Trophy hunting

T

Trapp

New member
Seems to a lot of controversy about this.

Here is my take: I am a meat hunter. Why? Well, I don't have the time or the money to trohy hunt, I like to eat deer, I like to spend time in the woods, (whether or not my son is there). Heck, there are too many to list.

My thoughts on Trophy Hunting: I have no issue with it at all. I would rather it be fair chase, real hunting in the wild. Trophy hunting is better for the area herd. Why? By taking the oldest bucks it keeps the bloodlines going. If everyone shot the first one they saw (as most meat hunters do) deer would not get a chance to breed 4,5, or even 6 years in a row. Some may never breed killing off bloodlines of good healthy deer. Trophy guys may not eat the meat, but it doesn't go to waste. Many are involved with feeding the homeless, orphanages, and what not.

Canned hunting? No issue here. I look at it in a different light though. It's kinda like killing a cow in a pasture. It was raised to be killed. That would be the end result of the animal whether it was the .22 to the head or the "hunter" stalking a killing his prey:rolleyes: . Without these canned hunts we would never know the potential of the deer either. 300" racks? They would never be seen if it weren't for farming the deer.
*disclaimer: I don't consider canned hunt guys "Hunters".

Don't like Trophy hunter because "They get enjoyment from killing" "They only do it to kill"? Hate to break to you, most meat hunters like to kill, too. It's an adrenalin high the same as going on a roller coaster or skydiving.
 
I agree. Provided that the trophy hunter actually packs out the meat to eat him/herself, OR to give to the villagers/needy/homeless. If they don't, then I have a real problem with trophy hunting for its own sake. If you leave the meat to rot or for the yotes, you need a good public caning, IMO. :( Just my own morals on the subject.

Regardless, I think that the hunting shows on TV (Outdoor Channel), place way too much emphasis on the trophies and the trophy aspects of the hunt. Some will focus more on the hunt experience itself, and de-emphasize the trophy aspects - I like these much better. The other ones give unrealistic expectations to the vast majority of newb & young aspiring hunters who don't have tens of thousands of dollars per year of disposable income, and the time to be gallavanting around the world, hunting on private ranches, looking for record book ungulates and such.
 
I have only hunted on public forest land and so far nothing I have taken has come close to being trophy class. But that is allright because Im in it for the hunt and the meat. My wife doesnt like hunting trophies in the house anyways so no loss to me. I will keep on hunting the poor mans way and maby one day i'll get a trophy animal and maby not but I enjoy every bit of it either way.
 
Hunting is a private, subjective matter. There's not a lot of use looking for validation from others. As long as you hunt in a legal manner that doesn't hurt the resource, hang what others think.

Meat hunt or trophy hunt, it all ends the same way. With a dead critter. One group is not morally superior to the other based on their end use of said dead critter. If you want to kill a deer, eat every scrap, tan the hide, make needles out of the bone and bowstring out of the sinew; good for you. If you want to shoot a deer, cut three inches off the antler and donate the rest of the carcass; equally good for you.
 
I will not say I'm not a trophy hunter, because I have a nice buck that I just got back from the taxidermist and a bear being processed right now. The meat from that buck is in my freezer. The bear went to people who wanted it because it wasn't cost effective for me to ship it back to the lower 48. I never had the buck scored and the only reason I know the measurement of my bear’s skull is because it was recorded by AK F&G.

I don't worry about the trophy too much. The first thing I worry about making a good shot on a mature animal. When I happen to harvest an animal worth mounting, then so much the better. I've finally reached a point in my life where I can afford to have some trophies mounted.

I will not say I hunt strictly for meat either. I make enough money I don't need to hunt for subsistence, the meat is just a little benefit from my hunting. I hunt because I'm a hunter and it is what I like to do, spending time in nature with good friends or family is what makes it enjoyable for me. The time spent a field with my hunting partners and the memories made are the best trophies of all.
 
Meat is good but a nice rack is a definite bonus. I hunt when I can (which hasn't been in a while) and the only thing that gets mounted for me is horns. My dad has two head mounts and I have a cape of my boar mounted but otherwise it's generally meat hunting we do. Although some does are pretty impressive. My dad bagged one that had to be over 220 lbs. THing is he shot it out in this cornfield and drive the truck up to the road at the edg of the field. We had the deer dressed and all set to throw on the back. The 1999 Chevy taho at our distance was maybe four inches long by perspective. We reachjed down and made a test tug of our prize and looked back at the truck, which I am certain to this day actually shrunk into the horizon. COnsidering we were going to hve to carry/drag the thing over rough furrowed cornfield my dad just rn out, drove the truck into the field and we hauled her up on the tailgate rack. Probably lasted us about a year and a half the meat we got out of that one.
 
I have always believed that "trophy" was a relative term used loosely and more widely by those fortunate enough to have the opportunity. What may be a "walker" or passed up by a hunter on a large tract of prime habitat with minimal hunting pressure may be the deer of a lifetime to those that hunt public land exclusively. The first deer of a young first time hunter is always a trophy no matter how small in size. My experience has been that in heavily hunted areas of public land, even doe fawns are harder to get close to than 180 class bucks in a pay as you shoot enclosure....between the two, which is the real trophy? To me as I have matured in age, the real determining factor is in the quality of the hunting experience itself and not the dead animal in the back of the truck. Altho I have shot some dandy animals over the years, some of my most memorable hunts have been of animals insignificant in size, but huge in the effort or the thrill. One example is sneaking up to a small 5 point buck in a howling snowstorm years ago, only to touch him in the azz with my gun barrel. Seemed more of a challenge than sitting in a box over a feeder, maybe after paying someone else to scout the deer and lead me to them. Then being allowed to shoot one after I had agreed to pay the appropriate "trophy fee"....but then that's just me. Others are welcome to their own opinions and I respect that.
 
A game biologist once told me that any mature animal taken fair chase was a trophy. So, according to his definition, most of us are trophy hunters. Now as for the guys who keep taxidermists in business, if they have the money and time to spare, it's their affair, but I won't hunt with them.
 
I have no problem with those who like to take trophies, I like to take trophies. Mostly because they give me something hard and real to remember both the hunt and the animal I took. I don't pass up perfectly good animals in search of one just a little bit bigger though. I too believe that every animal we take is a trophy. I would not hunt with someone who wasted the meat of their trophy. Taking any life is a serious thing and it shows great disrespect for the animal to waste it. The only exception in my book on this is nuisance animals IE Coyotes, stray cats, etc because removing them serves a valid purpose.
 
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