Meat vs. Antlers....
 

I've had a few discussions with other hunters regarding those who say they are strictly meat hunters......that they could care less about antlers. Now to clarify, I absolutely love wild game. I'd dare to say that at least 3/4 of the protein we eat is venison, game birds, and fish, but I also love hunting big, mature buck (or any other mature big game animal).

My argument when someone tells me that could care less about antlers is that if a young forkhorn or doe were standing next to a monster B&C buck, how many people who say they are strictly meat hunters are going to shoot the doe or forkhorn? I don't know anyone who would pass on the B&C buck..

I had a granola type friend a few years back who used to give me a bit of a hard time about the antlers on the wall.....said he only hunted for meat.......until one day I stopped by his place and he had a big Muley Buck hanging in his garage. I asked him why he shot it instead of a doe (we could should Muley does at the time)... He had a sheepish grin on his face, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know"......

I'll take the first legal animal I have a crack at. In some areas that I hunt, CO for instance, you have to decide in April if you want a buck or doe and apply accordingly. So when the season rolls around I will have a doe tag in my pocket and any buck no matter how big he is will get a pass.

If I'm hunting an area where I can take either sex then I'm pulling the trigger on the first legal animal I run across. If it is a doe, fine. If it is a buck, fine. I've never hunted specifically for antlers. To me the meat is what matters and all deer, bucks and does, have meat. So to me, it doesn't matter if it is a big buck, a little buck or a doe. If it is legal, I'm going to try and take it. If I was in the scenario where I had a doe, a small buck and a big buck and I could legally take any of them I'm taking the first one that gives me a good clean shot. But, that's me and I won't expect others to do likewise because to each his own.

Well Mr Bison, your argument doesn't hold water with me, and several others I know. If there is a big rack buck next to a bigger bodied doe, which is not all that uncommon where I hunt, I have killed doe that approached 180 lbs, I will take the doe. I do not care one whit about antlers, I have killed a lot of deer in over 50, years of hunting and you will not find one rack at my home. I gave them all away. For me the act of hunting and the comradeship of those I hunt with is what turns me on and turning what I kill into delicious meals. I can't even make soup out of antlers. I suppose it is hard for those enamored by and those who covet big antlers to understand they aren't worth spit to many of us, they grow them, they fall off and they grow them again. This obsession with big antlers will eventually kill sport hunting and hunting for the sake of the enjoyment of hunting. It has already started with the high fence operations where you pay for deer by the inch of antler, and with the so called hunting shows with the so-called experts who simply climb in a stand that has been set up for them and the areas scouted and perhaps baited and they shoot a large rack buck and pretend they were hunting. I have had many a good meal from the game I have killed, I have fed many people with the game I have killed. I have yet to feed anyone with the bone on the head of an animal I have killed. Far too many people believe the size of the antlers on a deer someone kills is the deciding factor on how good a hunter that person is. That is a false belief! I do find it amusing that those who covet bone just can't seem to grasp that not everyone does. That said, if limiting ones self to just large antlered deer is your thing, have at it, just don't call those who say they don't, liars!

It is asinine for somebody that kills a doe and eats to think they are more of a meat hunter than someone that kills a buck and eats it. It just comes off as bitter to me.

There shouldn't even be such a thing as meat VS antlers

I have passed on smaller does to shoot bigger does. I have passed on does to shoot the big fork because he had a bigger body. Certainly didn't shoot him for the forks. Typically, I am after the biggest body. With that said, I certainly don't mind if a big bodied rack walks in front of me but the heads just go in the head/rack pile downstairs while the meat, it still goes in the freezer.

I,like big racks and i will not lie! Oh,wait that song was about big butts? Sorry.

I agree but the antler hunters get mad at me because I didn't let the fork/spike/small rack "go so he could grow".

Meat over antlers. My deer jerky has gotten me more recognition than any set of antlers I acquired. The only time I got overly excited about a buck was;
1. It was the biggest buck I ever seen, biggest body and rack.
2. I already filled my buck tag for that year.

I couldn't shoot this buck and had to watch it for 30 minutes rub giant trees under my treestand. It was the one that got away deal. This puts perspective on why I hunt, it is the memories that are the real trophies.

After many years of primarily trophy style hunting, I finally came to my senses and realized that those antlers don't do a damn thing for me except cost money! They don't feed me or my family. In your scenario, if given the choice, I will smack a Doe 10 times faster than an old buck. That's not to say that a big old racked buck would be 100% safe from me as if that's my only choice I'll drop him and make up a big vat of burger and stewing meat as that's pretty much all that they are good for!

Just as a PS, last season the biggest rack buck I ever saw, wide 10 point, was standing in front of me at 40 yards or so broad side, I had the cross hairs behind the shoulder with a good rest and that was a dead deer. I told my grandson to shoot it. He shot, he missed, I didn't lose a second of sleep and after I talked to him, I doubt he did either. And Rockport ,if that is what you got from from my post, it is also asinine.