What is your favourite to pursue? Big game or small game? Why? What animal in particular? Why?
I know a lot of questions but it would be interesting to view everyone's interests.
I prefer big game as I have never really hunted small game. I was introduced to hunting through big game and not small game. Now it really comes down to a time factor for me. I have limited time to go hunting. Therefore, I would prefer to go after big game rather than small game. I guess it feels more exciting to me. Although, this doesn't mean that it is for everybody, just my preference.
My favourite big game animal to pursue is black bear over bait in Manitoba. I love all the work involved. Collecting bait and hauling bait. Setting up every spring. It is also really neat to see the fruits of your labour such as the evidence of feeding bears and wondering what made all that damage. Then finding out and sealing the deal. It can be expensive and time consuming but that is what makes it worth it.
Lucky for me I get to bait bears all spring this year!
How about you guys/gals?
I love to chase big game especially deer and hogs but if I had to choose I'd pick small game. It'd be hard to choose just one small critter though; I would say rabbits but the coyotes have cleaned out all the rabbits where I hunt. I love chasing squirrels(tree) and the little rockchucks/prairie dogs out west were a blast as well. Small game hunting offers a lot more shooting opportunities and it's a lot easier to pack it out of the woods. ;)
Thank goodness I don't have to choose!
You can't leave out "medium" game. Coyotes, fox, raccoons, and badgers are open year 'round here, and fun to hunt.
Most shooting fun, grouse for sure. But moose hunting is best all around hunting. Bob
Not sure of a favorite critter anymore. I was deer hunting recently. Nothing was moving except one little tree rat.At the end of our time my partner found me standing over the little guy with a smile on my face. My partner said with a smile like that you would have thought that you just took ole mossy horn ( a 12 point buck).
Tracy, sorry I included "medium" game in my mental category of small game.
Yes. :D
i love small game for shooting oppertunities
predators for year round huntablity
and stumps for frequent access
i have yet to take any bigger game with trad equipment but will be working on pigs very soon
Mostly deer. I also like to hunt woodchucks. The destroy my garden and they raise heck with my friend's pasture.
Elk, Elk and Elk...cuz im addicted big time and have been for 44 years...did i mention Elk is my favorite then grouse for camp meet YUM!!!
Pigs ,Squirrels, Turkeys and deer. In that order.RC
Forgot to add...I do decent on the pigs and deer but the squirrels I can`t hit and the Turkeys only want to argue...RC
I'm with Durp, elk is the ultimate stickbow hunt for me also...Shawn
I really enjoy hunting squierrel with my longbow. It's more laid back to me than hunting deer or hogs.
i have alot of fun small game hunting more fun then sitting in my tree stand waiting for deer.
turkey is one of my favorite things to hunt.
all game!
i want to try bear hunting
im tired of hunting things that are scared half to death of a human anyways
i have taken a half dozen deer while pheasant and rabbit hunting, when I was suppose to be deer hunting.
Pigs are my favourite, and the best suited to bowhunting in my opinion, but anything feral shall do nicely when opportunity presents.
Elk are by far my favourite to hunt because the rut and the landscape,plus I spend few weeks in the mountain in my tent away from civilization.
Small games are nice but I don't want to spend too much time for them.
Big only for me
They both have there challenges. You have a great buddy hunt with small game. You get to not only hunt but socialize with friends. Big game you get to enjoy the solitude of Gods creation and be one with nature. So I would say I love doing both.
Big Game specifically white tail deer for me. They are easy to get to, can be hunted on public land, taste good, aren't that hard to get out of the woods
turkeys are my "elk" even use the same diaphragm....
if elk were not so far away that would be number one for me
I've never killed a pig yet and don't want to kill a bear, bear tastes like s^&&* in my opinion so they are safe unless they try to eat me
Big Game Big time. Elk, Whitetail, Moose and so many other that are on my hope to hunt one day before it is too late for me. I like the feeling I get when a large game animal is coming in...it's just not the same for me with small game...though I do like to hunt them too.
I would rather hunt small game any day. I'm a rover. I don't like to sit still as much as I like to move around/hike with my bow.
Rabbits and squirrels are my favorite, but I have yet to shoot the latter.
Deerhunting is a very close second. Would like to try Turkeys this year.
QuoteOriginally posted by LimbLover:
I would rather hunt small game any day. I'm a rover. I don't like to sit still as much as I like to move around/hike with my bow.
You can take whitetail that way, too. Though you may have a dry season or several. I've foot hunted myself a couple whitetail bucks while still hunting with a bow and they remain my most prized memories of a hunt. And I can't tell you the number of times I've had a post-season deer within 20 yards while pushing briars for bunnies.
Small game all the way. I guess because I get to shoot more with small game. I also like rabbit better than any other game animal both in taste and in the hunt.
That would depend on what time of yr it is for me.By the end of deer season maybe even before I,m really lookin forward to gettin my beagle out after bunnies which IMO is way more fun than deer huntin.
That said bunny season starts before deer season but at that time Im hiped up about deer and dont bunny hunt
In the spring there's turkeys and deer season is closed . . . perhaps carp at that time mmmmmmm tuff call
Coyotes and ground squirrels
I bowhunt deer the most and turkey second. I like an occassional adventure west or north. Hoping to hunt one of my dream beasts this September in BC (Moose).
I should bow hunt squirrels. I love to hunt squirrels with a rimfire rifle and have been doing so since 10 years old. I love to bowhunt far more than gun hunt so it is only natural that I marry the two. I need to make up some flu-flus, find a suitable head that I can shoot into the trees and get serious.
I love moose hunting, it's such a rush having a 1000lbs animal coming at you looking for either a fight or love, or as one of my buddies say you got a train with nothing but c*** and snot coming your way. Just standing there with nothing but basically a stick and razor blade, my wife says I'm crazy.
I like squirrel and rabbit hunting the best probably because I can take my spaniel along.
I'm kinda at the stage of watchin' it on TV. Does that count? :rolleyes: You know... On the Outhouse Channel.
... mike ...
For me its Whitetail hunting in KS cause you never know whats going to walk by it makes long sits very interesting.
Any more I probably prefer small game hunting. It's something that I can do with my daughters and I find that really enjoyable.
We hunt a lot of nutria and raccoons. I also like to go to Eastern Oregon for jackrabbits.
I can hunt 10 days in September to get one shot at an elk, but I can take 10 shots a day hunting small game and have my kids with me when I do.
That being said, the 10 days in September... :)
Big Game: Whitetail Deer, Mule Deer, Feral Pigs, Javelina
Small Game: Rabbits, Frogs
Both for me I always have a few blunts when hunting deer and am willing to harvest want is crazy enough to walk buy.
I love big game hunting. For me, deer and elk hunts nearly always mean hunting camps and getting away spending time in the mountains. Only rarely will I go deer hunting on the weekends or after work.
For day trips, or for a couple of hours after work, I enjoy grabbing my bow and heading to the woods to look for grouse. We have a long grouse season in my state (September thru December) which allows me to continue to hunt when our archery seasons are closed. It would have a hard time chosing a favorite between hunting big and small game. I love doing both.
Elk. My favorite meat & way fun to hunt.
Big game. Deer specifically. I enjoy the challenge of hunting older bucks (for my region anyway) and the problem-solving that goes with it. There are so many different tactics/techniques that could be used, and even when you get halfway decent at it, the buck wins almost every time anyway. It's addictive.
And actually, I really am motivated by the problem-solving which is actually a big part of most big game hunting. I rarely shoot the little critters anymore, but as my kids get to hunting age I suspect I will do more of that again.
I'm really into big game...but most small game is really underrated. I do alot of squirell hunting after deer season with my bow...and I love it. I love the change of pace from sitting in trees all day. I buy inexpensive wood shafts, and paint them blaze orange. Put an ace hex head on and I'm good to go. If I shoot and miss a tree rat, I will find the arrow because of the blaze orange thing. I find squirells are easier to hit if you shoot them out of trees. They don't seem to be able to react as well. Also, forget using flu flu arrows. Tree rats will dodge them 95% of the time. Of course...I live in northern Illinois, and we have big fox squirells up here. Grey squirells are much harder to hit!
all game for me! but if i had to choose i would say preditor,i feel ive really done somthing when i stick a coyote,bobcat, or fox with a bow!