Interesting..... I see morediscussions on these forums where people are telling "trophy" huntersthey are wrong than I do the other way around. I have seen a few say that shooting young deer is wrong but the true sportsman don't "push" their thoughts onto others.

It seems that atlasman is more interested in arguing everyones points rather than understand their reasoning as he suggested in hisoriginal post. We will never completely understand each other.

I don't call myself a "trophy" hunter but I am selective in what I shoot. I don't hunt "trophy" deer but mature deer.My reasons why are similiar to what others have already said:
-I enjoy spending time in the woods and shooting the first 1 1/2 year old buck that walked by would only take a few days.
- I enjoy the entire whitetail experience and can get just as much satisfaction from watching the young bucks as I would shooting one.I have said this before but my 11 year old son has seen deer sparring, seen bucks chasing does, seen several bucks make scrapes, seen bucks make does stand up to scent checkthem,seen deer bed down 40 yards from our stand etc.... Most of these experiences would not have happened if we had flung an arrow at the first deer to walk by. For me it's not all about the kill like it is with many hunters who feel unsuccesful if they don't shoot something. Now of courseareas with low deer densities may change everything and being selective is not an option but it's not like that where I live.
- There is no comparison with the adrenalin rush during an encounter with a mature buck compared to a doe or young buck! None!

Most people who are selective or practice QDM are not simply "letting them grow" to whack them whenever they want. It's about setting a personal standards and goalsand then getting satisfaction when they are achieved. I have several trail cam pics of a nice 2 1/2 year old buck last year and he walked right by my stand once. I found out he was shot by a gun hunter in an adjacent woods. I heard it was a youth hunter and couldn't be happier for him. I will continue to pass on similiar deer knowing they are not likely to make it through gun season because I have no desire to shoot a young one. I get more satisfaction from passing on a buck knowing that 90% of the hunters out there would have taken a shot at him. atlas you will probably never understand but thats OK and that makes us all individuals.

You say those people that shoot their big bucks within 2 days was no challenge, then what is shooting the first buck that walks along, if that was the way to go i would have had 7 small bucks on the first day last year. I dont care what anyone else shoots, but you ask why is it hard to accept the fact that not everyone is fixated with antlers. Most people could care aless what anyone else shoots! What makes me happy shooting a bigger deer, is trying to get a bigger one each year. I no longer get enjoyment from shooting small young bucks, compared to a mature buck that is twice as smart and more of a challenge. If i shot the first deer that walked by, my season would end shortly, what a challenge that would be.

You are a real work of art........ You first ask for peoples opinions, and they offer in good will, THEN you want to argue with them for what the offer in a simple opinion.. talk about a waste of bandwidth!!!

Atlas, for the record, I knew what you meant. I must admit that I had to read it twice but I knew what you were saying...

I just back spaced over many hundreds of words because I decided it is more important to me to look for things that we can agree on than things we may never likely agree on!
For me this is a very simple matter,as a hunter as a steward of the land and game am I contributing toward the over all health and well being of the animals I am hunting or am I detracting from it?
For any of you that have read my posts previously you know where I stand on this issue.Regardless of my views I would never belittle anyone!

Atlas

You are not and will never be a trophy hunter...and thats O.K. dude..........

How many years and how many thousands of words are we going to have to deal with before YOU are comfortable accepting this fact.

Lighten up, have fun and shoot the other monster on your mountain

Did you miss my statement that I have no problem with the way anyone hunts as long as it is safe and legal?? What ruffles my feathers is when I see guys belittling others like these guys were doing. I couldn't care less if every other hunter holds out for a buck over 200" every year............just don't tell me or anyone else that we should be doing the same.

So if a mature buck walks by 15 minutes into the season you won't shoot him because you wouldn't want to lose out on the entire whitetail experience?

They have a name for that.........it's called buck fever.

How else would you describe letting a deer walk by when you could have killed it just because his rack isn't big enough...........and then killing that same deer next year? He is not alive because of his elusiveness or keen instincts.....he's alive because you let him be.........and when his rack grows big enough you stop letting him walk by.

EXACTLY.

Many people have said here already that shooting the first deer that walks by would be no challenge at all right??

Well what happens when that first one is a monster?? It is still no challenge then right and everyone would pass on him too because their is no challenge in shooting the first buck you see right?

Not by your definition of "trophy"


I am as comfortable as can be..........my Goliath has tons of room and I even added a cup holder for my coffee last year.

I couldn't possibly have more fun when I hunt............and that mountain is shot man. I didn't even go there last year. The local farmer at the top of the hill stopped planting corn for some reason and the deer have no reason to climb up there anymore. 11 guys went there for opening week of gun season and saw 1 deer in 7 days between all of them. I went back in January to hunt squirrels and saw one lonely set of tracks all day in the snow. If a new food source is not put back at the top of that hill that place is a ghost town...........it's a shame.

The difference is, if it is a large mature buck, you will probualy NEVER see that deer again, and should consider it luck that you get an oppurtunity like that. If you want to shoot anything moving thats fine, but dont try to say there is no challenge in shooting a large buck on day one, that is ignorant. Whoever said they see more people dissing trophy hunters instead of the other way around was right.