Most Bow-Huntable animals vs. Least?

[HuskyMusky]

Curious what others think as to which animals lend themselves to being most able to be taken with archery equipment?

I was thinking you can reasonably take an;
Elk
Whitetail, though I think mule deer sound much tougher to be taken with archery equipment? correct if mistaken?

Cougar from a tree,
possibly Moose, Caribou

maybe a bison?


the tougher archery hunts I see are

Mountain Goat
Sheep
and the dangerous game, Brown Bear, Polar Bear

 

[Hilltop]

The easiest animals IMO are the ones you can regularly take from stands or blinds- Whitetail deer and antelope top my short list. Most difficult that I have hunted with a bow would be coyote.

 

[ScottR]

Add the caveat of spot and stalk and I think that might help narrow things down too.

 

[mgorm16640]

Spot and stalk changes things. Hunting out of a blind is just target practice. Most difficult spot and stalk for me would be antelope. I don't know if there is an easiest animal. I must need to work on my stalking skills.

 

[packmule]

Depends on what the animals are conditioned to. Seen some of most species that you could practically pet.

 

[WY ME]

Spot and stalk changes things. Hunting out of a blind is just target practice. Most difficult spot and stalk for me would be antelope. I don't know if there is an easiest animal. I must need to work on my stalking skills.

I second that. I think spot & stalk antelope hunting is a real challenge and true hunting at its best.

 

[Maxhunter]

Try Coues deer they'll make you pull your hair out! They're the most jumpy animal you'll ever hunt! Only 1 percent of hunters ever kill one.

 

[swampokie]

Turkeys are a difficult kill with a bow. The new hub blinds help but taking one from a treestand or leaned against a tree is tough. Especially if there are several of them to see you draw.

 

[Shane13]

Spot and stalk with a bow....

Toughest animals to hunt (in North America) would be pronghorn, whitetail, and aoudad - probably in that order. All three are pretty dang skittish. Pronghorn are hard to get close to in the open country they inhabit. Whitetail live in places that can make it possible to stalk up on them, but they are probably the most skittish animals on the dang planet. Aoudad are dang near as skittish as whitetail, and they hang out in some rough country. But those windy rimrocks can sometimes make a stalk more feasible.

 

[laxwyo]

Antelope difficult? You just drive by real slow and let the shooter out of the passenger side and keep driving, antelope will never know what hit him.

 

[kiwi]

I've successfully spot and stalk bow hunted red deer, fallow deer, pigs, pronghorn and elk. And chamios and tahr unsuccessfully. Pronghorn and tahr by far the hardest and red deer the easier of the animals. None were easy.

 

[2peterhunter]

I live in MN have been out west a five times, I would say pronghorn are the hardest western animal spot and stalk with a bow, both times I hunted we had too much water and ground blinds were not an option shot my goats all over 50 yards so 5 of them past 50. Elk seem to me harder to find then kill, but I am also not picky and will normally shoot a smaller bull. Mule deer seem by far the easiest I shot a small 3/3 in sd last dec at less then 4 yards, white tails are hard on the ground much harder then any western game imo but the hardest with be turkeys without a blind, by far. On the ground run and gun turkey archery. If you can consistently kill turkeys this way I would say you are a good hunter. I have done it a number of times but some good friends of mine have never been able to!

 

[Shane13]

Antelope difficult? You just drive by real slow and let the shooter out of the passenger side and keep driving, antelope will never know what hit him.

Yep. They're easiest with a rifle, but pretty dang tough with a bow on a spot and stalk hunt. It's not really much of a hunt with a rifle. Just a shoot.

 

[Truckpainter]

I think it's more about where your hunting than what your hunting! If you are on public land self guided it's going to be harder than sitting in a tree stand above a feeder waiting for the buck that was texted to you by a trail camera on private property lol


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[ivorytip]

I think it's more about where your hunting than what your hunting! If you are on public land self guided it's going to be harder than sitting in a tree stand above a feeder waiting for the buck that was texted to you by a trail camera on private property lol


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amen to that. bobcat is hardest with bow

 

[packmule]

I think it's more about where your hunting than what your hunting! If you are on public land self guided it's going to be harder than sitting in a tree stand above a feeder waiting for the buck that was texted to you by a trail camera on private property lol


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You'd be waiting forever where I'm at. Hunting over a feeder just means you won't see anything to shoot within bow range during daylight hours....you may kill a bobcat though coming through looking for rabbits and birds around them though.

 

[Blockcaver]

Spot and stalk hunting method: Easier would be black bear, mountain goats (terrain is tough though) and caribou. Some sheep if habituated to people and/or during the rut can fall into the easy category

Tougher would be any of the deer plus hard hunted stone sheep or bighorn sheep.

I'd say elk and moose fall into the middle of the pack.....YMMV

 

[FitToHunt]

My order from easiest to hardest spot and stalk with a bow:
Blacktail
Moose
Mule Deer
Elk
Whitetail
Never attempted Pronghorn. If I ever draw a sheep or goat tag in Washington, I will defiantly give a real college try with a bow first.