My roommate's boyfriend from Virginia visited last week. He was defiant that if he moved out here (oregon) come hunting season he would go back to Virginia for whitetail season. So, here's the poll question. You have to pick one animal to hunt; which will it be, the eastern whitetail or the Roosevelt/rocky mtn. elk. Please forget about blacktail season :)
When I started hunting elk, I generally lost my appetite for hunting deer. I still do it, but it's secondary to elk hunting.
Elk. They sound waaaay cooler during the rut!
I went for the whitetail; elk are fantastic tasting animals but they are big and you have to get the thing out of wherever it went down and then you need a way to deal with all the meat you will get from it. The whitetail is much easier to deal with all the way around; maybe if I was 20 or 30 years younger I might have answered differently.
Fortunately, so far, in the real world, I don't have to choose. They are both in my dreams.
ChuckC
Elk for me. No bout adout it! :thumbsup:
Elk are on my bucket list. But now the magic of rutting bucks. I've been chasing them for 50 years now and it never gets old wow only I do !
As I live in a state that has elk, and our season is only a month long. So in reality. You MAYBE hunt 10 actual days a year. I choose whitetails in the east for months at a time.
For me it's about time spent in the field chasing game. I'd rather visit colorado for a week to hunt elk and live in a state that has more hunting opportunities.
Elk.........without question!
Whitetail If you can wrap your head around a trophy whitetail, you can hunt anything on this planet. I am talking about a 4-6 yr age class here.
Whitetail= widespread opportunities, longer seasons, easier solo hunting.
Now, if I lived in the rockies I would hunt elk for there fantastic eating, but whitetail is king in my book.
for the past 21 years I've hunted both every year. I hope to NEVER have to pick one over the other. :dunno:
QuoteOriginally posted by Matty:
As I live in a state that has elk, and our season is only a month long. So in reality. You MAYBE hunt 10 actual days a year. I choose whitetails in the east for months at a time.
For me it's about time spent in the field chasing game. I'd rather visit colorado for a week to hunt elk and live in a state that has more hunting opportunities.
I think you have lost your mind. ha ha
I voted Elk but I did that based on a two week hunt. If it was based on a season I would have to go with Whitetail based on Matty's comments on the vary liberal bag limits and long season we have here in Maryland.
I have hunted elk extensively in 4 States and try to get out west at least ever other year.
QuoteOriginally posted by FerretWYO:
QuoteOriginally posted by Matty:
As I live in a state that has elk, and our season is only a month long. So in reality. You MAYBE hunt 10 actual days a year. I choose whitetails in the east for months at a time.
For me it's about time spent in the field chasing game. I'd rather visit colorado for a week to hunt elk and live in a state that has more hunting opportunities.
I think you have lost your mind. ha ha [/b]
Now my dear friend. If I hunted in an area like you do. And harvested elk the you do. I may have a different answer.
Love 'em both, but elk really does it for me.
I enjoy hunting elk in CO with my son, but when I actually get one, I will re-evaluate. Right now I would trade whitetail hunting for an elk hunt every year, and I spend a fair amount of time hunting whitetails.
Being and Eastern guy, I would love to take a crack at an Elk, even if it just meant being where they are and hearing them bugle, has to get you going when you hear them like that.
Has he ever hunted elk ? If not perhaps he will after he hunts for them ... I would much prefer elk to deer any day.
I hunt whitetails on my own property but have lost the drive since becoming successful at elk hunting.
I am retired and not getting any younger... there may come a time I can only deer hunt... but until that time I CHOOSE ELK!!!!
I don't even have to think about it... ELK!
quote:
Originally posted by Matty:
As I live in a state that has elk, and our season is only a month long. So in reality. You MAYBE hunt 10 actual days a year. I choose whitetails in the east for months at a time.
For me it's about time spent in the field chasing game. I'd rather visit colorado for a week to hunt elk and live in a state that has more hunting opportunities.
I think you have lost your mind. ha ha
X2.... :readit:
Fortunately I don't have to choose Elk in CO and Whitetails in Kansas.. :thumbsup:
Actually, I would love to have a good spot to hunt bunnies and skwerls even more. I can hunt them every single day for months and months at very little cost.
Then I can not feel like I HAVE to go out on a day I really don't feel like it, just cause there are only a few days left to the season.
Elk are awesome, and I will continue to make the pilgrimage as often as I can. Deer are incredible and make my heart beat fast and make me smile just seeing them. Turkeys have their moments, but skwerls and bunnies could be unlimited.
ChuckC
I'd hunt elk, but hereabouts I don't think I'd have much success. The Eastern Elk have been extinct in this region since the late 1700's. ;)
Have not had the pleasure of hunting out-of-state so I am pretty much limited to whitetail deer.
Though I did take a fallow deer off my property in a 1:10,000,000 chance that was an escapee from a permitless hunting preserve being shut down which had escaped years prior and made it to my land. According to the game warden one other had been killed in the next county and six others vanished. I keep my eyes open. :archer: (All the meat tasted of liver :( )
I hate to be a sissy, but elk hunting is hard work! I love elk country, the smells, the sounds, along with the cold mornings and warm afternoons. It is something I don't get to do that often and once I get home, I can't wait to go back.
With that said, whitetails are like a chess game. I'm constantly checking the wind, remembering what I saw last time out. Thinking about food sources, weather changes and surrounding hunting pressure. Google earth gets looked at as much as email in the fall, I just can't get enough. I could honestly hunt whitetails and only whitetails the rest of my life and be happy. The only thing I ask is the ability to hunt them in every state they are found, new country and different terrain would keep it interesting.
Oh yeah...Hunting whitetails starts on Sept 15 and ends on Jan 25th. That my friends is a long season!
..Tim
I have been Elk hunting once......and it gets my vote. I just wish I was younger and lived where it could happen more.
I went with elk but my favorite thing to bowhunt is Pronghorn.
I was an experienced whitetail hunter, moved to Oregon and LOVED elk hunting. So ELK it is. However once Oregon voters stopped baiting and dog hunting for bear and cougars .... the elk hunting took a severe nosedive. Now back in N.Y. and happy to hunt whitetail. Oregon is not like hunting Wy. or Co.
If its a matter of traveling across the country or hunting in the back yard?
If I had the option..... ELK no doubt.
Elk drive me nuts, but when they are rutting, few things are their equal for fun hunting. I am much more successful with whitetails, but I love everything about elk and where they live.
I won't even hunt mule deer during elk season, I put in for the deer seasons out on the plains after elk season is over. That way I'm not distracted and miss a chance at an elk putzing around trying to shoot a deer and it greatly extends my hunting time.
ELK
Everything about elk hunting is HARD. Hard to breath, hard to climb, hard to get in shape, hard to pack out, hard to pack in, hard to kill...and the older I get the harder it gets! I love it. But, I'm starting to appreciate hunting whitetails in Oct in the eastern hardwoods a lot more than I used too. A typical season for me is to have about 20 bucks within 25 yards, tough to beat that. (I don't bait)
I plated hide and seek last season with a 180 class whitetail. I was close enough on several occasions to decide to pass on the shot, but never close enough to shoot. Now if I had an undesturbed access to elk near the Devils Tower area in Wyoming, I would say elk.
The country that elk live in, the sound of cows and calves, then the close encounter of a bugling bull...nothing compares. It isn't an easy hunt. But that's ok with me. The more you work for something the more you are thankful and fulfilled when it all comes together.
There is nothing like being on the ground and spitting distance from a bugling bull elk. I love hunting whitetails too and I am sure I would enjoy being able to hunt them day in and day out for months on end but I am happy with 5-6 days at a time a couple times a year. Hunting bighorns, pronghorns, mule deer, pigs and turkeys is all good and experiences I cherish. We are all lucky to hunt!
I can hunt elk, whitetails and mule deer here at the same time...I just saw a mixed herd of whitetails and mule deer feeding last week...last fall was the first time for an elk season in my area
DDave
Woah Dave....that's a low blow! :rolleyes: You're one lucky guy!
I am a Virginian.
When in Rome...
I would welcome the opportunity to hunt and learn different species and ecosystems. The awe of discovery is what fuels my spirit.
Killdeer