Animal hunting difficulty

[IdahoLT1]

I was curious as to everyones opinion on what animals are more difficult/expensive to hunt or trap in your respective area. General rating criteria for example would be questions like:

How much does it cost for gear?
How long do you spend walking/tracking animals?
How long do you wait in tree stands, blinds, etc?
What type of terrain the animal is hunted in?
Is the aid of bait/hounds the only way to successfully harvest the animal?
Whats the population of the animal(lower population might mean lower success rates)?

Rate the animals on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the easiest/least expensive and 10 being extremely difficult/most expensive. I understand that everyones rating might be different for the same game animal depending on their numbers, type of gear, access to property and the terrain the animal is hunted in, so just make a guess; no real science or calcualtions needed.

Im just curious if its more difficult to hunt Mountain Lions or Bobcats than say Mule or Whitetail deer.

For instance Whislte pigs/ground squirrels might be rated a 1 because you can use a cheap .22LR and bag dozens of them in a few hours. Where as African Lion is obviously a very dangerous animal, but the cost for permits, travel, gear might be in the 10's of thousands of dollars so it might be ranked a 10.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I quail hunt, I have 4 brittany's.

Dog expenses for the 3 run about $3000-$4000 or so by the time you feed them, vet bills, heartworm pills, rabies shots, etc.

Add in shotgun shells (which I reload my own), my bird hunting bibs have HUNDREDS of miles on them and were $70 and now need replaced, I have still yet to find the perfect boot to wear all year long

Miles upon miles of walking. A typical trip on our Kansas pheasant hunt you will probably walk 10-15 miles a day. The good thing is where we hunt in Kansas is flat, dad says every year the only thing he has seen flatter than SW Kansas is the Pacific Ocean off a battleship, but even then the waves made it less flat looking at times.

I am walking, no waiting or shivering while sitting still.

Dogs are the only way to quail hunt, wouldn't go without em.

The terrain where I mostly quail hunt is hilly, flat, rolling hills, mountain looking hills, brush covered, crop stubble, muddy, dry, deep creeks, long ditches etc.....


Cheapest for em to hunt is squirrels, just one of my scoped .22's and some good shooting ammo. My favorite set up is a .22 that cost around $200 or so, $150 for the scope, about $6 per box of ammo. Ain't a squirrel safe within 70 yards. Terrain is thin to thick timber on hills.

 

[Art Eatman]

Gear? Ouside of rifle and shells and old clothing, I don't take much stuff to hunt camp. Sure don't carry much with me out hunting.

Most of my deer hunting has been walking-hunting. Go to where Bambi oughta be, and see if I can kick him out of bed. So, it depends on my ambition level. Sometimes, just a few hours; sometimes from "can see to can't see".

I hunt in desert-mountain country. What's a tree?

I've tried about every food alleged to be attractive to deer. Local mule deer don't care about any of it.

Population density is best described as "sparse". Some years, "rare" is a better word.

I hunt on my own land, so the cost is essentially free. (I could always sell the land at a profit.)

Here, bobcats are sorta like work; they're spooky little critters when calling. Mountain lions are a bait-and-sit deal; great for a lazy and patient person.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Im just curious if its more difficult to hunt Mountain Lions or Bobcats than say Mule or Whitetail deer.

Given the shear difference of population numbers, deer are going to be much easier to hunt.

 

[ArmedBear]

Is the aid of bait/hounds the only way to successfully harvest the animal?

I was chatting with a park ranger once, in an area that was an ecological island -- or at least a bottleneck, with no hunting allowed. He said that he knew they were around, and he'd seen a lot of sign, but in 20 years in the area he had never actually laid eyes on a mountain lion. So from that, I'd say that it's a fair bet that you won't find one in the woods just by walking around.

If you want to see cougars, get a place in the mountains above Horseshoe Bend, and keep small livestock outside. Miniature horses, goats, sheep and the like would probably be perfect. You'll be able to hunt mountain lions from your living room, but still only with tags, even if they're eating your expensive little horses...

 

[earlthegoat2]

I would say for me, coyotes are the hardest hunt. I dont spend money on any hunts and I try to use the same rifles for deer, bear, and varmints if I can help it so I hunt coyotes with my 6.5x55 Ruger No 1 or 6.5x55 CZ 550.

Coyotes are just a hard hunt for me. They take a lot of time, a lot of calling, a lot of walking, and a lot of driving to different spots.

 

[Art Eatman]

Coyotes like even the El Cheapo dry dog food. They eat it one pellet at a time.

Mountain lions--and other critters--like the smell of bacon grease on a rag tied to the fence of my south pasture. Leftover meat scraps, a recently-killed rabbit and a handful of catnip also add up to an attractive bait-pile, I've found.