Most difficult to harvest??

[NV_ARCH3R]

I’m interested in what North American Species Hunt Talkers think is the most difficult to harvest. I don’t mean hard to draw a tag, terrain etc. I mean you have a tag, made the trip and just need to hunt one up and seal the deal. For simplicity let’s limit this to the most common for now:

Moose
Elk
Mule Deer
White Tail
Columbia Black Tail
Coues

My experience is limited to Elk, Antelope, Mule Deer, and just running into Moose while hunting the others, never hunted Moose, and watching the never ending TV shows.
I think a “Mature” Mule Deer Buck is probably the most difficult to actually harvest.
If I knew how to set up a poll I would.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

To find a great mature bull/buck is one thing to harvest an animal is another.

I’d say if you qualified the question as; “If you drew/ had a tag in your pocket and were coming in from out of state, what animal is the most difficult to find and harvest male or female.” I would argue there is nothing more difficult than a black bear.

Mule deer/ coues/ black tail/ whitetail are all about the same, elk a bit harder and moose hard but for different reasons.

I haven’t hunted moose or coues or black tail but assuming... based on how hard it would be for me to walk out my door tomorrow with my camera and get a picture of one.

 

[daltrix99]

I’ll qualify in the way my hunting buddies and I rank it, which is ‘difficulty of harvesting a true mature male on public land in Montana’. Our consensus is that it’s a Whitetail Buck.

I think a bull would be the close second contender, and obviously none of them are easy, and there would need to be a consensus on ‘mature’. For us, anecdotally, we spend more time with less success locating mature public land whitey than we do elk or muley. Probably An unpopular opinion, but that’s been our experience.

 

[Schaaf]

Break it down even further than that.

1. MT Unlimited Ram
2. Roosevelt Elk on the OP
3. Mature Mule Deer in MT

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Agree with daltrix99 a 5.5 year or older whitetail buck on public ground especially in big timber is tough hunting.

 

[ida homer]

I agree with Daltrix, mature whitetail buck in a western state. Then followed by either of these 2:

Mature bull after October 20th. 6 year old bull or older.

Mature muley buck during September or October.

Referring to OTC and all public land, of course. Just my experiences.

 

[ida homer]

1. MT Unlimited Ram

Good point, this might take the cake.

 

[mtmuley]

Harvest? Don't know. Killing some of the aforementioned critters would be tough though. mtmuley

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Spot and stalk mountain lion

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Spot and stalk mountain lion

Honestly I’ve never even heard of some one doing that.

Spot and stalk, no dogs/bait, just buying a tag and going and glassing up a cat and killing it.

 

[SFC B]

I have harvested mule deer, white tails and elk on that list. Haven't hunted moose or coues yet. As for Columbia Balcktails......holy smokes harvesting a buck where I hunted (JBLM WA) it was VERY hard. The foliage is incredibly thick and those blackie bucks are by far the most wily of those I have hunted. Does and fawns would come out into clear cuts and fields to eat and in transit between bedding and food/water. Bucks NEVER came out of the thick stuff in the light. For reference, that was my first hunting season and I saw well north of 50 deer in that season......not even a spike buck.

 

[----]

Honestly I’ve never even heard of some one doing that.

Spot and stalk, no dogs/bait, just buying a tag and going and glassing up a cat and killing it.

I drew a good tag this year and am going to give it hell. @theat did it at one point. Lots of guys on here have killed them incidently while chasing deer and elk.

 

[Oak]

Honestly I’ve never even heard of some one doing that.

Spot and stalk, no dogs/bait, just buying a tag and going and glassing up a cat and killing it.

I can tell you it's quite possible in AZ. I've hunted Coues deer there twice, and both times glassed up mountain lions I could have killed if I had bothered to purchase a tag.

 

[mtmuley]

One of our fellow HT'ers killed a wolf with a recurve. Damn hard to do. mtmuley

 

[tjones]

I’ve called lions in without the correct permit in my pocket.

 

[nimrod_gn]

Wolf

 

[Werty]

Definitely, a mature muley in Mt

 

[N2TRKYS]

Turkeys in the South.

 

[BrentD]

I’m interested in what North American Species Hunt Talkers think is the most difficult to harvest. I don’t mean hard to draw a tag, terrain etc. I mean you have a tag, made the trip and just need to hunt one up and seal the deal. For simplicity let’s limit this to the most common for now:

Moose
Elk
Mule Deer
White Tail
Columbia Black Tail
Coues

My experience is limited to Elk, Antelope, Mule Deer, and just running into Moose while hunting the others, never hunted Moose, and watching the never ending TV shows.
I think a “Mature” Mule Deer Buck is probably the most difficult to actually harvest.
If I knew how to set up a poll I would.

No question, moose wins hands down...

"Harvest" starts with drawing a tag. Nearly impossible for most people, given current American life expectancies.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Chupacabra bare handed!