Help me out

[bowtech840]

So being from the Midwest and hunting whitetail I’m just curious how many of you fellow midwesterners go out there and realize how stupid elk,mule deer, and antelope are? Don’t get me wrong I love and respect every opportunity I get to hunt these critters but man could you imagine how intense it would be if they were as smart as whitetails?

A little background to my story....... I’ve grown up chasing whitetail back in Iowa - live and still breathe it but I’ve been out west a handful of times and it’s beautiful but the animals are just plain dumb. I can’t wrap my head around it? Elk are like calling in 600lb turkeys, mule deer during the rut is shooting fish in a barrel and antelope........well the hardest part about that is drawing a tag. Anybody that’s hunted whitetail in the Midwest and is thinking about pursuing one of the critters I’ve mentioned above should do it!


Leave the gear and high dollar stuff out of it - draw a tag and go do it!

Westerners prove me wrong -


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[5MilesBack]

Why or how would we prove you wrong, it's hard to prove a negative.

But I'm sure all animals, just like people, have their dullards within their population as well.......including whitetails.

But look at it this way.......think of some inexperienced dipstick know-it-all youngster. He runs around like he's king of the mountain and will come running into the easiest of setups........until someone hands him his lunch. Well, it's the same for elk. You have these rambunctious, inexperienced, know-it-all raghorns and yes, they'll come running into the easiest of setups........until a mature bull hands them their lunch, or they get shot at a few times. And then........well, they become a lot more cautious after they've learned a thing or two.

And as for antelope and drawing a tag..........CO has plenty of OTC archery tags for antelope every year.

 

[Titan_Bow]

When I lived in SC, I could be off work at 4 and in a tree stand and hunting before dark. You typically are not going to be able to do that out here in Colorado. Western big game hunting is just different. I don’t think a whitetail is smarter, I just think the habitat they prefer is typically not conducive to glassing- so you don’t see them as easily, they seem to be more crepuscular to downright nocturnal- especially when pressured, and they evolved to be a little more wary probably due to their smaller stature.
That said, in an area with a healthy whitetail herd and good buck to doe ratios, calling a whitetail buck “smart” at the kickoff and peak of the rut, is probably not accurate ! Whitetail hunting is fun but it’s just a different thing.
Sure a mule deer might seem less wary, but after you’ve hiked in a handful of miles, glassed up a good buck at 12.5k feet, waited hours for him to bed, then wait for him to reposition, then climb well over a thousand feet vertical to get to him, tell me that’s easier than sitting in a tree stand on the back forty.
Sure, a rut crazed bull might come charging into your call, but after you successfully put an arrow through it and walk up on a horse with trees growing out of its head, you tell me what’s easier- after you realize it’s 6 miles to your truck and 75 degrees, and you got maybe 2 hours before you start losing meat. You realize each of those rear quarters weighs 90 pounds a piece, and you are looking at having to walk 40-50 miles in the next two days to get it all out on your back, by yourself.
Again, I don’t think any of these animals are smarter than another, it’s more about understanding how their defense mechanisms evolved, and understanding the terrain and habitat they prefer. This leads to some species seeming “easier” to hunt.
As a Colorado resident of 15 years, who grew up hunting NC, SC and GA, I still love to hunt whitetails. I will tell you with 100% certainty that my whitetail hunts in Nebraska and eastern Colorado are by far the “easiest” hunts and I look forward to them every year!


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[spike camp]

When I travel to Illinois every year after my Elk season is over, I view it as a vacation, because hunting Whitetail is so much easier.

As far as animal intelligence...we have a resident cow elk that doesn’t migrate with the herd. She’ll turn on neighbors hose bibs to get water, ring door bells and open lever style door knobs and let herself into houses.
Let us know the next time you see a Whitetail doing those kinds of things lol!

Now mulies...they’re pretty simple it seems.
At least the ones around here.

 

[cnelk]

Its about the journey man.

I look forward to hunting WTs out of a tree stand in Oct/Nov - Thats after Ive put over 100 miles on my boots, lost 10-12lbs, living in a wall tent and had minimal sleep during the month of September.

Whats the farthest walk to a typical WT tree stand? 1/2mi? Maybe?
I like the no cell phone signal. Closest town is over an hour away.

Success rates? WT is thru the roof. Elk barely reaches 20% with all methods of take.

As far as animal smarts?
You should hunt elk more 'Than a handful of times' to get a better understanding of what smart is

Enjoy your tree stand and that one wily ol buck

 

[Brooks]

This post is funny. We need to see all the big bulls on your wall. Every year I see guys come out here spending around $12,000 for a elk hunt and go home with the unpunched tag still in their pocket. Sometimes I see them throw in the towel after about 4 days of humping the high country. I go up to Kansas every November to sit in a tree for whitetail and it’s like a vacation... just dress warm and sit all day.

 

[87TT]

The only whitetail buck I ever shot was in Texas. I sat in a wooden box and shot it from 30 yards as it fed on the corn my Bro in law had spread out every morning and night. Like picking out meat at the supermarket. I could have had a second buck but we argued about who's shot it was until it walked away. All those whitetails were right back there that evening and the next day. Kind of stupid huh?

 

[IdahoElk]

Someone piss in your Cheerios this morning bowtech?

 

[Outlaw99]

So being from the Midwest and hunting whitetail I’m just curious how many of you fellow midwesterners go out there and realize how stupid elk,mule deer, and antelope are? Don’t get me wrong I love and respect every opportunity I get to hunt these critters but man could you imagine how intense it would be if they were as smart as whitetails?

A little background to my story....... I’ve grown up chasing whitetail back in Iowa - live and still breathe it but I’ve been out west a handful of times and it’s beautiful but the animals are just plain dumb. I can’t wrap my head around it? Elk are like calling in 600lb turkeys, mule deer during the rut is shooting fish in a barrel and antelope........well the hardest part about that is drawing a tag. Anybody that’s hunted whitetail in the Midwest and is thinking about pursuing one of the critters I’ve mentioned above should do it!


Leave the gear and high dollar stuff out of it - draw a tag and go do it!

Westerners prove me wrong -


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I‘m curious? In your vast western experience, how many 300” dumb elk have you taken? How many 200” mulies? For that matter, how many 170+ white tails have you taken back home?

 

[SWOHTR]

I’ve never taken an elk and have gone 5 seasons in a row.

Does that make me stupid?

 

[87TT]

Nope, just insane like the rest of us.

 

[Poser]

Yes, I’m quite sure that your average Midwest whitetail hunter is the pinnacle example of the evolution of humans as hunters. I’m quite sure that after years of zeroing in on the corners of corn fields, placing tree stands (in the only available trees) for each wind direction and sitting in the appropriate tree based on the wind direction until a deer walks by within range, has a considerable leg up on any Western DIY hunter. Undoubtedly, every fall, a wave of Eastern whitetail hunters hit the West and kill up all of the elk while the Western based hunters, having little to no experience hunting whitetails, scratch their heads in bewilderment at their lack of success.

While It’s difficult and humbling to be in the presence is such greatness, I come to Rokslide almost daily to learn from the Midwest based masterminds of hunting. Maybe one day I too will have the courage to sit in the corner of a cut corn field and solve the great macabre that is Midwest whitetail hunting.

 

[11boo]

I do get a chuckle from the whitetail guys I see trying to get around the mountain here in those knee high rubber boots.

 

[BroodBuster]

Sounds like the OP is up for a coastal blacktail hunt.

There’s a reason I drive 300 miles east to hunt whitetails

 

[Outlaw99]

I do get a chuckle from the whitetail guys I see trying to get around the mountain here in those knee high rubber boots.

Yup, you know those are the real deal “bone collectors”!!

“Speak the language” brother!

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[AZ8]

Silly thread with no apparent reasoning. This is a troll thread just to pit one hunter against the other. Click bait. The members in the hunting community are it’s worse enemies.

 

[BeaverHunter]

So being from the Midwest and hunting whitetail I’m just curious how many of you fellow midwesterners go out there and realize how stupid elk,mule deer, and antelope are? Don’t get me wrong I love and respect every opportunity I get to hunt these critters but man could you imagine how intense it would be if they were as smart as whitetails?

A little background to my story....... I’ve grown up chasing whitetail back in Iowa - live and still breathe it but I’ve been out west a handful of times and it’s beautiful but the animals are just plain dumb. I can’t wrap my head around it? Elk are like calling in 600lb turkeys, mule deer during the rut is shooting fish in a barrel and antelope........well the hardest part about that is drawing a tag. Anybody that’s hunted whitetail in the Midwest and is thinking about pursuing one of the critters I’ve mentioned above should do it!


Leave the gear and high dollar stuff out of it - draw a tag and go do it!

Westerners prove me wrong -


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m guessing this guy had one too many cocktails and was feeling a little cocky. Probably still sleeping it off.

 

[George]

Towards the end of my Iowa tenure I found killing my mature target bucks to be ridiculously simple. So much so that I sold the place to find more challenge and that is when I had my ass handed to me by elk in a 3% success unit, 0 elk in 3 years. I was 1 for 2 on Mule deer.

G

 

[cmahoney]

How big was the last dumb muley you killed?


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[mtnwrunner]

I’m guessing this guy had one too many cocktails and was feeling a little cocky. Probably still sleeping it off.

Yeah, no kidding. Talking about hunting a itty bitty deer in basically a backyard and says elk and mule deer are easy. I think he needs a Frank Church experience...……..hell, I'll drop him off!

Randy