Eat what you kill, sure.
But I hunt big bucks.
I remember in a camp once the guy said "I don't hunt for meat, it's too expensive, I hunt horn!"
his point is on a guided hunt, transportation etc..., if all he wanted was meat, he would stay home, go buy 100lbs of beef filet and still be way ahead of the game... so he doesn't hunt for meat.
Sure if you lived on a farm or in farm country you could hunt for meat and probably save money and do it cheaper than simply buying meat.
But many of us drive hours and hours to go hunt, although many of us who do that I'm sure still just shoot the 1st thing we can.
Hunting is different to everyone.
I'm also not crazy about venison, ie deer, I mostly turn it into jerky/sausage, maybe tacos etc...
Elk is a different story, of course I don't live in an elk state, if I did, I'd be more like to be looking for "meat" from an elk.
Most people don't mount every deer/doe they kill however, a big buck on the other hand tends to get mounted... maybe it's just the culture we live in...
Everyone has their own reasons for hunting.