trophy hunters or not
 

just a question, when I started to hunt I don't every remember anyone being just a trophy hunter. Now it seems that alot of people that is all they talk about, trophy this or qdm that. What happened to the hunting being for the food part of it, or family and friends being together. Not coming down on anyone for being a trophy hunter, I have takin some nice deer in my years, but it seems no one wants to kill does anymore, and the last time I checked antlers don't taste very good. The dnr is even trying to do this buy points restrictions, I don't think that is right to have a group of people tell you because it is a 6 point that you can not shoot the deer, especially when you don't get a antlers less permit, some people depend on the food. I just think that one day it will ruin the fine sport that we have and enjoy. But I think that we need to control the population and not over harvest at the same time. what do you men and women think of this?

It's a matter of philosophy and different needs/desires of hunters. I know a lot of people who are going out for the meat first, and once they have their first deer or two go trophy only.

Others don't need a lot of meat, and want the trophy animals instead.

I'm like a lot of the hunters I know in that I want to get my doe early on so I can only worry about getting a buck after that. I only need to get one deer to give myself enough venison to eat for the year. A second deer means I'm swimming in venison which isn't a real problem when you think about it. I just really want to get my eating deer down early on.

I'm not a trophy hunter. I can't see the point of killing something to hang on the wall. If I can eat the meat, then hang the head, that's ok.

But to keep the head, and waste the meat is wrong IMO.

Matter of perception,
I don't think what people are harvesting has changed, but communication has.
In the past you basically just heard what you family/friends people around town harvested.
Now you hoP online and get reports from around the country.
And people may not bother to report the does, as its just another doe,
But when they get that buck we all hear about it.

I'm just very intrested in everyones view on this.

Any deer I get is a trophy to me. I will take any doe I can all season long. The younger, the better. The meat of a buck, any size, has that musky odor so I prefer does for putting in the freezer. The only buck I will take is one that is worth putting $500 into mounting it. What I mean by that is the rack has to be wider then the ears and have some mass to it. Here in MD, we have to take a second doe before taking a second buck for each season of firearm, ML, and bow. I think this has helped control the deer population by cutting down on just trophy hunting for anything that has horns. Ofcourse, this is just for us honest hunters. If a crooked trophy hunter wanted to, they could check in two phantom does so they could go right back out after the horns. But I say.....to each, his own.

I want the meat. I enjoy the hunt. I appreciate the beauty of a mature buck. But I hunt for the kill. A good deer is a good deer. A big wide impressive rack is fantastic but that isn't my only goal when I go out hunting. Virginia is starting to impliment antler restrictions in the western part of the state. It definitely made sense to impose bag limits when the deer herd was diminished. But now the state is doing it to produce trophy deer because that brings in money.

I heard VA has no tags, and you can take 5 per day ??
and it's the honor system ???

It really is just a matter of preference. I used to hunt WMAs and any buck you got was a good one. In the past few years I've been hunting on a friend's farm and he told me I could kill anything I want but they hold off on young bucks and so do I. The place is over run with does and this year I passed up 2 small bucks and took 2 mature does. Had I been hunting on a state owned WMA, I might have pulled the trigger on one of them.

I'm a trophy hunter. I let small bucks pass. Shooting mature does is a huge part of trophy hunting. By only shooting big bucks, you're setting yourself up for failure in the future.

VA

I typically shoot 3 or 4 every year. This year only two so far. But I love shooting does. I pass small back throughout bow season. Once gun season comes I usually will shoot the first legal buck I see. Where I gun hunt at if I don't shoot it someone else probably will. So I've only passed a few bucks during gun season. But in the early bow season Im looking for a doe or an 8 point or better.
-Jake

I am! Just last week I was hunting for my bowling trophies but my golf trophies were in he way of my tennis trophies behind my stock car trophies right next to all my daughter's gymnastics trophies on top of my son's basketball trophies....so it seems like lately all I do is trophy hunt.
Live it up! Doug

I do both, food and trophy hunting. I’m in VA. Yes, we have tags and it’s 2 / Day, Most tags are antlerless because we have too many deer! I choose to only kill larger bucks on my property and I will get the does for meat and control purposes.

I don’t buy the “If I don’t kill it someone else will” argument. That’s just silly. If that were the case, you would never, ever see a bigger buck. If I choose to pass up that young one, I know he lived that time and he has a chance. If I shoot him, he certainly does not. Yeah, someone might take it, but it won’t be me. I passed on about 6+ small bucks this year. Surely some of them made it. Also, if I shoot a buck, I typically raise the bar for myself for the season. For instance, this year I got a nice 8 with the box. For myself I set the next buck minimum to be bigger. I knew at least one was because I had seen him chasing does. I have no idea if he made it through the season yet, but I never got a shot. We will let the does walk early in bow season to keep more big bucks interested in hanging around but once gun season opens we’ll take the does for meat in a minute. This is just how I choose to do it on my land and for my freezer.

Only 3 of us hunt my land and this season we shot 6 deer, 2 each. The freezers are full and it was a great season. We saw loads of deer and use and share all the meat we get every year. You can’t eat horns and I think the does make better meat anyway. However, if you keep shooting little bucks, you will not get as many big bucks. That’s just a fact.

That said, all areas are different and are under different hunting pressure. I encourage hunters to let the smaller bucks go, but if they don’t that’s their business. (Unless we get a local law stating otherwise) I do think it is downright stupid to shoot past a bunch of does to kill a spike or a 4 pointer so you can say you shot a buck. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

Myself if a big one walks by me I'll shoot it, I hunt for the meat and not the horns. Yes they are nice but I'm not going to sit all season and wait for that 1 special deer. The people that do thats fine and dandy, but not everyone has that same thought. I don't like the AR in Missouri, I don't want the MDC telling me what I can and can't shoot. JMO

Bingo. Why is everyone so curious on this topic all the time? Who cares what the other guys wants or chooses to shoot.

when planning a management strategy,
choosing does or bucks is important,
dont think average hunter has a management strategy planned out when choosing buck/doe
state takes all matters into consideration when issuing tags,
but when it comes to filling the freezer, that rack doesnt matter.

You can still eat the meat of a trophy buck..... best of both worlds. Just sayin...

+1 here. Though, I am not aware of the antler restriction. Do tell. Do you have a link? I am totally against an antler restriction being mandated by the State. If you want to mandate an antler restriction on private property, more power to ya. The State has no business doing so as it has nothing to do with herd management.

Blur: VA issues 6 deer tags (3 either sex, 3 antlerless), but only 5 can be used west of the Blue Ridge (2 either sex, 3 antlerless). It should be noted that the regular firearms season west of the Blue Ridge is only 2 weeks. VA does not issue physical tags that you can tie onto an antler or punch into a doe's ear. What they issue instead is a card with your tags on them. If you kill a deer, you are instructed to notch out one of the tags at the time you recover the deer (before field dressing, etc). You are then required to "check" your deer via the internet or telephone within 24 hours, at which point you'll obtain a tag # that you are required to write on the tag.

In Mo the antler restrictions aren't state wide yet. They have to have 4 points on one side before they can be shot. Myself I don't like it, but some do. I don't like the MDC telling me what kind of buck I can shoot. If I buy the tag and spend my money doing so then I should be able to hunt and shoot what ever I like. People who trophy hunt like it because they have bigger bucks. I don't see where we need an AR if people hunt on their own property. Mostly people who sell hunts really like it, go figure. Just my 2 cents

I hunt for trophies, and I eat what I kill.

I also try to manage our deer herd by taking does, again I eat/make use of what I kill.

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

brick layer, I couldnt agree with you more

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.

[QUOTE=NY Bowhunter;3755370]You can still eat the meat of a trophy buck..... best of both worlds. Just sayin...[/QUOTE\]


this is what ive been looking for!!! everyone thinks there are trophy hunters that dont eat the meat and other hunters that only hunt for the meat. Being a trophy hunter you get the best of both worlds. by no means i HAVE to put meat on the table, but i enjoy hunting and hunting big bucks, when i kill buck or doe you bet im gonna have a freezer full of meat!:fighting0007:

I am both,and being a land owner,i understand the 6points limit put in place by the dnr. young bucks should not be shot.I shoot any doe or big buck that i see becaue kentucky alolows you to shoot unlimited does and one buck,with no seperate seasons for bucks and does,but i NEVER shoot small bucks

Media! You just hear about It more today I think because of the TV shows, etc. There Is nothing wrong with being a trophy hunter or practicing QDM. Actually It's a great method to get and keep a healthy herd.

Interesting post. I don't mean to step on toes, but more than likely I will. Sorry.

I too think the emphasis on hunting to bag a trophy is misplaced. A trophy, by definition, is an exceptional animal. What does exceptional mean? Well, it is a matter of mathematics -- it is going to have to be something that is above average, probably quite a bit above average. Just for the heck of it, let's say in the upper 90th percentile of racks. And so? So -- unless you hunt in the township of Lake Woebegon, where all of the women are strong, all of the men are good looking, and the big game animals are all above average -- it means that most hunters are going to fail and their hunts are a failure. I find that a little unbalanced and philosophically repugnant.

What is the value of hunting, the excitement of hunting? I don't think this is measured by inches of antler spread, antler point numbers, symmetry, etc. I feel that 95% of the good experience I have while hunting is present in both the case of bucks and does. Being out in the woods, finding my way in the dark and through the obstacles of the forest, being aware of the wind, thinking like my prey so I can anticipate where I ought to lie in wait for my prey, handling my meat with care, doing a good job of skinning, cutting up, butchering, packaging, and then cooking my meat. This matters to me more than rack dimensions.

I think the focus on trophies is a scheme to make money. I don't need to buy fancy clothes to hunt deer or elk. I can wear (and do wear) solid green military surplus wool pants and Pendleton wool red checked shirt instead of camoflage or scent-lok stuff. I don't need a laser range finder. If I wanted to get a 98% bull elk, however, wouldn't I be driven inexorably to buying whatever could possibly, imaginably give me an edge in taking the statiscally anomalous trophy? Likewise, would specialists market themselves to me as providing a better hunt -- for more $$$ naturally -- to bag Mr Big? Likewise, would I put in for limited entry units where Mr Big hangs out and pass up year after year lesser units that are associated with mere meat hunts?

Well, I think I've made my view clear. Sure, I acknowledge everyone can fairly hunt according to their own lights, pursuing their own goals. But I wanted to frankly reply to the question of "what do you think about trophy hunting." It is an aberration and a perversion of hunting. :devil: