What’s the hardest to kill?

[bsnedeker]

Folks who insist on Gross, IMO, are generally those who are ego driven and want to claim a higher number. Plain and simple

Smh.... the shit people argue about on the internet just boggles the mind sometimes.

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[Lukem]

Are the B&C statistics specific to public land or just to the size of the animals?

That's just overall entries. They probably have some of the public/private data in their system, but I'm not going to take the time to look that up. The B&C data shows that it's whitetails by a mile, add the public land aspect to it and they aren't on the same planet. MD and Elk are common public land species, if they were on private and managed on private the way that WT are, it would be a far greater gap.

 

[5peataz]

Lots of factors to consider but I’d say whitetail!

 

[Will_m]

Scores are fun but also dumb.

 

[tgus59]

The way the question is written, its whitetail, and its not even close.

I've hunted a lot of hours in prime areas, in Iowa, on private land, including some that was managed specifically for big bucks, and I can't say with certainly I have ever even seen a 200" whitetail deer.

I think a 165-180" WT would make for a more compelling question.

 

[sneaky]

Folks who insist on Gross, IMO, are generally those who are ego driven and want to claim a higher number. Plain and simple

Nets are for fish

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[bohntr]

Nets are for fish

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I’m sure your ego feels better.

 

[Rogueworrior]

Whitetail due to the DIY and Public land as already mentioned.

 

[wildtrader]

Let’s hear it?

all the above if your talking public land and not a 100 preference points good luck.

 

[Appalachian Mtnman]

I would add whitetail public land, in a mountainous/ appalachian-esque setting or big woods, such as New Hampshire or Maine..... I think they are quite difficult here in northern PA however that pales in comparison to those New England mountain bucks

Agreed. Hunted the Southern Appalachians for first time this season. Climates have high dynamic temperature differences, rough terrain, laurel thickets, mountains that are pure timber where glassing can be impossible, low deer density, large volumes of yearly precipitation, and many other aspects. Was able to kill a nice 8-point and am truly blessed to see hard work pay off (first public land buck). Southern Appalachians are quite unique.

 

[Laramie]

I’m sure your ego feels better.

Serious question for you. If you had 2 giant mule deer in front of you. Both of them are outside the ears with good height and great fork depth. Mass appears to be equal- these deer both appear to be 180"+ type of deer. One of those deer has a drop tine on his left antler and a small cheater on his right. Which one are you shooting and why?

 

[Laramie]

Oh forgot to add, all three are stupid hard to accomplish but in order of easiest to hardest, see below.

Mule deer - simply because a lot of the 200" deer alive on the planet reside on public land. I have personally been a part of several mule deer kills over 200" and I have personally have one- all diy on public.

Elk- More difficult than mule deer by a long shot but there is still a good percentage of the giants do live on public land at least part of the year. I have seen some I believe would break 400" but never harvested anything better than upper 350's.

Whitetail- I have hunted them in 21 states. I have shot some great bucks and had permission on amazing private land. I don't believe I have ever seen a typical 200" buck, private or public. A good friend did harvest a 219" non-typical (gross score for bohntr) that finished well below 200" net. That was the biggest I have seen.

If you were to put % of difficulty to it with mule deer being 100%(not claiming they are easy- see my first sentence), I would say elk 20% and whitetail .0000001%.

 

[Tmac]

Folks who insist on Gross, IMO, are generally those who are ego driven and want to claim a higher number. Plain and simple

Plenty of ego to go around in both the gross or net camps... But not everyone that uses either score is ego driven.

 

[Power]

Depends on your definition of hard and ground you have access to. We found our first 200 whitetail this year, still looking for the other 2. My hunting partner shot him 2 days later.