Tracker II

Give me a young corn fed doe and I'm in hog heaven.

skinnnner

i think the word trophy hunter is taken in the wrong context by alot of ppl.in most places it is against the law to throw away or waste the meat of a big game animal.so if you shoot a buck,you still get the meat.i dont understand how ppl just automaticly assume its just for the horns there is no meat eaten.this is not true.as for myself i am a trophy hunter,why am i a trophy hunter?well because if i shot the first thing i saw and just wanted to fill my freezer,it would be a very short season.what fun is that?dont get me wrong there has to be some kind of buck to doe ratio management done,but my either sex tag is always held for a mature buck,sucsessfull or not.i know im going to get some feed back on my next remark but oh well lol.i have to question some of the self proclaimed meat hunters out there,not all,just some of them.i have seen them in action and most times it consists of alot of lead in the air,a whole lot of buck fever executed at the first thing they see,ussualy the next thing they say is,well you cant eat the horns anyways or else i better check my scope.but yet if they do see a large buck,then they dont think about the meat,then they are trophy hunters all of a sudden.also as for management it is good management to take out the older mature bucks.if you can find him and catch him....thats the part i like!

Remnard

Deer hunting is a personal preference sport, and that's what makes the sport so great, you pursue does for meat, or "trophy" antlers, or practice QDM, which is not all about trophy deer. It's about maintaining @ or below the carrying capacity of the land, and an even buck doe ratio.

Myself I like antler hunting. I feel hunting a mature buck is like hunting a completely different animal than a whitetail doe or young buck. They are smarter, respond to pressure quicker, and are overall a more challenging quarry.

I took 3 does this year off the property, just to reduce the number of deer there. Usually I would go without shooting, hoping that a mature buck would come along behind the does. I'll never know because I took the does.

I gave 2 of the 3 does away to friends that didn't have time to hunt this year.

wibowhunter3989

I am a trophy hunter, However that does not mean i don't take does, a trophy to me is an 8 pt outside the ears. As for does, i only take a doe if i feel the herd has a sufficient amount of does, or if i see a wounded deer spiker or not i will always shoot wounded deer. i think its just a matter of opinion

Backwoods7

I do both. Usually I kill the first doe I can for us then I kill one later on for friends that like deer meat but don't hunt after that i'm horn hunting. If IRS outside it's ears it's a trophy to me but if I kill it I eat it or give the meat away. Will I shoot a small buck yes I will if I haven't got any meat but given the choice I shoot a doe for meat and try to let the bucks grow. This year I shot the only deer I had a chance at. A 16.5 inch wide 7 point and he was a good buck in my book and he taiste great.

ipscshooter

I think you're starting from a false premise that folks who hunt for "trophies" or who practice QDM don't shoot does, don't eat the meat, and don't participate in the sport with family and friends.

Chuck7

Alot depends on where you hunt. If I owned my own farm..it would be different..I'd try and raise a quality deer herd.

BUT not the case for me. I can only hunt 2 highly pressured WMA where shooting does are illegal and where seeing one buck is wonderful and shooting a buck will put you on cloud 77. I was on cloud 77 this year. We can take does during archery but we have a very short archery season and weekends only.
So for me..any legal buck is a trophy.I live in central Florida.

NOW....our bass fishing is different..I 've let go many bass where a northerner would have mounted it..For bass...I'm a trophy hunter...looking for Mrs. 10 pounder.

IL-Cornfed

I'm curious, when did you start hunting? I know in my lifetime there have ALWAYS been trophy hunters from Fred Bear to Roger Rothar in the 60's and 70's to Myles Keller in the 80's..... hunters lookin' for quality animals (regardless of species) have ALWAYS been pretty popularized.

blazingarrow

brick layer, I couldnt agree with you more

White-tail-deer

I hunt and shoot doe for food and then I try to take a mature Buck for our area. I obviously eat the Buck as well. But if it comes down to needing a deer for food I will shoot a doe and not a young buck. I don't think there is anything wrong with a guy who is happy shooting the first buck that walks up to him or passes and waits. I just enjoy passing up younger buck and extending my hunt for a more mature animal.