twitch an eye

The toughest and most challenging as well as the most insane would be to pursue a polar bear on its own turf while using a bow. I'm not talking about shooting it out of a half track, but I'm talking about stalking and hunting it out on its own ground as you would an elk, deer or any other critter, that polar bear is a bad creature as it will actually stalk/backtrack and pursue a man. I would like to shake any mans hand who could get one like that, sometimes I get kinda ballsey with things, but it wouldn't be with a dang polar bear. Bobby

I'd have to go with a public land P&Y animal of just about any species. Killing a mature animal that has horns/antlers of XXX inches taken with a bow on public grouns .... mighty hard to do in many areas.

Toughest animal I've hunted ? P&Y / mature whitetails on Arkansas public ground. I've antelope hunted, mule deer and elk hunted and have had success with rifle/muzzleloader and bow - but taking mature whitetails with archery is the toughest so far.

I would have to say personaly the hardest hunt I have been in was a Black Bear hunt around Chama,NM. That was the best hunting adventure I have ever been on. I know hunting the Whitetails around here are tricky, but going so far west and up into the mountains was unbelievable! I saw many diffenrent types of game including lions,mullies,i thought i saw a blacktail,elk, golden eagles, dumpster diving bears LOL, and these litlle fast running ferret looking creatures. It was four of us and we all managed to fill our bear tags. I took mine while he was feeding on acorns. I believe they aged him at 20+- years, but NMFG never got that info back to me. He was so old his teeth were falling apart and he only weighed 250 lbs. See you in the mountains!