Truth or BS? Jack O'Connor Edition 2

[Ben Long]

In the 1960s, Jack O'Connor wrote: “The whitetail deer is the smartest of all North American game animals and, likewise, getting a really outstanding whitetail head is the most difficult task in trophy collecting.” Is this true today? If if not, what is the most difficult? Why?

 

[MTpubliclander]

I have found the Jackalope to be the most elusive of all big game in North America..... no matter how hard I try I cannot seem to find one!

 

[The Hedgehog]

Should I strip the velvet off my archery buck or leave it on?

 

[----]

In the 1960s, Jack O'Connor wrote: “The whitetail deer is the smartest of all North American game animals and, likewise, getting a really outstanding whitetail head is the most difficult task in trophy collecting.” Is this true today? If if not, what is the most difficult? Why?

If you exclude predators than I can buy that whitetail are the smartest North American ungulate.

From a sheer numbers standpoint though, there's no way they're the hardest to get a prized specimen of.

Whitetail are by far the species I've had escape on me more than any other. With most game animals I've found if you locate an animal you can usually kill it, whitetail are the exception to that.

 

[jryoung]

I think it may have been more relevant at the time, but we know the whitetail population is far different now, that what it was back then.

If I were to add my bias, I’d say a trophy blacktail would be up there. Lots of different environments to hunt them in from the soaked rainforests and blackberry thickets of Oregon and Washington, to the redwoods of the northern coast of California, to golden oak lined hillsides of central coast of California. They are wiley and unpredictable, while they keep a similar small range like whitetails, they can just flat disappear.

Then you wake up this morning to 4 bucks in your yard fighting over a lady.

 

[Gunner46]

The most elusive game today is Drawing The Freakin' Tag !!!

 

[HighDesertSage]

Columbian Blacktails are the most difficult IMO....

 

[MT_elk]

Amen to that Gunner46!

 

[tarheel]

The parameters have changed so much in the last 50-60 years that his statement isn't quite as valid as it was then, but the reasoning is. They're just as smart as then and have become much more adaptable to the changes visited on them, but the big item is the sheer numbers of whitetails. I remember when Kansas didn't have a deer season and that was in the 60's. In 1949 there were 153 deer harvested in the entire state of Tennessee, in 1952 there were 522. By 1985 the harvest had gone up to 60,000, and in 2003 that had increased to 158,000. Add to that all the states which have had similar population explosions, and there are more of them than you might think, because the whitetail had been hunted to near extinction in most Eastern states before game laws were enacted and divisions of wildlife and restocking programs began to appear. Mind you, there are many more hunters out there trying to fill a tag too, but the really exceptional trophy whitetail is still just as hard to harvest in my opinion.

 

[LopeHunter]

Lots of species are found in very limited geo areas, perhaps 3 or fewer states. Blacktail, Coues, Columbian whitetail, etc.

Sheep and mountain goat tags are rare. Moose is relatively rare.

For me, that leaves elk, mule deer, pronghorn and Eastern whitetail as big game I can hunt every year. Within that group, a large mule deer of 190" or better is my elusive white whale.

I try to focus on mature animals rather than pass up those hoping to see a huge mule deer so maybe is my hunting style. I count a mature animal as a trophy so the 190" is more about horn porn that I try to ignore. Still, while asleep, the dreams occur.

 

[AH_14]

I think the whole argument changes so much when animals are in the rut. Large elk, mule deer, and whitetail are all 10 times more vulnerable during the rutting season. Also, hunting pressure and private land add so much as well. If I had to choose one HARDEST out of rut trophy I would say an old public land mule deer gets my vote. I have never seen a real big one show up outside of the rut on public land. During the rut even the greatest animals can make very deadly decisions. Seems a lot like human beings

 

[belly-deep]

That's tough. On one hand, whitetails have exploded in population, which makes killing a big one more statistically possible.

On the other hand, mule deer have declined, making it more difficult to kill a big one.

As far as pure intelligence goes, whitetails may still have the edge.

Tag drawing aside, quite a bit of what makes killing big elk and mule deer difficult is their habits and habitat. But part of what makes whitetails so smart is that they live in more accessable terrain, thus the ones that survive are smarter because they have to be.

Too many factors involved to pick a clear winner. Throw an elk, mule deer, or whitetail on unhunted property and a mature one will seem pretty stupid. Throw them on public land and they'll all seem pretty smart.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

In the 1960s, Jack O'Connor wrote: “The whitetail deer is the smartest of all North American game animals and, likewise, getting a really outstanding whitetail head is the most difficult task in trophy collecting.” Is this true today? If if not, what is the most difficult? Why?

In my humble opinion a mature blacktail is a much tougher animal to hunt. Why? You can't pattern them, they live in some of the most difficult stuff (rainforest jungle) there is to hunt and with the exception of peak rut they are nocturnal.

I have to assume Jack O'Conner never killed a mature blacktail? Off to google to see if that is true!

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Someone send me some tags and I'll file a report after the season with my scientific conclusions.

 

[Redwood]

Lots of species are found in very limited geo areas, perhaps 3 or fewer states. Blacktail, Coues, Columbian whitetail, etc.

Sheep and mountain goat tags are rare. Moose is relatively rare.

For me, that leaves elk, mule deer, pronghorn and Eastern whitetail as big game I can hunt every year. Within that group, a large mule deer of 190" or better is my elusive white whale.

I try to focus on mature animals rather than pass up those hoping to see a huge mule deer so maybe is my hunting style. I count a mature animal as a trophy so the 190" is more about horn porn that I try to ignore. Still, while asleep, the dreams occur.

Yep

 

[Oak]

I have always tended towards Mr. Roosevelt's opinion on the subject:

"A man who is hardy, resolute, and a good shot, has come nearer to realizing the ideal of a bold and free hunter than is the case with one who is merely stealthy and patient; and so, though to kill a white-tail is rather more difficult than to kill a black-tail [mule deer], yet the chase of the latter is certainly the nobler form of sport, for it calls into play, and either develops or implies the presence of, much more manly qualities than does the other....

"But, as regards the amount of manly sport furnished by the chase of each, the white-tail should stand at the bottom of the list, and the elk and black-tail abreast of the antelope."

 

[WyOpitz]

I agree with Oak and Mr. Roosevelt. I can't see jack sitting in a tree stand for days. Lol

 

[1_pointer]

That's tough. On one hand, whitetails have exploded in population, which makes killing a big one more statistically possible.

On the other hand, mule deer have declined, making it more difficult to kill a big one.

As far as pure intelligence goes, whitetails may still have the edge.

Tag drawing aside, quite a bit of what makes killing big elk and mule deer difficult is their habits and habitat. But part of what makes whitetails so smart is that they live in more accessable terrain, thus the ones that survive are smarter because they have to be.

Too many factors involved to pick a clear winner. Throw an elk, mule deer, or whitetail on unhunted property and a mature one will seem pretty stupid. Throw them on public land and they'll all seem pretty smart.

I can agree with that.

 

[----]

I agree with Oak and Mr. Roosevelt. I can't see jack sitting in a tree stand for days. Lol

I'd be curious to see what the percentage of whitetail killed is out of tree stands, I bet it's WAY lower than people would guess.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

I can tell you way more whitetails get killed out of stands here in MN, but I would agree that west of here, things are alot different.