I agree........I live in a Province ..British Columbia...that has a vast amount of land andtheDeer herd could certainly sustain a greater pop....So why shoot does and small and bucks..Let the Does breed and the small bucks grow to be breeders..
Avg size bucks are the ones that do the majority of the breeding so why shoot them??
The really big ones sit and wait for the does to come to them.....So in reallity how much breeding do the monsters really do in the aspects of things..

Meat hunter.

I can do alot of things with venison, season it all sorts of ways, make it taste real good..

But I can't do a thing with antlers.

meat hunter, i enjoy deer meat i have no problem taking a doe or a small buck. I've shot a nice size buck and i get just as much excitement out of shooting a doe or a small buck as i did shooting it. The horns only stir the soup!

There is a big difference in being one that employs sound management tactics(doe harvest, lettingyoung bucks walk, habitat enhancement, etc,)and being a "trophy hunter". I guess it depends on your definition, but when I speak of a dyed in the wool trophy hunter, I'm talking about those that take management to the extreme to create an unnatural situation(fences,deer 'supplements' designed to 'grow' bigger racks,etc.)that is targeted at 'the bigger the better' approach. There are stewards of the land and there are those that , at any costs will do anything to attempt to manipulate the growth potential of 'their' herd. Mineral supplements, 'super' feed, turning their property into 90 % foodplot then sitting in a 'condo' stand while they pick over deer in a field is more like farming the deer rather than hunting. Lok at the vast majority of magazine articles today. They used to write about how to interpret sign, scouting, understandingthe rut, etc., and now these have been replaced by food plot implementation.I hunt, actually hunt in the woods, believe it or not, for a mature buck, actually 2 here in Georgia. A mature buck is a challeng regardless of the rack size.I take does, primarily during bowseason, so as to not be shooting a doe that that buck may be chasing during the latter stages of the rut.I pass up younger deer, and I do not manipulate , like a bodybuilder on steroids, the growth of the bucks.And any deer taken should be eaten by you or someone else. It is too common to find people that take the head for their wall, and to brag, and then discard the carcass. Another issue is the future of hunting. Non hunters make up the vast majority of the population with antis and hunters being pretty close in number. I have yet to come acroos a nonhunter that is in favor of the 'trophy' hunting appraoch, as I have described it. Without fail, the first thing they ask whenI mention hunting is, "Do you eat the meat?" , and I've found very,very few that still object if this is the case.If the trend continues as it is presently with the emphasis on racksize primarily, then we will lose the battle as the nonhunter is turned off by this approach. And of course, who are you or I to look at the guy that has hunted hard for several years,finally bags a 6 point yearling, and is beaming from ear to ear to only be shot down by a 'trophy hunter' for taking an inferior buck? There's too much ego and not enough overall concern for the average hunter who is content withany deer, and for the future of hunting within the 'trophy at any cost' direction that many seem to be taking.

You hit it on the mark....
Trophy hunting is defind differently by everybody....
Do I agree with alot of things going on that are asociated with what I define as myself no...But that is not my call to make...As long as it is legal the ethical thing will work it self out..It may take time but the issues will eventually be brought up and legislated...
I don't live in an area where diseaese control is an issue...
I don't live in an a place where deer pop is such a huge problem I'm affraid to drive at night.. Or Lack of a quality size deer.
and harvesting bucks /does becomes an issue..
Or cash crops are dramatically reduced to game consumption...
All I know is where I stand.is helping game managment to the best of my abilities..If I relocated to a place where game were a significant problem my tactics and choices of which sex and species to harvest would change accordingly.
I think all a hunter wants is that.....If they moved here..They're tatics and opinions probably would change as well.....
As far as pleasing non-hunters goes ...I don't even get into it with them...I just keep my mouth shut and discuss and debate with other hunters....

Bucks are meat too! I take a doe or two then start looking for horns.

SF

Im 16 and i hunt, not just to say i do but because its a way of life i hunt for the meat, sure i believe that there is always a time when every good hunter wants a nice one, one of my best friends has so many record animals and shes only 18ive learnt alot from her so ya, id say im in it for the meat but eventually a big one will walk out and ill get meat and maybe a trophy to remember the time i had just waiting for him to walk out!

I'm neutral. I'm just a plain ole hunter. If I'm hunting and it walks by and I'm in the mood or it ticks me off or I really like it or I really hate it.... I'm shooting it. I'll worry about what to do with the horns or lack there of later. I let lots walk and a don't let some walk. It depends on my mood and their luck.

I'm 100% "head" hunter. Besides you cant hang meat on the wall.................

Cool.............