Small vs Big Game

Small vs big game for many hunters is sorta like comparing ice cream and sex. Many of us enjoy both. I love ice cream and have some almost every night, sex... Now that I have your attention I think I'll keep the sex part as private as it should be.

When I was eight years old I started hunting some very small game with a Daisy BB gun, small pest actually; sparrows, lizards, insects...  Eventually I moved up to a .22 rimfire for crows, rabbits, squirrels...  My point is that I have a long standing love of small game and small pest hunting.

Small game hunting is as rewarding or in some ways even more rewarding than big game hunting. It can be more abundant, offering more opportunities, and in some ways more fun than deer hunting.  I should mention that most of my experience has been quail, dove, squirrel, rabbit, turkey, and whitetail hunting.    

My very favorite is actually quail hunting which I did as a young boy/man most often with my dad. Life, living, location... can changes what you do sometimes.  As a boy I could hunt in my back yard and until two years ago I had a fairly short drive to hunt. I haven't gone on an actual small game hunt in several years, but I harvest small game several times a year anyway.

To keep this really simple I'll just say small game hunting has become somewhat impractical or inconvenient. My primary hunting area is now a 150 mile drive to a 300 acre farm.  The farm has a fairly limited small game population.

I've always been one to take advantage of opportunities or to do some mixed bag hunting anyway. The increased distance to my hunting area has intensified that.

For several years now I've gone deer hunting and turkey hunting most often with a bow in my hand and a slingshot in my pocket.  Admittedly the slingshot is not the best tool, but I occasionally get a close-up shot at small game and the slingshot does little to disturb my hunting for bigger game.

At first the game I was shooting at was in very little danger, but that is slowly changing as I continue to improve with the slingshot.  The slingshot has proven to be a challenge, but also great fun, and I now shoot it more than any of my guns or bows.

I see no reason for not taking advantage of both small game and big game hunting. One compliments the other.  In my case I'll be doing some small game hunting while deer hunting this year.

If for some reason I had to choose one over the other it would be difficult. I would probably choose small game because it can be easier to find and there are more small game hunting opportunities.