My top three bow kills were all before or after the rut even though I hunt my ass off during the rut too.

So in my experience the bigger bucks HAVEN'T been easier to kill during the rut.

But I really don't see whey a trophy hunter would purposely hunt at the times they fealt there would be alower chance? Isn't part of being a good hunter to be smart?

I don't think my bucks are MORE of a trophy because they weren't taken during the rut.

no offense but your understanding is for your area. my understanding is for mine.. Bow season here is the early season, Muzzleloader is the pre rut and rifle is the rut. Now... do you think there are more rifle hunters or bow hunters???

ill see a few guys around town during bow season that are hunting, a small village during muzzleloading and everyone and there grandmother during rifle. That also plays into the fact that out in Colorado where your from, is it easier to stalk a big Mulie with a bow or get a solid rest with a rifle?

I've (unfortunately) read this entire thread. Will, you say you are playing devils advocate, but this reeks of the high and mighty, mystical, ethical hunter BS. If I want to catch a big bass, I don't fish in the fountain at the mall. If I want to kill a big deer, I'm not going to skip the best time to do it. Pointless thread IMO.

I don't have to hunt for my "trophy", its hangin on my wall where I can keep an eye on him. He'll have a buddy to hang with as soon as the taxi is done with my "trophy" that was killed last Friday. It is cliche' now since it has been said so many times, but my trophy is my trophy and what makes it that is the quality of the experience that I had taking him.
For those of you who may at that definition I would ask how you personally define a trophy. Is it 130" or above? Is it 3.5 years or older? Does it have to fit both of those criteria?
My trophy and the experience behind itis what makes me happy. If that happens to be a big ole brute like I killed last year, GREAT! If its somewhat smaller (126") like this year...GREAT! Its still my trophy and I personally don't give a rats behind that I killed it on the 7th of November when the rut is sneaking up on us, or on the 27th of January...4 days before the end of season.
I was cutting up some meat last night and a friend came over to keep me company. This guy has never hunted a day in his life, but always wants to talk about my hunting experiences and I'm always glad totalk to him about them. He asked question after question and at one point said to me "if you're tired of talking about this just tell me". My response was "Gary, I could talk about hunting all day every day so you'll never wear me down". His excitement for me was all part of the experience which made my last two bucks trophys.
By the way...I get awful excited about killing a nanny too and I think when that stops, it'll be time to reconsider why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Off thesoap box now....good day.

Im with you Navy... A trophy hunter is a varied thing. IEmy dads buddy shot a 120 inch deer a few weeks back at my dads farm, this deer might not do it for me, but this was this guys biggest buck and he was absolutly thrilled!!! We were all so happy, i felt so good cause im the one who went out and scouted that section of the property set up the stand and left it for him to come out, 15mins in to the hunthe shot his best buck to date. I got out of my stand early to help him cause i was pumped for him, its his trophy!!! Sure i might wait for a bigger deer but i have also shot my fair share of 120s before. the only time i get mad when people shoot small deer is when they shoot a buck for the sack of doing it, they dont think its a good deer and there not proud of its rack they just wanted to say they shot a buck. So if im this cliche trophy hunter some of you dont like, well so bit i guess thats who i am, and im dam proud of it.

Your words, Trevor....and inflammatory at BEST. Stating that a beautiful sober woman is more of a challenge to pick up at a wedding than a beautiful drunk woman isn't diminishing anyone's "macking" abilities. It's stating a proven fact.

Another divisive and inflammatory jab.

If people who hunt where a large number of trophy animals roam feel that there accomplishments are diminished when someone points this out as fact.....then that's their issue. I see this discussion as NOT being divisive. It's something that holds true no matter your location "IF" you have the grounds to hunt them in all their habitat (bedding, feeding, travel routes - to and from). It's simply an interesting topic, to me (and a few others).

Will it stop me from hunting the rut? Heck no! Will I feel like my accomplishments of killing bucks during the rut have been diminished? Heck no! Would I feel a greater sense of sccomplishment if I'd taken these bucks on their normal feeding patters.....outside the rut? Heck yeah!

I don't and haven't been able to) see the rub.

I am going to throw a wrench into this arguement.

Many acomplished trophy hunters feel that the rut is NOT a good time to tagthe particular buck they are going after.

Guys like Adam Hayes (killed 3 200+ inchers in Oct) and Bill Winke (Peterson's Bowhunting) for example, feel that before the rut isthe time to pattern and kill the buck they are after. Once the rut starts these buckswill become unpredictable.

Why? Why not use the "best time of the year" as a discovery tool-you can film and get to know what's out there without killing. Save the killing for when your buck has his full merit andis on guard. Are you not "settling"?

In Colorado, The two best times to hunt elk are: 1) the first week of the season. The elk have not been pursued and tend to be as dumb as a rock during this period, and 2) the last week of the season when the bulls are in full rut. They give their positons away and arepre-occupied with rounding up cows. So then,if I were completely aware of these facts, and If I want to up the degree of difficulty, why wouldn't I want to bench myself during these periods? There is no such thing as a level playing feild (they cannot shoot back), but wouldn't thisbe a step in that direction? I may go there next year...

Point well taken...this isfar fromthe case elsewhere. Season start as early as August 15th and run through the end of January. I am only aware of one state (Nebraska, the rifle season swings in and bucks are hammered with guns) that doesn't allow bow hunting during the rut-there may be more.

I'll add another well known hunter to this list. Dan Infalt (Bloodbros.com) will say the exact same thing. In his video hunting Marsh Bucks he states hunt a buck when Its still In Its summer feeding patterns (early season). When hunting the rut he says your targeting buck could be 2 miles down the road. I think this guy knows a thing or 2 about hunting mature bucks.

No assumptions were made here, Huck. Just fact, you do go on guided hunts. Now if you want to make it more difficult.......... why not do it all yourself?

Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.