a couple things i heard about deer and elk....

[oneraindog]

i recently heard the idea that deer generally make concentric circles or a spiral as they move through their home turf and that this is an evolutionary compensation which makes it easier to avoid the paths of wolves who generally move in zig zags.

does this sound familiar to anyone?

im also curious about peoples opinions on elk meat. does anyone not like it?
the same person with these ideas about deer said that their family in montana doesnt even bother with elk as it is considered to be sub-par meat.
???

ive only had elk a couple of times but i remember it being good enough to eat

[Gen273]

I don't know about the circles, but to me elk meat is one of the best wild game meats there is.

[Orion]

I'd say both of his (your friend's) ideas are a crock.  

[oneraindog]

could it be a montana thing? maybe the elk in montana are....well i dont know, it starts to sound real dumb as i type it...

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by oneraindog:
i recently heard the idea that deer generally make concentric circles or a spiral as they move through their home turf and that this is an evolutionary compensation which makes it easier to avoid the paths of wolves who generally move in zig zags.

does this sound familiar to anyone?

im also curious about peoples opinions on elk meat. does anyone not like it?
the same person with these ideas about deer said that their family in montana doesnt even bother with elk as it is considered to be sub-par meat.
???

ive only had elk a couple of times but i remember it being good enough to eat

I never seen a deer walk around like that.. Well they do when feeding.

As far as Elk meat goes... Elk, Moose, all the different deer (Whitetail, Mule, sitka, blacktail, ect:) are in the Venison family.. It's all Good meat, unless you don't take care of it.

[Ragnarok Forge]

OK,  I am taking the gloves off on this one.  Your buddy is clearly talking out the wrong hole.  Ignore him entirely, he has no clue what he is talking about.  Neither Elk nor Deer walk in circles.  Though you may find when they bed in the same areas for a period of time they do a circuit and end up back where they started.  Very different process than walking in circles.  He is the first person I have heard of who doesn't like elk meat.  It is far better than beef in my family's book.  I always have an endless supply of open hands to take elk when I kill one.

[oneraindog]

Originally posted by Ragnarok Forge:
OK,  I am taking the gloves off on this one.  Your buddy is clearly talking out the wrong hole.  Ignore him entirely, he has no clue what he is talking about.  Neither Elk nor Deer walk in circles.  Though you may find when they bed in the same areas for a period of time they do a circuit and end up back where they started.  Very different process than walking in circles.  He is the first person I have heard of who doesn't like elk meat.  It is far better than beef in my family's book.  I always have an endless supply of open hands to take elk when I kill one.

ive lurked this forum long enough to trust the opinions of its members.
when my friend started saying these things i was skeptical at the least but at the same time i am a very inexperienced hunter and they come from a hunting family so i didnt feel the power to argue too heavily. however i definitely felt the need to get a second opinion from some voices i knew would talk straight. i just cant figure why a person who comes from a hunting family would tell such easily dismissed falsehoods???

[Mudd]

The 1st time I ever hunted for deer someone who I thought knew something about it told me that deer walk with their noses in the wind.

I got away from trying to hunt them for years being in the army and all but when I got back to my home state I picked it up again but this time I was doing it without a gun.

After a few days in the tree stand and not seeing anything got me to thinking about where they could be. It hit me like a rock... they were all gone.. they had to be in Arkansas or further south as the wind had been constantly out of the south for more than a week....lol

I'm sure glad I finally saw one and he was walking north... the wind was still out of the south. If that wind had changed to the north before I saw a deer I might have believed that with the wind change they were now coming back from where ever they had gone when they went south...lol

God bless,Mudd

PS: Some folks will tell you anything to remain an expert...lol

[chopx2]

Originally posted by Mudd:
... PS: Some folks will tell you anything to remain an expert...lol

Now that is expert testimony!

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Now Your friend could have seen a deer with CWD or blue tongue, which would make they walk around like that at times… But also He might have be taught wrong.

Sometimes people give out wrong info and they hold that deep in their minds for years or they had something cooked not the right way and left a bad taste in their mouth…

I have had people tell me they don't like deer meat and they tried it before and it tasted gamey, They then tried a piece that I was cooking and told me that was Great... what did I do different from what the other person did.…

I told them "well depends on how they prepared it". On buck meat I like to soak it in milk & lemon juice mix for 24hrs, DOE meat just in lemon juice. The milk is to help brake down the enzymes in the meat. This has worked for Me for Years..

[Mudd]

Hahaha!!!!... chopx2 the only way I quality is when the definition the definition of expert is:

Ex-pert equals a "has been" and a "drip under pressure!"

             

                   

God bless,Mudd

[oneraindog]

i should clarify mysticguido that they werent saying tight circles like with madcow or something. they meant the deer make loops through their entire range.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Blacktail deer make circuits as in a large loop that wanders all over in different directions to hit prime food sources when they choose to bed in the same spot more than once.  That is a fairly rare occurance but does happen.  Elk tend to stay in one large area until pushed by pressure of one kind or another to a new area.  Elk travel from point A to Point B and when feeding will meander all over the feeding area with no real purpose except to be moving in one general direct towards point B.  As for circles making a zig zag predator less likely to find them?  Think about it, doing circles guarantees whe wolf or bear will hit their scent and then follow it right to them.  It actually makes it easier to cut the prey animals trail.  

Buy some books on Elk and Blacktail behavior there are some really good ones out there and you will get a clearer picture.

[BWD]

Don't know about deer and elk, but this one time when I was lost...I walked in circles.

[L. E. Carroll]

I usually eat "wheat fed" Mule Deer right off of the grill, no before hand preperations...it's that good. I usuually do the cooking where deer goes, as the wife is not real partial to it, but will eat it occasionally.
 
"Blacktails" eat a different diet and I usually put most, if not all, of a Backtail into pepporonni, sumer sausage, brauts, and jerky.
I love it this way and so does everyone else by the requests I get for "samples"    

[Bowwild]

I'm a retired wildlife biologist.  I've examined many results of home range studies that involved radio-collared deer and elk.  I've also studied research regarding home ranges (deer) and their reluctance to leave them, even if chased by hounds and how quickly they will return to their home range when the chase ends.  The size, shape, and movement within home ranges is dictated by terrain, escape cover, food, and at times procreation.  I've never heard of the concept of evolutionary movement patterns in deer.

From a rabbit hunter's perspective, when our dogs ran rabbits, foxes, or deer you could get a really good feel for how large a "circle" the animal they were chasing made.  Invariably, the rabbit, fox, or deer would return to near the place where the track was cut.  

Prey populations control predator populations both in numbers and movements. If you have a bumper crop of rodents, foxes, coyotes, and birds of prey flourish.  When the bumper crop declines, the predators also decline. The wolf goes where the prey is going or has gone -- just like we do.

I've never heard of anyone bad-mouthing the flavor of elk. A cattle rancher friend in Wyoming hunts elk for the meat and he has access to alfalfa-fed beef all year long.

[elkbreath]

Now tell me that dont just look good, let alone eating the stuff..

[Elkchaser]

oneraindog,
Your friend is correct about one thing..... Montana elk taste horrible.
So I would advise any considering hunting here to think long and hard about it. I've heard Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, etc, etc all have great tasting elk.

If this ploy of mine works, I'll have the entire state of Montana to myself to hunt elk.    

And I have followed elk for miles and miles in one direction.
I've followed many elk that have circled back somewhat before bedding down, so that they can watch their backtrack.
       

[Outwest]

The only deer that walk in circles are the ones that live on a very steep mountain and they have to walk in circles because their legs on one side are shorter than the other side. Therfore they will always walk in a circle around the mountain in one direction only.

John

[chopx2]

Originally posted by Outwest:
The only deer that walk in circles are the ones that live on a very steep mountain and they have to walk in circles because their legs on one side are shorter than the other side. Therfore they will always walk in a circle around the mountain in one direction only.

John

I nearly choked on my drink with this one