What is Your Nemesis Animal?

Rocky Mountain Elk hands down. I live where I can hunt them every year and after 18 years have never taken a bull. 15 years after the fact I still nightmares about a massive 6x6 that walked off the mountain from 1100 yards to 250 screamed at me and turned and walked off while I sat there with no elk tag in my pocket! Another 300"+ bull that hopped the fence well within compound bow range while I stood there watching him bugle holding my recurve is in that same class! It has proven to be an animal that eludes me year after year and will likely be a one and done critter once I put a good bull on the wall.

Wolves are another one that has proven a pain. I do not hunt them hard but have yet to be presented an opportunity to add a nice wolf pelt to the wall. One day I'll be in the right place at the right time and add one to the wall!
 
fourfive8 said:
They are an anomaly for sure. Very difficult to guess where they may be. I’ve killed several out in the worst looking scrabble desert country imaginable. Little cover with occasional mesquite but primarily creosote. Sometimes I’ve found where a few live by just heading cross country on foot in the off season and looking for tracks. One of my best ones was 1970 while hunting Coues. Walking across a flat a couple of miles from a mountain about noon after spending early morning hunting from first light on the mountain for Coues, Jumped a good desert mule deer buck using a single, small soaptree yucca for cover. Very hard to figure them. I know quite a few dedicated hunters go on guided ranch hunts in Mexico for them. I have no experience doing that.
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You have my admiration with your success. They're quite the fun/frustrating challenge. I've only seen them while hunting other game (usually Coues), or at distance well beyond bow/rifle range depending on season. They just disappear and reappear seemingly by magic.
 
Blue Duiker. Hunted them during three safaris in two countries for leopard like failure totals of days. I admit I made it hard by insisting I shoot a male, do it on my hind legs, and do it with a rifle. @PeteG finally pulled it together for me on @spike.t 's wonderful Takeri in Zambia.

Blue Duiker Hunting Zambia
Blue Duiker Hunting Zambia
 
TX049 said:
You have my admiration with your success. They're quite the fun/frustrating challenge. I've only seen them while hunting other game (usually Coues), or at distance well beyond bow/rifle range depending on season. They just disappear and reappear seemingly by magic.
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Some were pure luck, not skill. A couple were planned where the plan worked- but still needed luck. They just don’t live in areas or have habits similar to either Coues deer or Rocky Mountain mule deer. It is hard to seriously spend time looking for them or hunting them in country that seems, at best, only suited for a few starving jackrabbits. Kind of a psychological block to spending a lot of time and energy in country that should not have any deer of any kind. I’ve never found them in great numbers anywhere, so they seem to be always low density. The largest trophy I ever ran across was while quail hunting the desert not far from Las Cruces NM in 1968. Jumped it out of a shallow arroyo at about 10 yards. Could have easily killed him with the shotgun, but it was not deer season. They certainly qualify as a likely nemesis for anyone who enjoys deer hunting.
 
Sable....0/2 then put it on the back burner
ironically while on a different hunt, a sable bull far larger than any I had ever seen (even in photographs) appeared for 1.5 -2 seconds then disappeared. Not in full profile, but long enough to see the curve of his horns clearly . Unlikely I'll ever see another that big again in this lifetime
 
5 triplets africa, 4 rsa and 1 Namibia. Still no warthog or baboon. To be fair I only want a big warthog that isnt broken up.
 
Warthog & Klipspringer
I hunted them on 3 previous trips to Africa. Finally completed with Khomas Highlands Safaris in Namibia.
 
Mine is gemsbok. I’ve shot two and made a mess of both. Eventually recovered but both required multiple shots over multiple miles. Just can’t seem to put a good initial shot on them.
 
My white whale was a grey duiker. I finally conquered the beast this year. I fully believe that the bushbuck, that can vanish in a puff of smoke will be next. That, or the steenbok..
 
LivingTheDream said:
I would also just say drawing tags in Western states hasn't been the easiest route for me as well.
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I’d say western tags but between you and I we’ve actually drawn some really good tags. Your bison tag takes the cake though.

Africa - Hyena never called one into shooting range but have has lions and leopards come into the calls

North America - Archery Pronghorn; 2 trips ruined by hurricanes where I spent most of the hunt in an airport, 1 trip airline lost my bow for 3 of 5 days, 1 trip rained more in 5 days than it had in the last 18mo. Had a rifle hunt almost ruined by a blizzard but borrowed a buddies rifle

@Red Leg great blue duiker. If you go for another, look at Coutada 11. We saw hundred earlier this year in 8 days.
 
While it may have taken multiple trips to get certain animals, like the bongo, Lord Derby Eland is the only animal I failed to get that I really wanted.
 
JerBear8 said:
Mine is gemsbok. I’ve shot two and made a mess of both. Eventually recovered but both required multiple shots over multiple miles. Just can’t seem to put a good initial shot on them.
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It’s funny how it always seems to be one or two species for each person. I have been blessed with gemsbok (two dead on perfect shots, neither going more than 20 yards), but I have had the exact same experience with blue wildebeest. I am 1/3 on recoveries after firing nine bullets. I literally have not wounded and lost as many whitetail as I have wildebeest. On my last trip, I finally told the outfitter that I just wasn’t going to shoot one no matter what.

fieldethos.com

Nine Bullets, One Wildebeest | Field Ethos

By Caleb McClain The PH whistled and tapped the cruiser, motioning to the tracker to slow down. He…
fieldethos.com fieldethos.com
 
At this point of time, I could say:

Leopard - twice on my sights, never a shot taken.

Non exportable wild lion. It seams they are mythical animals, that do not exist.
 
Cucuy said:
Elk. 3x in the CO OTC pumpkin patch, 1x with a low cost CO drop hunt in OTC area. Nada. I’m done, elk are for cryptozoology. I’ll send my money abroad and also hunt chupacabra locally!
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I hunt the damn things every year and went 10 years between my first cow and the last one I shot! Not for lack of seeing them either, I probably had a couple dozen close calls in those 10 years that didn't work out for one reason or another. They are smart and tough and I tip my hat at guys who are good at killing one every year!
 
Wyit76 said:
I hunt the damn things every year and went 10 years between my first cow and the last one I shot! Not for lack of seeing them either, I probably had a couple dozen close calls in those 10 years that didn't work out for one reason or another. They are smart and tough and I tip my hat at guys who are good at killing one every year!
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They are a lot like the "Skunk Ape" in mannerisms and habits. Also, my wife has her Mamaw's Chupacabra pot pie recipie, if you'd like it. Taste a lot like Yeti, but a little fattier. Great with Texas Pete!
 
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