RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

Got caught waiting for some contracts to come in, had a little time.... counted up the DeerHunting.com stats:

10 Moose
10 Elk
3 Mulies
11 Whitetail
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34 Total DeerHunting.com Responses, much lower number of responses for a generally more active forum.

At DeerHunting.com: Out of 34 votes, 7 (21%) expressed reluctance to leave the home ah, er, ugh "area" hunting to go pursue the big boys.

At BigGameHunting.com: Out of 51 votes, 2 (4%) expressed reluctance to leave the home "area" hunting to go pursue the big boys.
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Is there an outside chance that DeerHunting.com bunch has a higher percentage of "stay at home" folks?

Is there an outside chance that BigGameHunting.com has a higher percentage of "voyager type" folks?
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Now, I am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE I DID NOT use any of these words:
"class", "group", "status", "level", "skilled", "unskilled", "risk seeker", "risk avoider", "can't drive", "can't fly", "low on cash", "rich", "poor", "can't leave home", "don't wanna leave home", "too young to leave home", "too old to leave home", "can't wait to leave home", "too dangerous", "too tame", "too adventurous", "too dull", "visionary", "near-sighted" or associated synonyms and antonyms.

So, any guesses what you think it means?
Why do these folks seem to just want to stay at home more?
Your insight invited, but let's please keep it PC clean....

Good Luck and Good Hunting,
EKM

RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

It would have to be Moose, just b/c the shear fact that it is the only animal I can say would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. All the others live in my state so I in the future could pursue them more regularly.

RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

I was wondering what I was going to do today and then I started reading this thread. I saved up enough preference points to go moose hunting this year in Wy. and so that would be what I'd go after if I could only choose one. I've been fortunate as my family has land in North Central Minnesota and I've harvested at least a couple dozen whitetails. In some seasons I've gotten up to five as I would fill others tags(legally). Other seasons I've gotten none when there was still lots around. Smart is a bad term, instincts I think would be better. They have evolved into a "woods smart" species being hunted so long. They will get down on their knees and crawl to avoid being seen. I too, have sat up in a tree stand and watched how "smart" they are. My family was doing a drive and came through past my stand in some thick brush. After they had gone by I saw a deer get up and sneak the other way. It was funnier then hell. When chasing a buck through the swamp in Wisconsin I had a deer get down on its knees and crawl under some very low brush. I figured it was trying to loose me, it amazed me. I moved out West and I guess became a different Class of hunter. I now would not give up the bigger game but miss my whitetails and occasionally go home to hunt them. It's a family affair too.
I have shot several elk now and some of them were pretty easy to get including my 7X7 which took all of 2 hours. It is my biggest animal to date but was not my favorite hunt. I have a lot more favorite hunts including trips that I never even got anything, and some of my whitetail hunts. My moose hunt will take place in Griz country so I think that puts me close to big game hunting in Africa.
I have pondered hunting Griz and would consider them to be the toughest but I choose not to hunt them as the thought of eating one doesn't appeal to me.
I don't necessarilly consider Moose hard to get as I've called in many of them but hunting in the mountains of Wyoming in Griz country is what I really look forward too. The tags are the real trophy. Next year I would tell you it's the elk, and maybe the next year, Whitetail.
EKM, I edit my messages too and there is some bad language in this message that I might change later.

RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

:)

RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

;) Back at ya!

RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

Again I just like to play devils advocate but why does this quote translate into an animal having great intelligence? Are you somehow offended that you have a hard time killing a "stupid" animal? Because it seems to me some REFUSE to admit fact.

I mean seriously, I give you hard evidence as to thier lack of intelligence and the only repsonse I keep getting is how hard they are to hunt. I'm not saying they're not hard to hunt, I'm sure they are. The places I got my info from never said they were easy to kill, they are indeed elusive no doubt about it. But they're hard to hunt because the have keen senses. You put them in dark timber and you'll never see them because they hear and smell extremely well. It doesn't take intelligence for an animal to sense danger and run. The fact that the big bucks get really wary is called classic conditioning. A buck gets shot at so many times and pressured there is a switch in his brain that automatically associates human odor and sound with danger. Thats an instinctive thing, not a well thought out plan by a deer. He goes out in a meadow and gets shot at, classic conditioning will tell him to stop going out in the meadow during daylight. Again thats an instinct not a thought process. Classic conditoning is a survival mechanism given to every animal in the world regardless of intelligence.

If you put a rat in a cage and you shock him everytime a human gets within a certain distance of his cage I guarantee you after a dozen or so times everytime a human walks within that distance of his cage he will run like the wind and hide. Is the rat intelligent? Is classic conditioning a sign of intelligence, I guess it is on some level it is but its more of an instinctive mechanism than an intelligence indicator. Take a new born baby and if everytime he touches a red bottle he gets burned, I guarantee you after 3 or 4 times he will cry whenever that bottle gets near him. Thats instinct. Deer are hard to hunt because of classic conditioning, an instinct.

You put a human in that same dark timber and I'll bet without technology and training, a human would be easier to hunt than a whitetail deer because his senses are much weaker. Does that mean a whitetail deer is in fact smarter than a human?:eek:

RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

rather_be_hunting you are right these critters dont have the intellignce that you talk about .You cant say ones smart and ones not . But I do belive that the ones that get hard to hunt are educated by us hunters . Kind of like touching a hot bottle[8D]. And I speak from exprience not books or some TV show. I spend more time hunting then reading about it. Dont take that the wrong way. This has been a good debate. I only whish Big White Tails were screamers like Elk. Hey good huntin.

RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

Not taking either side of that discussion. I don't know just how much cognition these critters are capable of; however, they do have a good dose of instincts. In the long run I don't see it as mattering, if they "win" then they win regardless which mental capacity they used to defeat you.

Good Luck and Good Hunting,
EKM

RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

Since I have Bowhunted all EXCEPT Moose I would have to say Moose. I have seen many of all in the wild & it is a toss up between Moose & Elk.
PLUS-if you pick Moose, you may get a chance at a Caribou (depending on where you pick to hunt). I have a friend going for Moose AND Caribou in Newfounland this Sept.. Caribou are awesome also-I took a 50" Bull in Quebec a few years back. Good luck.
I cannot justify the cost of Mule Deer or Whitetail hunts but can the others.

RE: Poll: Which Would You Choose?
 

Now that I can't argue with. Thats acutally what I was trying to say in my post. Instincts tell them quickly what is and is not danger.

I can't tell you how many times people around here go up in the mountains 2 weeks before elk season opens and they're blowing thier bugles all over the mountain. All it does is educate the elk. They soon realize that a man on a Honda Foreman can make the same sound as a bull. They get very call shy and it happens every year without fail. I've found call shy bulls holed up once 300 yds down in a ravine. I called to them on opening day and they RAN!! I couldn't believe it. The weekend before I was up in the area to check it out and at first I thought bulls were bugling all over the mountain. It didn't take long to see people were doing the bulging and I knew it was going to be a long hunt.

If I encounter a small bull I'm not going to harvest I try my hardest not to spook him. I'll sneak around or just sit and wait until he moves off. Because when he gets bigger he'll take those little lessons and use them to beat me. I even try not to spook cows and my huntin partners sometimes think I'm crazy because sometimes I'll go to great lengths not to spook them. But I figure during the rut you gotta be able to sneak up on those cows to get a shot at the bull. If those cows are spooky and educated they are gonna bust you.

I suppose EKM is right the actual mental capacity of a whitetail isn't all that important, the fact is they are tough to hunt. The only reason I brought it up is it really interested me to know what it is you're really up against. I am a wildlife facts fanatic. Happy huntin!!