This is an old debate. Some hunters insist "deer have a great nose, therefore must be harder to hunt than turkey". While the other half insists that the turkey's superior eyesight make him much harder than a deer to kill. So far this season, the turkey are really weighing on me mentally. After chasing these old gobblers, its hard for me to believe that "they're stupid". So here's the question whats the harder animal to hunt: deer, or turkey?
A deer sees a man and thinks that it is a stump, a turkey sees a stump and thinks it is a man. A quote from an old turkey hunter.
that quote seems backwards from my experiences. ex: set a blind out in a field and it doesn't bother a turkey but a deer will notice a blind in most all situations. JMO
I think Turkeys are more predictable than deer, sometimes making them easier to hunt. I also think the fact that often times turkey will respond back to calls makes them a little easier to hunt. If I throw out a grunt call and nothing comes, that doesn't mean a buck isn't in my area. If I throw out a few clucks of a morning or a rainy afternoon I'm going to know my situation pretty quick. I think harvesting an adult Tom is equally as difficult as harvesting a mature whitetail. I think seeing and locating turkey is much easier than finding mature bucks. I say this as I sit on the ground of a field in Indiana turkey hunting where I had 4 or 5 gobbling all morning but none came to the field and now all is silent... Turkey hunting aint always easy.
Both species are super smart and super dumb at times. They are therefore BOTH super hard to hunt most of the time... albeit at other times they just seem to 'fall-in-your-lap'. I've had both scenarios play out, with both species. However, deer are harder for me.
Turkey hunting is harder for me because I don't spend as much time on turkey hunting as I do deer hunting. I start thinking about turkey hunting in late March and it's over in early May. Deer hunting is year round for me. I have a buddy who's just the opposite, obsessed with turkey hunting year round who kicks off his season in FL and moves north as seasons open. He deer hunts as well but has never taken a mature buck. He thinks deer hunting is really hard and turkey hunting is easy. If you look at all the "pro" hunters who deer and turkey hunt, they post up picture after picture of turkey kills on Facebook but they sure don't post as many buck kills in the fall. So, turkey hunting must be easier.
I have never hunted Turkey and beyond what I have picked up watching a few shows, know nothing about it. Turkey would be the harder one for me.
even though I started bowhunting way back in 1987, I only started really getting into hunting 3 years ago, I consider myself a novice at both!! So I defintetly think both those animals are smarter than me!!
I'm going to have to say turkeys are far more difficult to hunt. I have never had a deer pick me off at 100 yards sitting still, but I sure have stories of turkeys doing so. I have never seen a more paranoid animal. If they had any sort of sense of smell, we'd never kill them. If a deer sees something out of place, nine times out of ten they'll try to smell you. Turkeys... not so much. lol. I also believe its a regional thing. Turkeys in the midwest, I've found seem kind of dumb in comparison to their east coast cousins. I watched a whole flock of turkey feed into a hollow that lit up with coyotes one evening. I'm not sure they'd do that around here. This coming from someone who hunts both deer and turkey on property where they may not see a human being for many months and pressure is almost non existent.
I say which ever I am hunting at the time is the hardest lol. Both species have difficult aspects that make them difficult and both can be frustrating to hunt at times, or in my case most of the time. I dont know if its fair to compare them though.
Turkey and here is my reasoning. On a side note I would give up deer hunting if turkeys gobbled in the fall. You take a 5 year old gobbler versus a 5 year old buck. The gobbler has lived that long by moving only during the day and telling the whole world where he is in the morning but yet still lived that long. To me that's impressive
I can pretty well plan on having bow shot opportunities at multiple 3-4yr old toms every year only hunting them for a couple of days. I can't "plan" on having shot opportunities on multiple whitetails or mule during the season even with a lot more time in the field. Turkey, I can listen for them, watch them fly into their bed and know they'll be at the exact same place in the morning. I can sneak to the bottom of their tree in the pitch black if I want to. I can't listen for deer, I can't watch them bed and they're rarely in the same place in the morning that we left them in the evening. And they smell me. Deer are harder... hands down IMO.
Simply going by the amount of "hero" shots I see blowing up my FB wall during turkey season vs. deer season, turkey for sure. For some reason, though, I have a much easier time killing deer. Mostly due to effort and time invested. With my schedule and our season structure, I can only hunt spring birds on Saturday until the second half of May (our season is a month long). Then it's all day. By then, I'm usually enveloped in projects around home. So, it's most likely a result of the effort, or lack thereof, that I put in, but I really think turkey's are still easier.
Granted turkey hunting in most states is about a 2 or 3 week window, so no doubt you are going to see more hero shots... Imagine if deer hunting were the same way, you'd see a bunch during that window of time. When you are seeing deer hero shots over a 3 months span it doesn't really have as big of a shock factor. I likely suck at turkey hunting and deer hunting - so they are both hard for me, I think deer hunting is harder. But I have been covered up by turkey for the better part of 7 strait days and have not gotten one yet. Passed on 4 Jakes opening afternoon. I was literally on the ground behind my Tom decoy and a small tree, haven't been within 60 yards of a Tom yet. https://vimeo.com/126369274
Dumbest...Smartest... Bird ever created. I've never said the same about deer. I find that turkeys can be incredibly easy or hard. I would say deer are much tougher in regards to a trophy. We also don't hold up the same expectations of giant turkey antlers that we do with deer. (Since turkeys don't have antlers) Thought I better throw that last part in so no one got confused.
I haven't killed a wild turkey since 1988. But there weren't really any wild turkeys where I hunted in illinois. (not legal to hunt anyway) To me, from watching friends in more turkey rich environments, it seemed killing a Tom turkey was way easier than killing a mature buck. I'm about to hunt utah turkeys for the first time. Hopefully it will be easy. Lol (doubt it)
I say turkey because most turkey hunts are ground level which makesit easier for old Tommy to bust you vs most Deer hunts are from elevation.
