Show Notes:

A lot of factors go into trying to determine if one type of hunting is “easier” than another. On this episode I compare whitetail deer and turkey hunting to examine the difficulties and advantages of each pursuit to help new hunters better decide where to start and to help more experienced hunters expand into new areas of hunting.

Factors to consider for hunting either deer or turkey:

  • Geography and habitat are core to determine which type of game is more abundant around you.
  • General hunting pressure will train animals to be more or less skittish around humans.
  • Deer tend to adapt to some human pressure while turkeys seem to get more paranoid.
  • Deer hunting requires excellent preparation, selecting not just the right area but even the right tree in advance.
  • Turkey hunting tends to require more diverse skill sets like perfect concealment on the ground, calling, and moving stealthily at critical times.
  • Deer hunting requires a lot of advanced strategy while turkey hunting requires more decisions that are made in the moment.
  • Turkey hunting requires more gear to start out with but the birds are easier to carry out of the woods.
  • A spooked deer is hard to chase, but a turkey that takes flight may be impossible to ever catch sight of again.
  • Deer are larger and thus harder to conceal than turkeys.
  • Larger animals also tend to leave larger more recognizable sign.
  • Listen to the whole episode for more and to see how both pursuits stack up against each other.