I think the word trophy can mean different things to different people. It a guy wants to spend tens of thousand of dollars for a wall hanger he personally killed, so be it.

I personally view hunting as having different levels of success all leading up to the final prize, or trophy. When you can count the eye lashes on a deer feeding on browse 15 feet in front of you that has no clue the big blob that looks like a tree is danger, you know you've done something right. Letting that deer grow for another season or two is a trophy hunt in its own right IMO.

I've never shot a real big deer, shot many small racked bucks and plenty of doe, but nothing in a "trophy" class. They are all to a certain degree, trophies in my mind - the completion of the hunt, the ultimate success - a deer in the back of my truck.