What's your favorite game animal?

[Guy Miner]

What's your favorite game animal and why?

Mine has to be mule deer. There's a big enough local population of 'em that my son, my friends and I can hunt them with a pretty good chance of success year after year. I've hunted them with archery gear, muzzle loader, handgun and a variety of modern rifles... Lots of fun!

If a guy wants a challenge - the Big Boys are up high in the Cascades and will make you work for them. They didn't get big and old by being stupid and living close to people.

Besides - I love the way they taste when BBQ'd! :grin:

 

[JD338]

Moose would be by favorite big game animal. I have not yet hunted them but one day I will fulfill my life long dream of a 60" bull moose.

JD338

 

[HeathSexton]

My favorite animal to hunt is turkey. I love the spring time and all the listening, calling and work to get a bird into range. I am however the worst turkey hunter in the world, I suck. I have not killed one in 5 years due to my screw ups and misses, but I loved every minute of it. Next would be whitetails, I would like to hunt mulies at some point, just not many of them in TN.

 

[FOTIS]

Antelope! I love it! You see them a mile away and you gotta get close......
What a thrill.

 

[SakoSteve270wsm]

#1 would be Bighorn ram

#1 of the ones I am able to hunt Pronghorn.

 

[HunterJim]

#1 in Africa is the Cape buffalo.

#1 in North America is mule deer. I grew up deer hunting in the West, and mule deer define hunting for me.

jim

 

[wildboarhunter]

My Nr. 1 - there is no shadow of a doubt - are pics !!!
... a driven hunt in the mountain woods - an old-beech-forest in the sun with snow - a troop of pics - and a fine double-rifle in 9.3x74R : the hunter´s paradise

wildboarhunter

 

[DrMike]

My number one hunt is still bear. It doesn't matter whether it is black bear or grizzly, I love the spot and stalk method of hunting bear. I live in a hunter's paradise and can hunt a large variety of game. Exciting though all those other hunts may be, it is still bear that gets my heart racing.

 

[Black-tailed bandit]

Black-tailed deer, could it get any better?

 

[Kodiak]

I'm with POP on this one.

Those goats are a blast to hunt. Over the years, I have hunted them in NM, CO, WY, MT and filled several pickups with some good eatin' meat.


Kodiak

 

[Greg Nolan]

Mine has to be elk!
A challanging bugle in the sub-alpine meadow as first light creeps up on the Sawtooth range. The sight of 800 lbs. of furious power with 12 points of antler 3 feet across tearing up a sapling in preperation for battle. When I pass on I hope thats the sight I'm looking thrue my rifle scope at.
Good Hunting
Elkhunt :grin:

 

[cloverleaf]

Pronghorn!!! PERIOD!! They fascinate me, a pre- historic survivor that can broad jump a fence, slide under thenm like a ball player coming in to home and get up on a dead run and never miss a beat. A built for running machine that makes a thoroughbred look like a shetland pony. They can see better, smell and hear as well as any whitetail. On ground that looks flat as a table, they can disappear, and make you look like a fool. True, they are not as hard to see or find as most other big game. There big down fall IMHO is that for a million years thay have been able to out distance any predator, they just dont see a need to run away.

Some one described them as being able to run 40 miles an hour over country that would turn a good 4 wheel drive into a pile of parts at 10 MPH.

I know you can drive into the right pasture and take a poke at one at 400 yds and fill your tag. Whether thats hunting or shooting is up to you. If you need a challenge go after one with a bow, or your trusty 30-30. They are the Rodney Dangerfeild of the big game world "they dont get no respect". Spend a couple hours watching a pair of bucks try and steal each others does. I guarentee you will be impressed. OK- you get my drift. :grin: CL

ps Besides that I love the country they live in and I can handle the cold better in early Oct. than the weather during deer season.

 

[MattC]

Cloverleaf, great description! So how did that pronghorn taste?

It is always the buffalo and camels that get my heart pounding.

My vote goes to the buffalo.

Cheers

 

[Bob in TX]

I know this will sound strange to non-Texans. My favorite big game animal in North America is an antelope too, but it is the blackbuck antelope. We are fortunate here in Texas to have a large number of them free-ranging in the Edwards Plateau Region. They are very wary, the hunts are all spot & stalk, and they don't stand still for long. Most shots are 150+ yards. I have guided 16 or so hunts in Edwards and Real counties. I have a friend whose family has three ranches that get shooter bucks on and off. I get as much of a thrill guiding folks as I do hunting them myself.

Bob

 

[cloverleaf]

got to admit- that is a cool lookin' critter and a great looking trophy. I take it they are not raised on a game farm or kept in a fence in any way? I know you said they were free ranging. Does the state sell a liscense? Is this public land or do you have to pay some body? Again, that looks likwe a beautiful animal and sounds like a fun hunt. CL

 

[HunterJim]

The Cape buff will give you a level of excitement in hunting not matched by much (maybe elephant hunting in cover). I shot this buff in Zimbabwe in 2002, and the outside spread is 44". They are all trophies though.

jim

 

[Bob in TX]

Cloverleaf,

The ones I hunt and guide are all on private, low-fenced ranches and are free-ranging. They come and go. They are born and die in the wild. About the only time I go behind a high-fence is to shoot an Axis doe for the freezer.

Bob

 

[JD338]

HunterJim

One of the forum rules is that you can not post a picture like that without the details of the hunt. :wink:

This is a must read, please..... :lol:

Awesome trophy!

JD338

 

[cloverleaf]

MAN!!! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT CRITTER !!!! oh Ive seen pics before but that is impressive. I can see where that would get addictive. Very nice, but like JD said, details, details... :lol: CL

 

[TBASTIAN]

I'd have to say that the black-tailed deer have become my favorite critter to hunt. With habitat ranging from oak savannahs and rolling hills, coastal rainforests, to the peaks above timberline in the Cascade Mountains, you can hunt on a general tag in some very different regions. In my opinion they're harder to outwit than a white-tailed deer, have some very defined colors, and carry some impressive racks at times. They're definitely a treat to hunt!