# If you could only hunt one animal?



## #1DEER 1-I (Sep 10, 2007)

Big game, upland waterfowl, whatever, if you could only hunt one species for the rest of your life what would it be, why?


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

elk with a bow during the rut. It is the best all around hunt IMO.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Fox squirrel with a .22, open sights.


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## berrysblaster (Nov 27, 2013)

Elk elk elk and then more elk


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

What a miserable life that would be!!!!


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## fishreaper (Jan 2, 2014)

Big Horn Sheep. If I had a tag every year, I'd be building muscle and endurance 51 weeks out of the year. 

Alternatively, I'd chase after caribou.


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

Elk, because that's all I really hunt anyway.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Fish. --\\O


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

I can easily narrow it down to 2 species: mule deer and elk. Now trying to narrow it from those two down to one would be hell. I would probably just have to flip a coin or something.


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## duck jerky (Sep 8, 2007)

Waterfowl:smile: Because of the length of seasons and I love it. Heck if I had the money I could be hunting some kind of water fowl from first sept to at least mid march.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

Elk because their bigger and taste better than mule deer. Love those mulies though not hunting them would be very sad.


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## jliv07 (Jan 13, 2014)

I'm gonna have to say muleys. There is just something about those critters...


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## LanceS4803 (Mar 5, 2014)

I have to go back to the whitetail, based on the variety of locations they exist.
Canadian woods in the snow
Plains of SD
Corn fields of the Midwest
Rolling hills of the middle south
Swamps of FL
Growing population means you can hunt continually from Sep to Jan.
And, they are getting MUCH smarter.


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## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

It would have to be elk -they are big, vocal, and taste great. Antelope would be a close 2nd.


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## Old Fudd (Nov 24, 2007)

PASSION"" Trophy Mule Deer with a Bow )))--------------->


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Bigfoot because once I bagged one I could sell the movie and book rights for megabucks and retire.:grin:


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I'm a mule deer hunter plain and simple. When I first started hunting you never saw a elk and if you did you counted yourself lucky. Tags were hard to draw and once you drew a tag you had a 5 year wait until you could put in for the next one. 

For those of you who say that you don't like the taste of deer meat, how do you take care of it? In over 40 years of hunting bucks I have only had one deer that was not fit to eat and they all tasted delicious. I have actually had more elk that were tough or not that good than I have deer.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Deer then Antelope. Elk really aren't that much fun at all... too much work.


-DallanC


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## Skally (Apr 20, 2012)

Turkeys!!!!


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## 30-06-hunter (Sep 22, 2013)

Critter said:


> I'm a mule deer hunter plain and simple. When I first started hunting you never saw a elk and if you did you counted yourself lucky. Tags were hard to draw and once you drew a tag you had a 5 year wait until you could put in for the next one.
> 
> For those of you who say that you don't like the taste of deer meat, how do you take care of it? In over 40 years of hunting bucks I have only had one deer that was not fit to eat and they all tasted delicious. I have actually had more elk that were tough or not that good than I have deer.


Some of us just prefer elk hands down, every bite from the spike and calf I shot have been like tenderloin no matter which cut it was. Not only that, not all of of us wish to hunt hunt deer when they are so easy to find and shoot.


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## JuddCT (Sep 7, 2007)

Too many variables to decide. I'd pick Muleys if I could hunt the Henry Mtns every year.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

If you are finding deer so easy to find and shoot perhaps you need to up your expectations on the size of the bucks that you harvest. For the last 20 or so years I could shoot a small buck within a hour of sunup on the opening day but I prefer to wait and hunt for a larger buck. That isn't what everyone wants to do but it is the way that I do it. 

Elk are the same way. I have a spot that if I have a cow tag that I can usually wait for 1-4 days and shoot one but that is a hunt for meat and not antlers, and all of them have been delicious. But if you hunt long enough and shoot enough animals you will eventually get one that isn't fit for dog food.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Ducks,gave up big game years ago.


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

When push comes to shove, I would have to take the Deer.
I just enjoy chasing them around. To get a bigger one with a bow is a challenge.
Haven't hunted with a rifle in years, 
saving that for when I get too old to archery or muzzle. 
Do enjoy chasing the elk as well..........tough to choose.
Really enjoy playing with turkeys as well.


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

Prairie Dogs.


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## Blackie6 (Jul 7, 2014)

Mule deer. Nothing better then chasing big bucks.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Al Hansen said:


> Prairie Dogs.


That's the second damnest thing I ever heard.

Hey, any recipes?

.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

wyogoob said:


> That's the second damnest thing I ever heard.
> 
> Hey, any recipes?
> 
> .


Yea but they are all soup ... :mrgreen:

-DallanC


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## WasatchOutdoors (Sep 26, 2007)

That... is a tough question. My first instinct is Elk. I love everything about hunting them. But I'm starting to get a little older and dragging a deer off the hill is a lot less work.

So. in a perfect world where I never get older. Elk. 

In the real world where ten years from now my knees won't handle 100 pounds of meat in a pack for multiple trips on an elk... Mule Deer.


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## Dahlmer (Sep 12, 2007)

Mule deer. It is the one animal I never tire of pursuing.


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## spacinout (Jul 19, 2014)

I have yet to hunt elk so I don't know what that is like and there are all sorts of other animals on this continent and others I have yet to hunt but of all the animals I have so far I would have to pick turkeys. Turkey hunting is just a blast and they are delicious.


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## stuckduck (Jan 31, 2008)

Waterfowl!!!

So many different birds and color. like already said 107+ season.. cant go wrong with that much time to be out chasing them! Elk would be a close second.


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

Oops wrong forum


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## LanceS4803 (Mar 5, 2014)

Hunting turkeys is like playing golf. You will never master it.


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## Bowhunter50 (Oct 14, 2014)

I would choose elk. Only because they generally taste better than mulies. I think I like hunting elk and mule deer the same though.


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## hemionus (Aug 23, 2009)

If I had only one species it would probably be chukar, yea chukar I said. Don't get me wrong I love big game but if I chose a big game species that means I would be limited to a short amount of time in the field. Chukar has one of the longest seasons and if it really is about being out and enjoying the beauty of the outdoors I feel chukar would give me the most "experience". Another vote for chukars is the physicality of it. Chukar live in nasty places and the physical endurance it takes to hunt chukars equals muleys and elk. Plus I often spend much of my chukar hunts glassing elk and deer. And one of the biggest votes that goes to chukars if I had to just choose one species is the ability to enjoy it with a pointing dog. I enjoy that more than shooting, in fact I go out without a gun during the season.


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

Grouse.

Beautiful locations for the hunt, and not necessarily an army of other hunters to contend with.


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## Dukes_Daddy (Nov 14, 2008)

Buffalo on the Henries


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Archery moose.......


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Tough choice. Glad it's one I dont have to make…

My top three in the following order:

Mule deer
Elk
Turkey



.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

I think most people could guess what my choice would be.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

ridgetop said:


> I think most people could guess what my choice would be.


Eurasian collared dove?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

ridgetop said:


> I think most people could guess what my choice would be.


white-tailed ptarmigan?

.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

ridgetop said:


> I think most people could guess what my choice would be.


band-tailed pigeon.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Critter said:


> If you are finding deer so easy to find and shoot perhaps you need to up your expectations on the size of the bucks that you harvest. For the last 20 or so years I could shoot a small buck within a hour of sunup on the opening day but I prefer to wait and hunt for a larger buck. That isn't what everyone wants to do but it is the way that I do it.
> 
> Elk are the same way. I have a spot that if I have a cow tag that I can usually wait for 1-4 days and shoot one but that is a hunt for meat and not antlers, and all of them have been delicious. But if you hunt long enough and shoot enough animals you will eventually get one that isn't fit for dog food.


That's kind of what I was thinking. If you don't prefer the taste of mule deer that is one reason I can think of not to hunt them. Saying they are too easy, though? Heck, it's not even all that hard to blast an elk with a high-powered rifle depending on what tag you have and what unit you are hunting. I bet I could amass a pretty good stack of cows and spikes with my rifle in the time that it took me to shoot one 180 inch muley buck. Try it with a bow and things get that much harder! Deer hunting doesn't have to be going out and blasting the first fork horn you see with your .30-06!


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## MuscleWhitefish (Jan 13, 2015)

#1DEER 1-I said:


> Big game, upland waterfowl, whatever, if you could only hunt one species for the rest of your life what would it be, why?


Canvasbacks- up to 70 mph


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

waterfowl for one simple reason, the variety of species encountered.


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## c3hammer (Nov 1, 2009)

Sustaining member of Elkaholics Anonymous going on 34 years now !!!


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## kk11 (Sep 17, 2007)

Bear (with Hounds)


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## HeberHunter (Nov 13, 2014)

I'd have to say elk. I could hunt elk the rest of my life and not get tired of it.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

For me it is a tie between pheasants and snow geese. The explosion of color and sound from a flushing rooster pheasant never gets old. Also, watching a large flock of snow geese decoy is quite amazing! Cool thread - thanks for starting it!


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Lots of interesting answers. 

Tough call for me. It would either elk or pheasants. It is hard to beat a bugle on a crisp fall morning. Elk hunting is fun until you actually get one. It makes my back tighten up just thinking about it right now.

Pheasant hunting though. A nice cool morning in the midwest. Sunrise skies that go on forever, the excitement of the pup, and as CPAJeff points out, the "explosion of color and sound from a flushing rooster pheasant never gets old." And the benefit of pheasants, is you don't break your back after shooting them, and you can go out hunting throughout the season, even if you harvest something on opening morning. 

So all considered - pheasants.


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## Schleppy (Jul 16, 2008)

This is pretty easy for me. There is nothing I've hunted that I like better than rutting Elk with a bow.


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## OldEphraim (Mar 6, 2011)

It's a coin toss between elk and deer for me. Cut my teeth hunting mullies in hell's canyon growing up but I sure have enjoyed every moment chasing elk the last few years.


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## kailey29us (May 26, 2011)

Archery Elk


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