Trad Gang

I admit that whitetails are my favorite game animal.  But if there were one thing I could change....I wish they were more active during daylight hours.  I hunt areas with very few deer.  Recently I spent over 30 hours in various tree stands without a single deer sighted.  Finally tonight I saw a big buck that I saw 10 days ago. While I love whitetails more than anything, I spent every dime I had to hunt Africa, and I hunted there twice.  My favorite thing about African species is that they are so active during the day.  When hunting there, normally the middle of the day was the best time.  I truly believe there are big whitetail bucks that do not move during daylight hours during the season with the exception of the rut.  Gets kinda frustrating sometimes does it not? Especially when you are not even seeing does!!

I like the mystery, but not be able to solve it can be frustrating.  Just when you think you've figured it out, it seems like you're at square one again.  However, if it was easier, it probably would be as much fun.  Nocturnal bucks indeed motivate me, and they have to be somewhere during the day, so it's just a matter of finding out where and how to get there before they do.

I'm with you on this one.

In my little corner of the State I know most of the big boys are fully nocturnal.  Driving tractors back and forth and back and forth and back and....is good scouting in it's own sort of way.

These new tractors have pretty good lights on 'em and for the life of me I've not figured out why 30 tons of roaring steel doesn't alarm them at all.  But a 500lb 4-wheeler sends them running.

I don't like their noses.  Complicates everything!!! lol

I hate the way they smerk at me when I miss.......

When that doe knows your there and starts stomping her foot? thats what I hate about whitetails...   :mad:  

Shawn...

I don't like when they stand down wind and snort over and over while out of bow range. Everything about them that makes them hard to hunt makes me more excited when I get one.  except the snorting thing that just sucks.

There to far away, I don't hunt'um

I hate that they aren't here!

I agree with you.  Different animal all together from what you see on the horn-porn channel!

I hate their sixth sense, if you know what I mean.

I do not like when my freezer is empty like now.Will cook my last of wild hog and deer next weekend.Kip

I love everything about them. I look at hunting them as a chess game....planning moves, setting stands, being cognizant of the moon phases, wind direction, and all the rest of the stuff that goes into the "soup". If I could change one thing it would be their ability to jump the string. I don't mind clean misses but a poor hit due to their quickness makes killing some of them quickly difficult. I also do not like it when they show up just as the light is getting too poor to pick a spot. As for daytime movement, my trail cameras on the property we just bought tells me that if you are off the beaten path they can show up at any time of the day or night.

I hate that they are so danged quiet! You read stories where they say "I heard the unmistakable cadence of deer walking toward me..." I NEVER hear them. I'm usually startled by them when I just happen to notice them!
I don't know though. I don't think, really, that I would change a thing. Not about the deer anyway, maybe my situation.

It's not so much that I hate things about them, but I could do without them standing in easy bow range (but screened behind impossibly thick brush) gesturing rudely at me.  Also, they swear.

QuoteOriginally posted by Bill Carlsen:
I also do not like it when they show up just as the light is getting too poor to pick a spot.

Amen.

if there wnose didnt work and they were active about 2 hours more in the day, i would be a happy camper.  im not trying to remove the challege, but when your property is so small you can only hunt one or two wind directions, there nose is a down right pain in the butt.

I hate that after I shoot him, track him, find him and take pictures, I can't swat him on the butt and have him run off to challenge me again another day.

That sneaking in thing----I NEVER hear them either. That and the way they alsways seem to know which side of the tree to walk and exactly how far out to walk so that I can't get a shot!
Sure are fun though!

I don't like their nocturnalness.  After the first couple of weeks of gun season here in NC, even the does become nocturnal.

I wish does didn't stay together for years.

No fun deciding whether to shoot them mom in front the kid or vice versa. Why can't they be alone?

That i cant go to iowa and hunt this year my wife would kill me.

I do NOT like their...

quick relexes

suspicious nature

fantastic sense of smell

ability to hear a pin drop on a carpet at 50 yards

snorthing and stomping

...and if you gave me more time, I could come up with a dozen more reasons.    :banghead:

That season only lasts 4 months!

There is not one thing about them I don't like.  Their keen senses, size, ability to distinguish non-threatening human behavior from threatening, even their nocturnal ways is what allows them to live and thrive in close proximity to man.

That makes them the only big game many of us have close to home to hunt.  If anything about them were different I would have to travel to hunt them.  As it is I just walk out my door.

These are the reasons I LOVE THEM!

I love everything about whitetails, if they ever become easy to hunt,I would prob quit hunting them!! Yes, even that uncanny 6th sence!!

I simply must second what Biggie Hoffman said.

Have you ever killed a big buck you had been hunting in particular? You KNEW he was there, and you passed several bucks in an attempt to prevent the chance at spooking him.

Finaly you make good and kill him.

And then the next time you return to hunt the location, you look at the tree line, and you KNOW he is not there.

I hate how they can run for two hundred yards even when they are dead.

If they weren't nocturnal we wouldn't have the long liberal seasons that we do.  I enjoy the 4 months I have to hunt.  Chad

I love it when the woods are dead still, you can hear every animal and insect around you and even the birds wings as they pass. But that whitetail can one-up you and hear your breathing, look your way and pick you fully out of a well camoed setup.And if thats not so bad, they can stop walking at any given second to stand with their vitals behind that branch or tree trunk, then turn to depart directly behind it never offering a shot.

The thing I don't like about whitetails is...

...they are not mulies.

:D

I hate that there protected West of the Cascades here in Oregon! Would just love to let the wind out of one of them suckers   :bigsmyl:

i hate that i know where they are yet there not there when i look!  :thumbsup:

well i hate it when they sneak up on ya while ya sitting on the ground with ya hand in ya back pack getting something out to eat.  :scared:  the crap out of me.  :biglaugh:

wouldn't change a thing about them....

Wish more of the Big Boys would visit Public Land more often,, in daylight hours,, but chances of that,, are pretty slim ...

The way they laugh every night while they're picking up the acorns in my target range (a scant 40 yards from the back of my house), secure in the knowledge that they're in "The Sanctuary."

Personally, after my first time elk hunting this year I definitely prefer western hunting to whitetails here in Wisconsin.  Part of that is due to the more open terrain found out west which is more conducive to my preferred hunting style(spot and stalk).  The thick brush and forests of Northeast Wisconsin are very difficult to still hunt effectively.  Spot and stalk is almost out of the question. It has happened that I spot a deer and make a plan to intercept, but this is very rare.  At least in open mountainous terrain the animals can be viewed from a distance.  It gives a guy hope seeing the animals whereas in Wisconsin on the public land I hunt you may only be 50 or 60 yards from deer, but never see them...although you see plenty of other hunters:(.  I don't like how most of the prime hunting land is becoming commercialized and closed off due to "trophy" hunting and public land is getting crowded. I don't like how deer become extremely skiddish(especially after gun season) and I don't care for their lack of vocalizations.  At least elk and turkeys give you some hope when they sound off...you know they are there from a long ways off.  Deer give you no such pleasure except maybe a low grunt or bleat that can only be heard from a short distance.  Also, bedding areas are almost always in thick areas inaccessible in a stealthful manner and the deer rarely show themselves except at dawn and dusk(except during the rut).  
   Now, with that said I very much do enjoy hunting deer during the late season in the cedar swamps up here.  Baiting is an effective and fun tactic and requires much more effort and planning than one might guess including bait placement and blind construction.  It is one of the only ways to have a decent chance at them in the snow covered swamps in my area and in my opinion is much more fun than sitting over a trail.    
  Deer are fun to hunt, but I prefer other critters over them.  Regardless, I take the opportunity to hunt that the good Lord gives me.  I'd certainly rather hunt deer than nothing at all!  Happy hunting Lads, Matt

I do NOT like how they constantly make me feel like a fool.      :bigsmyl:

the wait between seasons

I hate it that they always seem to die in the bottom of the creek.

I hate how they never approach my stand when the leaves are dry and I can hear them coming.

I hate being busted by them.I agree with Biggie.I feel that way every time I take one.

Those damned big eared,and long nosed DOES!!

i love everything about them, wouldnt change anything

I love everything about them. They wouldn't be big if they were easy.

Jon, from the looks of your avatar, you have had some success.

They frustrate me on a nearly-daily basis, but I'm not sure I'd change anything.  I am amazed that such an animal, especially a super large example of the species, can be hunted so hard and yet never or rarely be seen.  I have several shed antlers of such animals that I never or rarely laid eyes upon despite extreme efforts made to do so.  That to me is amazing, and quite frustrating.

I hate it when they tell "your momma" jokes as I watch their white tail waving good bye!

Dragging them to the truck.

Ground shrinkage and Their to tasty

What do I NOT like about whitetails?

1- They have X-Ray Vision. Yes they do! Seems to me that when I sleep late or feel like not hunting they can see through the walls of my house and come within feet of the place just to tease me.

2- They can Read My Mind. Yes they can! Every time I let my guard down on a still hunt I get busted. What I mean is I can be as quiet as a mouse for a long time. Shadow to shadow. Text book style. Lean my bow against a tree to take care of a nature call and tell myself "Bambi is safe for a moment" then BLAM! One jumps out from in front of me within 15 yards!

3- I don't have a number three. Must be because I feel whitetails are the best game animal on this earth. Everything about them is so cool! Lots of 'em to hunt and they are not push overs.

... mike ...  :archer:  ...

The one thing I don't like about whitetails is that they very seldom run towards the truck after I shoot them. Shawn

I'm with Shawn on that.  I also don't like to dress one that's gut shot!  Other than that it is a love/hate relationship.  What makes them a challenge is what makes me love them.  They are great game animals.  If you set out to kill a boone & Crockett animal of every game species I think on average the whitetail would take the longest to accomplish.  Even the young aren't all that stupid!  My $0.02.

I hate hitting them with my car.

It's that little sentry that always seems to be posted the ruins an otherwise "gimmie" situatuion. Ya know you're getting ready to take a shot and for some reason you look to your left or right and right there behind that Mt. Laural, you make eye contact with her and she smiles and says "gottcha nimrod".(nut)

It's the way they make fun of you and point you out to all the other critters in the forest when they bust you.  That doe that I was stalking last weekend went "Pheeew!  Pheeew !!" about twenty times just so that all of the squirrels,chipmunks, birds, mice, voles, and yes even the low flying geese knew where I was.

How they only stand still when there is some thing between me and them.  I also don't like when they call me Stupid human.    

They appear just as I get bored and grab a snack or a cup of coffe!!!!! Biggie, it's never gonna be catch and release. LOL, ron w

I hate the doe that thinks its funny to seperate from a group of 8 other deer with three bucks in it, pick me out, snort and stomp until they all run off, just out of my comfortable range...

The only thing I don't like about them is that I can't shoot more in a season!!!!

I hate when they are raised like livestock and killed for big money

When they are under my stand when I am trying to get in or out of it!  :mad:

Those big old doe that lets everything in  the woods know your there. I like to paint big bulls eyes on them!   :bigsmyl:

I hate thier ability to look up.

That they are  not in my state and I have to pay through the nose if I want to hunt them.

I can't stand the way they stay outside of my bow range.

The fact that I can't hunt them every day of my life.

I hate it when the woods are noisy and the deer are not and the first sign they are around is the big white tail bounding away from me!

I hate it that all of my good ones get whacked my guns, that belong to someone else. I really hate it when they do it out of my stand, or while trespassing..

when you pick up a north american hunting mag and there's nothing but w/tails. such is their popularity i suppose.

I hate that season doesn't start again until October.

They are way too good at playing hide and seek.
I think they cheat.
Gotta love em for that.

They don't bugle.  :biglaugh:

The fact that I didn't kill any this year!!!!!!

Mike

That they don't stand still in TX.  :biglaugh:

that they live the most high strung life of any game animal, even when out of detectable range you can tell they are always suspicious of everything.

I hate that they're so darn appealing to all you other hunters!  It's getting harder and harder to find some seclusion to pursue them.

We dont have any here!!

I wish they were dumber!!!

i wish they tasted more like lobster.

They know my range and they hang out just beyond it way too often.
Joe

i agree with tom anderson, to illaberate a little more is , that absolutely dispise the hunting laws that are geared toward the rich road side dog hunting clubs. point 1... during bow season and muzzle loading season nothing is done to public hunting lands to enhance the hunt such as fire trails and such.  point 2 if you do happen to hunt in public lands during regular gun season you as a primitive hunter are challenged by gun hunters and to quote " my dogs where runnin that deer". and now point 3 as primitive hunters our way of life in nc is being threatened with the extinction ove bow season  all together whether it is with a wheeley bow or traditional equipment.i myself am dissheartend by beurocratic crap and laws that are made by people who have the mone to impress thier vews one less fortunate people through laws passed by the bigger donation. im sure this belongs in hunting politics but its just my opinion

I hate the fact that we don't have any in California!

I'd rather hunt whitetails than eat bugs ............. and I love to eat bugs!

I hate that I am getting old and may only have another 20 years or so to hunt them.

WoodsyDave

Gutting em...

I hate the fact that i never see them when im hunting but when im driving to and from hunting them. That and my buddy and i were boom stick hunting squirells and had 3 run within 25 yards and couldn't do a thing.

I hate that where ever I am, thier not. Unless it in front of my vehical!!! BRAKE-BRAKE!!!!!

Ok WoodsyDave I give, you just gotta splain about the bugs that you like to eat so much.
Wife's an entomologist she's going to be interested too.

Unclewhit... about the bugs - I guess it's whatever makes a meal.  I remember over in southeast Asia (many years ago), you could tell how long a GI had been in the jungle by watching his reactions. "newguys" would throw thier c-rations away if a bug got in it. But, after they had been there awhile, they would pick the bug out and go ahead eating. AFTER they had been there a really long time, however, they would just eat "bug-and-all"!

Of course, you'd find the really, really old timers out looking for more bugs!!

WoodsyDave

I hate when they step on a branch and scare themselves