A grand slam of lifesize sheep on the wall or 15-20 recordbook whitetail from the midwest?
jeff~

Both really; depends on whom you ask.

I would probably say the sheep though.

Orvar

Personally the sheep.......

The sheep are greater trophies possibly because they are hard to get to and almost always need money to achieve. The whitetails are a more common animal but 15-20 record animals is extremely hard to achieve, it's something the common wage earner might have a chance at though if they were dedicated and good hunters.

I've always been partial to sheep but haven't hunted them.

I would think the sheep slam would be easier to achieve, if you had the cash..... IF the whitetail where low fence, not off of a controlled heard, so my vote would be the whitetails.

Depends on who you are trying to 'impress' and the purpose of your trophy room.

If you took twenty guys from the local Bass Pro, more will be impressed by the whitetails, because that is what they hunt and can understand, first hand, what it took to collect them.

If you are trying to impress your local SCI chapter, the sheep, because they have priced sheep hunts.

If this is about your trophies and trophy room, I would suggest you concentrate more on what impresses you, not others. You will be much happier with the result.

My two cents:

Sheep hunting is merely a matter of money, getting the permits and being in decent physical shape. Put the three together and it isn't too difficult to rack up a grand slam of representative horns. Of course, killing record-book trophies would be somewhat harder.

In contrast, IMO, filling a wall with a herd of B&C or P&Y RECORD-BOOK whitetail mounts taken under fair-chase conditions would be an impressive feat since they aren't hiding under every tree. In fact, it's a nice feat for one hunter to tag one record buck much less 10 or more.

That said, I would much prefer the sheep in MY trophy room. But I have neither the money nor any luck getting permits.

I'm a sheep hunter first and a mountain hunter second. After 30 years, this won't last much longer for me. I'm making a big push this fall with 7 mountain ranges to hunt for sheep and Ibex. My trophy room is loaded with sheep, all impressive to me, everyone with a great story, but none making the record book. I have the #4 Red Stag in there and my most difficult trophy to replace would most likely be my 46 inch cape buffalo.
All this said, 10 record book whitetails in one trophy room would be unbelievable.

I suppose it would matter whose perspective we are talking about. I don't have a trophy room per say but a Brown Bear rug and 6 African shoulder mounts in one room. There's a Cape Buffalo shoulder mount, full mount Hyena, warthog, and Croc in another room.

For my wife and I the mount that brings back the most discussion is the little ole Bushbuck. Reasons are outlined in my Zambia hunt report.

For visitors to our house the Hyena gets the most comments and the "water buffalo" the next most.

My point is, regardless of cost and specie it's the event that the 3D photograph (the mount) represents that probably means the most to the hunter.

Being from the west, whitetails are just another species to hunt. Sheep require alot of hiking no matter the wallet size and I have bad knees and most likely will never get one of them. My vote is for the sheep.

Bet theres a lot more people on here with a slam of sheep in thier throphy room, then with a dozen book midwest whitetails.

I love big whitetail hunting more than any other hunting I've ever done and will always consider myself a whitetail hunter. But, having finished my slam last year - Sheep hunting is brutally difficult and by far more rewarding and therefore more impressive to me.



Doug

If the white-tail were taken on public land or on private property that wasn't posted the deer would be an amazing and lucky achievement. If they were taken on private property available to only "friends & family" then not so much.

I have a cousin who is a very good hunter but for the first 25 years he hunted deer in PA (and got a buck every year but one) the best he ever took were a couple of bucks - the biggest of which was about 135. About 20 years ago he inhereited a large tract of mountain land that had been open to the public for years -- it had plenty of water, a vareity of cover and was easily accessible from Harrisburg so had been hunted hard.

The first thing he did was post the property "No Hunting" - he cleared about 5 or 6 acres near the road, put in a new access road and started to grow big white-tails. He put in some sizeable food-plots, diverted a couple of small, seasonal streams for watering, got rid of a lot of dead or dying trees (gypsy moth), cleared a few more roads which where actually just big paths for his electic ATV's, set up a network of trail cameras and started shooting does.

Didn't shoot a buck for 3 years - at that point he took 2 or 3 150+ bucks a year for a couple years and over the past 10 years my cousin, his son-in-law (who is really a poor hunter but a decent shot) and his daughter as well as an occassional guest have taken more than 25 bucks between 155 and 169 + 3 between 170 & 175. None of these deer have ever been entered into a contest.

There was also a 181+ deer that was shot by an archer from a stand just outside his property line but even a modest tracker could tell where the deer was standing when shot + the fact that it ran another 75 yards inside the property before it died -- plus of course the drag trail was pretty clear - they did gut it on the "right" side of the fence. A proper settlement was eventually reached.

You don't need a high-fence to grow very nice deer -- just don't shoot the small ones and make sure there is plenty of cover and food and restrict access.

It would depend on which day you asked me - I have flopped twice just reading others' posts.

I have been fortunate to complete the Grand Slam of North American Wild Sheep. I'm just a common Joe...That was able to draw a Utah Desert sheep tag and a Wyoming Bighorn tag...I worked hard and saved my dollars to hunt a Dall Sheep in Alaska and a Stone's Sheep in BC...For me, it was a life long dream......So I'm pretty Bias!..My intent wasn't to impress anyone, but my self..Too me, it was all about the journey!

I think the whitetail collection simply because it is so hard to find trophies. It takes a lot of time and effort to get just one, let alone 10+.

Big whitetails can be shot with big money on places anywhere in the midwest that really has a large property managed intensily with food plots and age restrictions for big deer.

Those places are expensive.

Shooting that many big bucks on a working mans dollar is a lot harder. Unless you are a farmer with good genetics and feed.

To not draw a single tag and shoot 4 sheep is also just a matter of dollars . $50-60,000 for the Desert Bighorn, $20-30,000 for the Stone and Rocky Mountain and $10-20,000 for the Dall.

Now drawing a tag for 2 that require it, and spending the money for the other two is a working mans dream of mine, and I am sure many others. I have my hat in several points programs and hopefully I can get a half slam. Or a couple half slams.

If you draw tags for and legally take 4 wild mountain sheep in North America in mind you have completed a slam.

That being said I have yet to take any wild sheep, and I have never shot a whitetail. Just didn't grow up in whitetail country.

I don't really understand the concept of doing something so other people would think it is impressive.

If I had unlimited money, I would hunt all the worlds trophies then settle on what I call my top 10. I probably wouldn't hunt anything but my top ten again.

In no particular order:
wildboar
elk
red deer
roe deer
moose
ibex
rocky mountain goat
chamois
pronghorn antelope
bear

Between all the subspecies and locations of those 10 there is several life times of hunting them.

Tony makes a hell of a lot of sence

As one who would not hunt sheep even if it were free ---- give my trophy room the monster deer please!

As a long time deer hunter in a good area in the midwest, I don't believe anyone has 15-20 legally killed B&C whitetails outside of a high fence.

That would make it damn difficult.

The record book starts at 125 P&Y.
jeff~

Sheep...

The whitetail collection is probably tougher to achieve than the sheep. That said, people will "Ooooh and ahhhh" much more over the sheep due to the perceived cost and exclusivity. Personally, I think a single 100 pound elephant would be more impressive than either of the options given in the OP...and might be cheaper to achieve with a bit of luck.

The beauty of the trophy is all in the eye of the beholder. It's whatever floats your boat.

However, the hunt for them is an entirely different matter. Having the good fortune of a slam but only one buster whitetail, the pursuit of sheep in wild places is addicting. Nobody will never kill a sheep by sitting in a box over food plot.

With out a doubt, SHEEP!

Sheep for sure. You don't even have to walk to kill deer. Therefore sheep are harder to get.

quote:

Originally posted by SG Olds:
Sheep for sure. You don't even have to walk to kill deer. Therefore sheep are harder to get.

Agreed!

Is there beer at both displays?

You can't leave these details out.

For the experienced hunter, the Sheep Grand Slam.

But most folks don't understand the significance of the Grand Slam, so the white tails would have a broader appeal in terms of awesomeness!

I like both Whitetail and Sheep. I can't decide which to chase more.lol Here are a few pictures for you whitetaila nd sheep addicts

Nube......NICE!

Thanks Matt, I have a few more but posted them already on a couple other threads already. Got to love whitetails and sheep!!

Nube, I was thinking of you when I read the first post - and Bingo, here you are! absolutely amazing stuff!