Elk vs. Deer

Chuck,

I raise elk and mule deer and whitetail. Your right on when you say elk are not flighty. Mule deer are also not flighty. Whitetail are flighty and will hurt themselves as flight is bred into them. Just the nature of the animal.



I'm sure most people don't raise elk as their sale price doesn't cover their feed costs. Whitetail have held a good market price for those who raise whitetail. Mule deer have been a good animal to raise but have problems if you are trying to raise them back East.



Most on this site know I feel hybrids between whitetail and mule deer would have a market place as I feel as a hybrid the animals would live back East. Selective breeding could make a animal that looked like a mule deer but lived as well as a whitetail. I would hope breeders would try to bred from animals that were not flighty like the whitetail.

Just love whitetails. Was brought up hunting and subsiquently watching and studying them. Elk are big and can hurt you easily. Mulies, well, I have never actually seen one, but that incessant "hopping" kind of turns me off (remember, this is my opinion). LOL

I agree with Smoking 44. Elk are awsome and extremely powerful animals. A guy a few miles away has Elk and Whitetails. The Elk are just plain intimidating. Mulies are also very majestic animals, but for me, there is NOTHING like a whitetail. I to have been hunting since I was 12, and the whitetail has always left me in awe!

I am with Jack on the hybrids between whitetail and mule deer would have a market place. I will have some hybrids in June . Thanks to Jack



Joe Headley

www.AlabamasFinest.com

I to have hunted whitetail sence I was 12. I couldn't get enough for them. They are an amazing animal. I could watch them for ever. My wife thinks I''m nuts. She is probably right.

Darin

I would say that the biggest reason is room.. I raise both elk and whitetail.. The elk are like raiseing a bunch of bottle baby whitetails get behind them on the 4 wheeler open the gate and they are in the barn in 3 min. kinda hard to do that with the deer.. Way easier to handle that for sure.. Also Whiteatils can be ran 10 to and acre but the elk need some room to be raised more on pasture.. As far as the cost from what I can see it takes a lot more grain to go into a whitetail than a elk if you manage right... My bulls only get grain 6 to 7 months of the yr.. and I can grow bulls in the 400- 450 range @3 and 4 those bulls are worth 5000 to 10,000 dependeing on were they go.. And the 500 inch bulls are worth more than the 300 inch whitetails now days.. You just have to breed to get them there younger just like the deer breeders.. If you have a good elk cow heard and you manage right and A.I. breed right the elk are just as profitable as the deer animal for animal.. Another reason is that deer have 2 fawns and the elk have 1 so to me it just comes down to more room.. I have to have twice the elk than deer to make the same money as the deer... I cant get enough of them both and I sure cant put 25 elk bulls on the wall and I will try my best to put 25 bucks up there.. just a nother thought!!