NCDhunter08

I 100% agree with you forkhorn,, my son started off shooting smaller bucks,,then the last couple years he has held out for larger ones,,because HE wanted to,,last year he took a nice 8 pointer with an 18 inch spread,,he had gone u to our farms with his buddies and girlfriend,and they camped out,,and his girlfriend was in blind with him, he even gave her the 1st shot, I don't know if I could have done that at his age, but she missed and he took the gun and made a great shot on it. Good luck hunting this year everyone

Brent B

The trophy is in the eye of the beholder is what my dad always told me. No matter what the size of the deer always encourage a youngster after shooting their first deer it's a point in time they will never forget and will talk about for years. Make it a good one.

375LVR

When I hear people berate a hunter for shooting what they deam as small deer, I worry about the sport of hunting. Set the standards for yourself and celebrate that another hunter has reached his standard. Below is a Blog I posted on My Outdoor Channel. http://www.myoutdoorchannel.com/
I am sure a lot of hunters can relate to my reflection of days gone by.

"Greetings,
Some hunters in North America have already started hunting their favorite game animals and others are anxiously preparing. While I finalize hunting plans both at home and afar, I start to think back to days when things were so much more simple. The days when you shared hunting camps with family and friends, The smell of a camp fire, the sights and sounds of the camp. As the evening wore on, the stories grew taller. The "remember whens" get dusted off and the laughter ensues. You stay up late the first night, because you know that with the anticipation of dawn in the deer woods, you couldn't sleep anyway. When you do go to bed, you toss and turn waiting to hear the first person up stoking the fire and the smell of fresh brewed coffee.
With the quest for bigger and bigger bucks, it has driven many people from the "Old" camps and to pursuits far from home. Many have become lone wolves, because face it, Trophy bucks and crowds do not mix. I myself am guilty of this. This must be a sign that I have reached middle age, but I yearn for the days when I didn't know what a G2 was. When you walked into the woods in the dark and any buck was a good buck. When a camp celebrated the harvest of a deer and all participated in the drag from the woods and all members posed for the group photo.
Well enough of the reflecting, the "Antler fetish" calls. I have bags to pack and repack, check airline tickets. emails to answer, gear to check/test and retrieve the truck from the shop. In closing though, we all should take the time to encourage new and seasoned hunters alike, to enjoy the outdoors, take photos and videos of the experiences not just the harvest and if possible, find one of those people that also miss the old days and spend some time reminiscing. It does a hunters soul good !!!!!
Good luck and be safe"

onedkcharette

great read. thanks for sharing.

cal516

I absolutely agree with you on this one. And yes it should apply to novice hunters also. I just started hunting at the age of 36. I wasn't exposed to it growing up. I had a freind take me out who has about 20 years experience. We have a great laugh about the time I passes on a massive 8-point. The rack was decent but the deer was huge. I passed on it not knowing "the size limit" lol. Maybe I thought I was fishing who knows. My first deer was a button buck. I felt really bad about but my buddy used it to teach me a valuable lesson. Males have a tendency to travel alone. Does and the like travel together. Plus he gave me a class on body composition etc. These are a lot of things that experienced hunters overlook when teaching. His guidance on what to shoot was "don't shoot anything you are not willing to drag out".

huntingkidPA

it doesnt matter if you are one or not because i bet 95% of trophy hunters eat the meat anyway. isnt it better to take a big bodied mature deer with a beautiful rack and have alot of meat then shoot a small doe or buck that doesnt have either

hunting with pinecone

I also agree. Remember everyone must start somewhere. Thanks

davidwilsoon

wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no one needs to be pressed to "raise the bar" . each hunter has the right to kill what ever size deer he or she chooses to. they pay for that right.

be a trophy hunter if you wish,but don't try to force other hunters to be. you been watching to much tv

_______________________
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Father Forkhorn

The suggestion I try to make in the original post is to encourage young, beginning hunters and compliment them on their sucess. To take a deer-- even a young and foolish deer-- requires learning skills, patience, self-discipline/control. We want to recognize that and encourage it whenever we can.

One thing I did in my original post that was a little sloppy was when I discussed perhaps "raising the bar" in terms of what deer to take in the future. Let me clarify a bit. First, keep pressure out of it entirely, as many have said. Pressuring a kid into doing something is the easiest way to get them to hate doing it. We want them to love going hunting so encouragement and support are critical. Make the experience positive all the way around.

Looking at my original post, I was a bit sloppy and ambiguous when discussing perhaps raising the standards on what deer to take. Some interpreted that as pressuring young hunters, others as promoting or obstructing both meat hunting and trophy hunting. My apologies for vagueness.

Let me suggest this: every hunter at some point has to confront why they are out there and why they pursue game. This is where we adults can be crucial to a young hunter. We can help them think out all the sides of that meat vs. trophy question, help them see all those pros and cons, etc. We can help them think through to a decison that seems good and correct to them. For instance, they may decide to take a spike buck to put food on the table and help contribute to the good of their family, or they might decide that young bucks need to grow into big bucks so you don't shoot them till their grown. What we want to do is to help them know and understand exactly why they are out there and why they pull the trigger or let an arrow fly.In other words, we want to help young hunters develop behind every shot a thought process and mindset that considered the good of the people around them, the good of the species and the environment, and the responsibility and virtue that separates a true outdoor sportsmen from a selfish killer.

As adults, we know how difficult and complicated those decisions can be. We prove it's complicated every time we start arguing about meat hunting vs. trophy hunting, and we all know life is full of these kinds of questions. We can help the young hunter find viable solutions by presenting the considerations and helping them decide. If you can see in them a logic that's looking toward the good and doing what's best for something other than themselves, you've done right in your mentoring and they've done right in their thinking and actions. Encourage that in every way you can.

Dan480Man

Sure, but you take what you can take.
I know quite a few hunters who didn't want to
"spoil" their acreage taking meat until the last
week because of a certain buck, "then it would be on".
Guess what, no venison in the freezer due to whatever
reasons.


One of my favorite experiences was when I was in a "hunt club".
It was a guest day, and some people brought a guest. One was just a dumb red-cheeked goober with a big smile on his face. He was put in "the see nothin stand that we give to guests". BOOM! before the rest of us could even get situated in our stands good. I bet most thought he'd shot himself.
When we came out, he had a 10pt.

I laughed outloud, I thought it was great. I didn't even know the guy, but you gotta applaud at that kind of event, it's great. Thats like a kid catching an 8lb bass right beside of you with a snoopy rod and an earthworm. You gotta laugh and roll with it. Thats a hell of a story in itself 'cause you were the one it happened against.

Everyone else there that morning though kept saying "I can't believe HE shot that deer" with disgust. (In second person like he wasn't even there).
He had to hear that repeated over and over, until he was frankly ready to go.
As far as I know, I was the only stranger that actually shook his hand over his accomplishment.
Later several approached his "sponsor" about whether or not his guest should have to pay something towards the lease because he shot such a nice deer. Some guys I guess were pissed because they had been paying for several seasons and had seen that deer. ??
It's ok to bring somebody to hunt on the designated guest day, as long as they don't shoot something nice I guess.
Good way to make a green hunter feel good.