wimp

Every deer is not a trophy and every hunt is not successful.

That being said, " trophy" qualifications seem to be about as individual as people themselves. Some deer are trophies under any conditions(1sts, record book, trad. gear, etc) Other times when you can whack a doe nearly at will and you have dozens of deer under your belt, that deer really ain' t a " trophy" ... its food. I can take a trophy buck for my area, that doesn' t get a second look in kansas.....that' s fine. I feel the word " trophy" has to maintain some form of integrity otherwise its meaningless. You can' t limit it to only world class deer, but you sure can' t include every deer into tht category as well.

As long as someone is proud and happy when they take a deer, their choice of what word to describe it is merely a matter of vocabulary. The ones that bug me are guys who don' t need meat, because they can and do shoot several does, but continue to shoot a small buck, just for the fact that it is a buck. Their only reason is to just say they got one. That doesn' t sit well with me.

FFTJ

wolfen, you go tell that 6 year old that his t-ball trophy doesn' t mean anything. When you' re done with that tell a 12 year old with his first doe it isn' t a trophy and feel good about yourself doing it. Your right, to the general public they aren' t but how realistic is it to expect that everyone will play in the super bowl or shoot a 160 class deer? That is sure the way to get new hunters involved, have all of us with some experience degrade them for their lack of it.

Travis

wolfen68

Taxman and FFTJ...Well boys, it must be in the genes because when my 6 year old daughter got her trophy this year at " trophy day" she was pissed because it was plastic and generic.

WV Hunter

Well said Wimp!

Amen Rack!

My opinion is.....if it means something to YOU, and measures up to YOUR self imposed standards.... then by all means shoot it and call it a Trophy. If you wouldn' t consider it a Trophy, and be proud of it...(assuming it' s a buck) let him go so he can grow.

Charlie P

I guess you have never seen a kids face light up when they get that little league trophy.

Those last three letters say it all IMO

I' ve seen a couple guys turn into complete jerks because of trophy hunting.

My back is totally screwed up again, most likely won' t be able to hunt this year. Being able to get out in the woods and take a doe would mean as much to me as shooting any of the deer I have on my wall.

Tazman

Wolfen I don' t feel it is in the genes, I feel it is the way a child is raised. A little story to prove my point, I grew up across the street from Jim Barbe, he pitched the first perfect game ever in little league, he had more trophies than you could shake a stick at. His dad pushed him like a dog, Jim went to colledge on a baseball scholarship then played 2 years in the minor leagues, he had gone from pitcher to third baseman by this time because he had a hot bat. Well they pulled him up to the big leagues (I wish I could remember what team)! Well he played one season and quit! I run into him about 15 years ago and asked him why? You know what he told me? He told me it was all because of his dad, he said he grew to hate the game because to his dad it was all about the glory, the being the best, it was no longer fun! He told me that his dad had ruined the younger years of his life because unless he was the top dog and won the top prize he was a loser!

wolfen68

Tazzer, I agree with you that too much pressure on a kid is a bad thing but buddy I promise you, she came up with this comment all on her own. I was the coach but I made no comments about the trophies.

Rack-attack

Taz - great story!

My closest friend who I have known for over 30 yrs has the same exact story - only with hockey. But the outcome was the same

Taxman003

LOL at your last comment Wolfen!

I know for sure that one day that T-ball trophy will fall away to some other newer, more special trophy. I was simply saying that a true " trophy" is in the eyes of the beholder.

A guy that' s been fortunate enought to shoot a 160 class should never consider himself to be higher or mighter than my 130 10 point. Same way, a World Series champ should never be condescending to someone else who' s proud of his little league championship.

Kudos, by the way, to taking my comments as they were intended! [:-]

Tazman

wolfen I will be honest and tell you that all 3 of my older kids won so many trophies playing sports over the years that when they moved out the stinkers left them!!!! There were for about 5 or 6 years three big cardboard boxes stuffed with them, when I got ready to move I called them and told them to get them or they were going to the dump! They went to the dump. What killed me was how proudly they displayed them in thier rooms and the living room and then they meant nothing. I have several plaques given to me over the years for coaching and those still mean something to me, mainly memories.