What's harder to hunt

[kevin2]

Deer all day long. Hunt them all & more, and a deer is smarter & equipped with more weapons to combat us hunting them.

[Frank G]

Turkey
Deer
Duck

.... And why?

IMO:
1) A big turkey for sure! If turkey had olfactory senses you would never bag one, you need to be a lot closer to a turkey. IMO takes a bit more skill.
2) A big deer is close second, a matriarch doe or a mature buck ....... not many roaming around, that is the reason they get so old.
3) Distent 3rd...... they show up in flocks.

[catman529]

I have almost zero duck experience

but deer and turkey are almost the same, except when you get into mature animals... mature tom will still gobble and strut and you can stalk him if he doesn't come to call, but a mature buck may not show himself in the day time and can smell you... definitely in the older age class, deer are much tougher than turkeys. turkeys can't go nocturnal

[Woodsman4God]

I agree with the sentiment is that it matters where you hunt. I have seen this kind of post on here before and usually its more about the turkey over the deer, I am a little surprised at this ones response. Can you hunt over bait for both animals, do you hunt the birds in the woods/swamp or off of food plots? all these things make it easier or harder to bag a mature bird or buck.  I hunt primarily state land and its rare that I see a buck above 100 inches.I shot one last year and it was the second in 15 years I saw this big. Shooting a deer isnt too hard shooting a big deer is next to impossible. Last year the only day I hunted turkeys I saw 3 or 4 big gobblers we just couldnt get my son a shot. Doesnt mean it was easy but just that the oppurtunity on a mature bird was there.

[CntrlPA]

Deer without a doubt. With the pressure that PA receives the public land deer around here have their PhD's. Not that long beards aren't difficult at time, there just seems to be a lot more of them.

[redleg06]

In order:

#1 Deer -  (at least targeting one specific mature buck)

#2 Turkey

# 3  Duck

I duck and turkey hunt mostly and ducks are more predictable than Deer and turkey IMO. You can scout them out the day before and establish a pattern around food and generally, they are going to be there tomorrow fr you to stack them up.

Deer- if you're targeting a specific deer, you got to account for a lot of factors and THEN be lucky. Add to that, if you're after that one specific deer, you dont have a lot of options if he doesnt want to play that day. They are unpredictable during the rut and hard to pattern, on top of their senses.    Turkey are more patternable than deer and since they dont go nocturnal, you always know they are going to be out there somewhere, doing what turkey do. Deer may not leave their bedding area much at all during the day in some areas.  Also, turkey tell you where they are. Deer dont.  Last point would be that if a specific turkey isnt acting right that morning, you have a decent chance to go chase another one that wants to play. 

[Hooksfan]

Too many variables play into each of them and, as has been stated, its an apples to oranges comparison. Obviously, mature deer are hard to come by, but is it any easier than a turkey with 1.5" spurs?
Most accomplished hunters would hav e no problem taking just any deer or any legal turkey, but the trophies of either species are harder to come by. Biggest difference is that deer hunters are specifically targeting a particular animal. Most turkey hunters will be happy with 2 year olds or older.
Each pursuit has its own challenges. I mostly turkey and duck hunt. I would say there is probably the widest ranga of know how and variables involved with the average duck hunt than any other type of hunting, and who can say that the duck hunter who consistently limits out is any less of a hunter than the guy with 100 turkey beards or a wall full of 140 and higher class deer.