What's harder to hunt

[catdaddy]

Wow--I am a bit surprised at the overwhelming sentiment regarding deer being harder to hunt. Maybe that explains a post of a few days ago about guys giving up deer hunting.   

[turkeyfoot]

Mature deer are more difficult they are so warry and the nocturnal factor makes it rough. At least with mature turkey they move during day and you always  got a chance if you can scout and have patience. Now with that said I do believe a 2 year old deer is most often easier to kill than a 2 year old turkey especially in my state since they allow baiting deer

[JuniorPre 360]

Wow--I am a bit surprised at the overwhelming sentiment regarding deer being harder to hunt. Maybe that explains a post of a few days ago about guys giving up deer hunting.

My thoughts exactly!

[Rio Fan]

I'm not a deer hunter, but I do a lot of waterfowl hunting.  Ducks are way easier to kill than turkeys, that's for sure.

[Eric Gregg]

A mature buck.....that nose is tough to beat

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Big deer.....

Not sure why turkey hunting seems to be so difficult for a lot of people.

[BowBendr]

I believe it's harder to target a specific mature deer and get it killed vs. targeting a specific turkey.

[jblackburn]

I am not going to disagree about mature bucks being hard to hunt, between the nose and the nocturnal nature, they're tough, no doubt about it.

But how about that old gobbler, you know the one, who gobbles once on the limb, flies down and the next time you hear him is 1000 yards away.  Or the one who's strut zone is the middle of a 100 acre field and no matter what you do, he will not leave.

Then, there is the old gobbler in the fall . . .

[Gooserbat]

deer, but turkey is funner.

[Muzzy61]

Where I hunt (NE Florida) it's definitely deer. If you kill a mature buck here you have done something.

I agree for the same reason.

[Tail Feathers]

Duck because of the efforts it usually requires to get the boat launched, decoys out and such.  And because it's so sporadic around here on the birds.
No wait, deer because of their nose and the restrictions we have around here.

No wait, turkey because they can see around trees.


No that's not true, turkeys can't see around trees. They can see thru them.

Seriously, the one hardest to be considered "successful" at, probably deer.  Not many true trophies out there compared to the number of folks after them.

[stinkpickle]

For me, on a scale of 1 (being easy) to 10 (being difficult)...

Any legal deer - 1
Any legal turkey - 3
Mature turkey - 4
Mature deer - 10+

[catdaddy]

I am not necessarily disagreeing with the majority here that deer are the hardest to hunt, but I do find it intersting that, in my neck of the woods anyway, deer hunters are a dime a dozen. It is the ace turkey hunters that seem to be much more revered as expert hunters/woodsmen.   

[mikejd]

Its kind of apples to oranges here. The land or property being the deciding factors. Obviously if you hunt turkeys were there are an abundance of turkeys it may be easier. But the sae goes for deer.
If you have a place to hunt were you have a good mature buck to doe ratio well then that may be easier. A better question would have been on the land that you hunt what is more difficult to harvest.

I actually think that deer hunting has ore to do with luck then hunting turkeys does.

[old3toe]

  Exactly! The land and region as well as location is the hardest determining factor. Private land, quota hunt, drawn controlled hunt, guided hunt? For some people its only a matter of how much they wanna write a check for. Public crowded areas have a lot more stacked against you. I think the one your most passionate about is most likely your most considered easy on a scale. some folks breathe deer, some turkey, some ducks, even squirell. i rate them all challenging and love them all. Also hunt public ground exclusively. I see a lot of dissappointment and crazy challenges before any of my hunts ever begin. Sucks sometimes but i think it makes you a better hunter and forse you to be creative and to think outside the box.