RE: "Any bow kill is a trophy..."
To me any deer on the ground is a trophy and meat in my freezer. I am just as proud and appreciative of the deer I take with my ML as I am of the deer I kill with my bow. Same would be true if I could use a rifle in my area.
Don't think that just because you don't use a bow it is easy. I know people that have hunted for years with shotgun, ML and rifle and have never killed a deer or killed very few. I manage to take one every season I hunt. I feel that is an accomplishment. If it was that easy everyone that had a tag would take a deer, and that simply doesn't happen and we all know that.
However for me it is not a competition, I don't care that you killed more deer than I did, or less or how you went about it or that yours was bigger and older than mine. It simply doesn't matter to me. And I can't for the life of me figure out why it would matter to anyone else, unless they are of the mindset that they just have to be better than someone else.
If you don't "feel" right taking a deer with a gun or taking a young deer or doe then fine. That is your personal goal, just don't impose it on anyone else. If you don't want to hunt with a gun, then don't. Like I always say, I could argue you are less of a hunter by not using the best weapon available to you, or that you let deer walk by waiting for something better. I could also argue that bow hunting is less ethical than gun hunting. I'm sure you wouldn't like it if I told you that. The purpose of deer hunting is regulate the population, not let them walk by waiting for something better. If that were the case I wouldn't need a weapon, I could just get a nice camera.
I can't understand why someone feels the need to undermine another persons accomplishments. Like say a coworker has been hunting for 4 or five years (started as an adult) and finally takes a deer. He is excited and tells you he killed his first deer, or second or third for that matter. And it just happens that he did it with a .243 at 120 yards. Why would someone say "Well yeh, but you did it with a rifle, I'm a real hunter I use a bow." What purpose does that serve other than making someone feel bad and stroking your own ego?
It MIGHT make you a better hunter, but it certainly doesn't make you a better person. At least not in my book.
And by the way, I killed a deer my very first time in a stand with a bow. First time I ever hunted for deer, half an hour into opening day. Wearing black jeans and a cammo T-shirt, no scent lock or anything like that.
Paul