What do you think is more popular small game hunting or big game hunting and why is it that way ?

[Hunter007]

What do you think is more popular small game hunting or big game hunting and why is it that way ?

[ny hunter]

I always saidpheasant hunting is my favorite... just wish I had more time to go...

Edited June 20, 2019 by ny hunter

[Nytracker]

Big game  .... more bang for the buck !

[ApexerER]

I can't answer for other people but Big Game hunting is more popular for me. To me it has everything to do with the excitement of seeing deer. Even if is just a mother and fawn it is exciting to me to see them, ad to that "buck fever" and all those other feeling involved in deer hunting and nothing in small game hunting even comes close. 

[rob-c]

For me big game. 

[turkeyfeathers]

Big game. It fills the freezer better    

[BigVal]

Big game and I believe I just figured out who hawk is lol. 

[Hunter007]

3 minutes ago, BigVal said:

Big game and I believe I just figured out who hawk is lol. 

The one who keeps  this site interesting  so we all don't die of boredom is who he is .

 

[BigVal]

1 minute ago, Hawk914 said:

The one who keeps  this site interesting  so we all don't die of boredom is who he is .

 

Oh ok 

[Rattler]

I love deer hunting and bear hunting.  But I started hunting rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, grouse, duck, geese and other waterfowl.  (I love Rail hunting)   All those seasons opened prior to my first deer season in DEC 1970, and when I got my first hunting license at 16 I wanted to hunt everything there was to hunt. 

I love ALL hunting and probably spend as many days in the field hunting small game as big game.  Not sure why more people don't hunt a lot of small game, other than I suspect they don't know where to hunt and don't get many when they do.  Then again, many bow hunt deer a lot now too.  The bow season is very long and overlaps small game. 

Small game and waterfowl hunting was huge when there were few whitetail to be found.  That was it's heyday.  Now, there are lots of deer and a lot less small game to be found.  Still, it's a different kind of hunting experience that offers joys one will not experience in deer hunting. 

Almost forgot to talk about Turkey hunting.  There were NO turkey even around when I was young.  I remember the stockings and the years waiting for a hunting season.  Now the spring season just keeps me from doing more trout fishing.  The fall season is mixed in with all sorts of small game hunting for me.  I guess I'm addicted to hunting and it is a choice I made willingly.

 

[Uncle Nicky]

Big game is much more popular with most. Why? Probably a lot has to do with TV and media, when was the last time you saw a TV show where they were shooting squirrels or running beagles for rabbits or hounds for raccoons? It could have to do with yield also, you'd need to shoot a lot of squirrels to fill the freezer the same way a buck would.

[BowmanMike]

Big game for me. I only hunt deer,and the occasional nuisance woodchuck. 

Fishing for trout in streams my other passion.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Whitetail in the most pursued game animal in the US. I have to say that bunny hunting behind a good dog is what I first started doing so it has a soft spot for me. I did really enjoy training my Springer and upland hunting with him though

[crappyice]

Bow hunting dear is write up their with hunting for spelling errors on public forums four me hence my true love of this forum(best of both worlds).

Eye two like small game but once they backed up bow season to October won less and less time was spent in the field and more in a tree...my Brittany was none too pleased!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Paula]

I like small game more, it has more action.

I love deer hunting but you just sit there and way for the chance something will walk by.

[ATbuckhunter]

Deer hunting is definitely more popular. I think its a number of things, but its easier to deer hunt in a lot of places than small game hunt. Not too many small game animals to hunt in the areas I hunt, but there are plenty of deer around. I personally like deer hunting the most, but I go enjoy small game hunting after deer season. 

[Dom]

3 hours ago, Paula said:

I like small game more, it has more action.

I love deer hunting but you just sit there and way for the chance something will walk by.

I second the small game I enjoy taking the younger family members out to the woods and teaching them about the woods.I do enjoy deer hunting but to the little ones they get bored real fast when they have no phones/tablets/Ipads and game systems.

[Nytracker]

5 hours ago, Rattler said:

 

 

Great book .... I miss grouse hunting.  I had  a gsp that was phenomenal  grouse and woodcock  dog .  She hunted pheasants  one season and she roaded  grouse bad that season. She finally stopped with a lot of back to basic yard work. A great grouse dog is a once in a lifetime dog .

[Pygmy]

My passion has always been wingshooting...Back when I first started hunting, it was common to flush 20-30 grouse in a day..Wild pheasants were still  common, especially up on the lake plains...

And then there was WATERFOWL !!  A few times back years ago, the duck season opened the same time as bow season for deer.....I could never imagine how sitting in a treestand for deer could as much fun as shooting ducks and geese...

Most of the wingshooting opportunities are gone now, at least in my area....I still kill 2 or 3 dozen squirrels each year, and a few bunny rabbits over my buddie's beagles.. It has been years since I shot a grouse or a woodcock..

As far as deer hunting goes, I wouldn't bother if I did not like the meat so well....I would rather hunt small game, birds, or go fishing...

Turkey hunting has been a passion of mine for the last 45 years or so....Still, I am not as gung ho as I was a few years ago...I no longer have the legs to do the fall hunt, and have mostly blind hunted for spring birds the last ten years or so...

[Team Hoyt]

Big game. Feeds the family, and love to see  deer in the woods

[grampy]

I really like all sorts of hunting. Predators, squirrels, rabbits, grouse, pheasant, woodcock, turkey, woodchucks, coons. Never really done much duck and goose shooting, but may try it more when I retire.

But nothing else gets my blood pumping like deer hunting does. I look forward to it, and think about it year round. To set up and have a deer come within a few yards, is so exciting to me. Even if I do let most all of them walk these days.

Something deep inside me, connects to being in the deer woods on a frosty fall morning. Always has, always will. I enjoy being out there even if I don't see a deer. The fall deer woods is my happy place.

And the meat is delicious!!!! 

[Steve D]

What do you think is more popular small game hunting or big game hunting and why is it that way ?

Overall I would have to say deer hunting. One of reasons I would say is the number of implements available and the length of the season(s).

Myself however put deer hunting last. If I had to pick one it would be predator hunting. # 2 would be small game especially grouse.

Deer hunting for me is "just something to do" outside. I could care less if I ever shot another deer but always go in hopes of getting a trophy or having a "new" experience. About the only part of deer hunting I can say I enjoy is bow season. After bow season I would much rather be doing something else like running a trap line, predator hunting, or chasing some grouse.

[Daveboone]

Growing up in the seventies as I was getting into hunting, small game was far more popular than deer. The success rate for deer was a small fraction of what it is now, due to lower numbers mainly. The huge number of farms, fallow land and a more active lifestyle kept us out on week ends from the end of September right through the winter, chasing rabbits, squirrel, partridge, what have you.  We considered a deer season as successful if we saw a deer. 

With the increase in predators with their legal protection, prey species are fewer and more aware, and all the farms we used to have access are largely gone. It is difficult to interest kids in small game. We don't go as much as we used to for lack of productive areas.

By the beginning of the eighties, deer populations were booming everywhere, and we began to expect to see deer consistently, and seldom went without venison (Dad started deer hunting in the forties, and when he passed away in 82 had never had a shot at a deer....not uncommon then). Now deer hunting is highly promoted by commercial / retail outfits and manufacturers. It is a steady money draw that is much more easily advertised  and promoted than small game.

[airedale]

A poll will show Big Game hunting is more popular than hunting for Small Game and the reasons being pretty much shown from the replies in this thread. For me personally the matter is not even close as I much prefer Small Game hunting over Big Game for a multitude of reasons. As the old saying goes "Variety Is The Spice Of Life" and that pretty much sums up why I like Small Game hunting so much. 

I especially like hunting with dogs, I have bred and trained various hunting breeds for most of my adult life. Kind of like being a sports coach, I provide training methods and opportunity to succeed. A proud feeling of accomplishment when the hard work pays off and that Beagle pup brings around that first Hare or Cottontail to the gun or your young Coonhound trees it's first Coon alone, an Airedale pup flushing a Grouse or Pheasant and making a retrieve. 

Then there is the Firearms,  a favorite hobby of mine, I have acquired a few in my lifetime and I especially like hunting with them, would not be pulling the trigger too often if I hunted just Deer. Rimfires are a favorite and Squirrels are their game for the most part providing plenty of trigger pulls along with a few Rabbits, Coon and Chucks for good measure.

Shotguns especially side by side doubles, Crows, Pheasant, Woodcock and Grouse with some waterfowl.

Precision and  long range rifles for the Varmints and calling, Crows, Chucks Fox and Coyote.

Add it all up and it equals "ACTION" and for me personally it beats the Hell out of sitting in a stand waiting for a Buck to come by.

Al

Edited June 21, 2019 by airedale

[Hunter007]

I Like others have said  like the  action of small game hunting, less waiting  around ,more shooting  . I think if you take out the food and trophy part  of big game hunting . The poll would be more to the small game side of things, I suspect. 

 

Edited June 21, 2019 by Hawk914