Absolutely not! It's a deer its not a phalic symbol. I think your post actually reveals some of what I've been talking about. Some hunters look at taking a large buck as a way to brag. A way to show their manhood. I guess it feeds the ego. I think that is exactly "something an adult actually grows out of....... a phase" . I believe the taking of a whitetail deer for the purpose of bragging is juvenile and shows a complete lack of respect for the life that was taken. Like I said there is FAR too much emphasis on killing a big rack and it is destructive to the sport.

"I have always tempered my killing with respect for the game pursued. I see the animal not only as a target but as a living creature with more freedom than I will ever have. I take that life if I can with regret as well as joy, and with the sure knowledge that nature's ways of fang and claw or exposure and starvation are a far crueler fate than I bestow."

That was Fred Bear.

As far as I'm concerned, when grown men are motivated to hunt for the primary purpose of feeding their egos they simply have a lot of growing up to do. This discussion is actually making me sad.