Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Which would you prefer?

Both hunts sound good but I'm all about pitting myself against the elements and the wits of deer... I'd pick the DIY hunt because I always love a challenge and the only challenge in the guided hunt is "can you make a shot from a rest in a stand at a big buck"?

Antlers on the wall are nice but my best trophies are my accomplishments rather than something that someone else actually earned and I merely shot.

Just one man's opinion....

I would pick #2 hands down, far more rewarding to me.

I'll hunt anywhere so long as I don't have to sit in a frigging stand all day.

Thinking on it, I'd go with Option 3: A week of still hunting on Anticosti.

I hunted the Adirondacks several times when I was in college, stayed at a friend's camp. The place was truly rustic, it belonged to an old railroad man. He built it entirely from salvaged/scavenged materials. Never took a deer in the Adirondacks, changed locale after college and hunted northern Maine's Aroostook County. The second trip to Maine in '74 I harvested my biggest buck ever, a heavily palmated 11 pointer that field dressed 254#. It is the camp record to this day, during the week I hunted there was another 11 point 254# buck taken. I much prefer hunting the Adirondacks and northern Maine to paying the big bucks ($) and traveling so far to Saskatchawan. Their style of hunting holds no appeal for me.

#2. Without a doubt. There is nothing like hunting the adirondacks, no matter how big the rack is. If you get one, it's a trophy. I grew up in NY and I always dreamed of drilling a deer up north.

Looks like I'm not the only crazy one after all. I hunted elk that way this year in the San Juans. Hunted my butt off in less than perfect conditions and got into elk every day. Had one shot on a bull still hunting in the timber and I just couldn't get lined up fast enough. I have to say after that I was happy with how the hunt went, except I was hoping at least one of my buddies would shoot one and no dice. I'm seriously looking to go to the Adirondaks next season, with my job vacation is flexible and planning on waiting for it to snow and then taking off for a 4-5 day weekend. We'll see how it plays out, sometimes God has other plans for us.

God Bless,

MM

I would prefer to do both.

This is such a personal preference. I would choose Sask. I have done it twice and would love to go back. Baiting is not an issue for me and stand hunting is the deer hunting method I am used to. To each his own and good luck w/ which ever you choose.

It mostly depends on age, if young you would have more fun in situation #2.

If old enough, you probably could enjoy situation #1.

Just a tip, Sask had a hughe winter kill after the 2007 season, most of the very large bucks you see in an outfitter's brocure were probably killed prior to this.

Last time I looked you'd probably get 2 of those for 1 guided SK hunt too.

Oatmeal raisin...

Just got an email with photo attachment from a campfire member that's hunting in SK right now.

Bet he's happy with his choice.

Stoney?

Yep.

Years ago, I was with USAF in northern California. My buddy and I rented backpack gear and headed into the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness in search of big mulies. We always came home with deer but never the monster mulies we dreamed about. Great times in the high country!

Sherwood

In Alberta you can hunt out of a warm truck.

Id opt for #2 grew up hunting both northern and southern zone
in NY. There are some monsters further north in St Lawrence County and it is alot flatter. Unfortunately no longer being a resident of NY hand gunning a white tail up there is out of the question.

I think every man should do both in their life. Nothing like roughin it on your own to create irreplaceable memories. But likewise you cant kill a big buck if they dont exist where you live/hunt.

This is a pic of the best buck I have taken to date in the Adirondacks. He weighed 180 lbs dressed and was aged at 3 1/2 yrs. I have been hunting the Adirondacks, mostly the High Peaks Wilderness area, hard for the past 6 seasons. Along with this buck I have also taken a 4 point and a 5 point. Last season after 12 full days of hunting hard I only saw 3 deer total. This season has been a little better, 8 days of hunting and 9 deer sighted, no bucks. Be prepared to walk a lot and not see many deer. You can not count on snow anymore during the deer season either. Don't get me wrong I love this type of hunting, but I find myself daydreaming of putting a big pile of corn out to lure these deer in. This is very big country and with a very low deer density you have to cover a lot of ground to be sucessful. Pm me if you would like any help on the logistics of an Adirondack hunt, I'll be happy to help. Bill.