Every year I let many legal bucks pass, here in IL any buck is legal. We also can shoot does, so if I want meat I take a doe and wait for that trophy. Also a resident tag anywhere is cheap, so let's not kid ourselves about eating a tag......as a non-res you may lower your standards, or try to fill that tag for some meat, but even so, if im hunting out of state, its not for meat, its for a trophy. I can get all the meat in my home state. So even a pricey tag, I'm not going to go out west to shoot a 4x4 250" elk, I'll go home empty handed, with a tag in hand. Same with elk or any other specie, I'd take a doe if I wanted the meat, maybe last evening of an elk hunt I'd take a cow., etc...