What are you: Trophy or Meat Hunter?

I guess I'll have to answer "neither". I hunt for enjoyment. some days that means I will take a deer, other days I may let them pass. Some of my best "Trophys" had little or no antlers, while a couple of pretty decent antlers had no truly memorable experience to go with it. My trophy's are all in my mind, sitting beside my wife and later my son when they shot their first deer, a long painful stock on a doe bedded down in a treetop, and finally being able to take the shot etc. etc. Trophys don't have to mean big antlers. But then again I've never been considered "main stream".
 
I live in an area where it's hard to draw Male licenses for trophy bucks/bulls/etc. so for now...mostly a meat hunter.
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See, in my area it's the exact opposite. You can buy a buck tag over the counter, but very few units allow you to hunt does, and then usually only in controlled hunts.

Which is kind of annoying; if I could get an "either/or" tag, I would. While I'd like to bring down a trophy buck as much as the next guy, my main goal is meat.
 
I have to say I don't have much interest in a trophy elk. I would really rather have a good size rag horn. Elk meat is just fantastic.

On the other hand I don't care for deer roast or steak and have it gorund up and mixed with beef fat. Even the loins. So far I haven't been able to see that an old buck isn't about as good as a doe. And we use a lot of it not having bought any ground beef in years.
 
This is about the best answer I have ever read to this sort of question. He nailed it! I don't even know him and I like him already.



""I guess I'll have to answer "neither". I hunt for enjoyment. some days that means I will take a deer, other days I may let them pass. Some of my best "Trophys" had little or no antlers, while a couple of pretty decent antlers had no truly memorable experience to go with it. My trophy's are all in my mind, sitting beside my wife and later my son when they shot their first deer, a long painful stock on a doe bedded down in a treetop, and finally being able to take the shot etc. etc. Trophys don't have to mean big antlers. But then again I've never been considered "main stream". ""
 
Of course I like getting a nice buck but I also like meat in the freezer so I guess I'm really both, or neither. If forced to pick, I'd say I'm a meat hunter first and a trophy hunter second.
 
Back when I was a younger man, with not much money and feeding a family I was primarily a meat hunter.
However if a nice buck came along first I would take him.

Then as things changed, the kids were grown and out on their own I started concentrating on hunting big bucks.
Doing so I shot a lot of nice bucks and have several nice sets of antlers.

Now as I've aged I'm reverting back to the way I hunted as a younger man, I'm more interested in meat hunting.
I don't have the desire to sit in a tree all day waiting for that big buck to come along.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
Guess I'm either neither or both depending on how you think about it.
I'm gonna shoot my doe(s) for the freezer and hunt my chosen buck.

I've always scouted and picked the best buck I can find in the area to hunt. That's the buck I hunt as long as I spot him during scouting. Have (and currently) hunted the same buck for multiple seasons. This will be the fifth year (yes, fifth year Brian Pfleuger ;)) on the same buck. If I don't shoot that buck, my buck tag will go unfilled that year.
This means most years I don't score a buck. :o

About mid season after the weather cools down a bit, I shoot a doe or two for the freezer.

Here's the kicker...if someone told me that I had a choice that I could hunt 'Mr. big buck' and if I shot him I couldn't eat him or... I could shoot does only and eat them, I'd pick shooting the does every time.
Why? I'd rather eat venison then look at antlers.
 
I hunt for the meat and the enjoyment of the hunt.
That being said I have passed up a few little guys and waited for something bigger.
With elk I take the first legal animal I can.

Every animal I have ever taken is a trophy to me (does included), I rarely hunt alone, and the good times with friends and family while hunting can never be replaced.
 
It depends on where Im hunting. Here in South Carolina I have property to hunt that has an over abundance of deer but "trophy" bucks are rare. Its also under our states Antlerless Deer Quota Program, so we shoot alot of does (40-50) a season, and only a few bucks.
I drew a Non Res Archery tag for Iowa. The property we hunt has some real B&C trophy potential, so I'll be alot more selective there.
 
Meat, generally speaking. I shoot the first legal elk I see. No regular cow elk season here in N. Idaho this year (thank you wolves..) so I'm hoping for a spike. Of course if I see a rag or a big bull and can get a shot I'm taking it.
Our deer season is bucks only for the 1st couple of weeks and then open for does for a month. I'll hunt for a decent buck during buck season and if I don't get one I'll shoot the tastiest looking whitetail I see after does opens on Nov 1.
Last year my buddies and I all got young 3 or 4 point bucks and they were quite tender and tasty. One of my buddies got a really nice, big 5-point last year but it was pretty tough eating.
More than anything I just look forward to getting out and going hunting. Any deer or elk is a trophy to me.

George
 
We hunt for meat. Deer and hog so far, but considering an elk next year. No room for trophy heads etc, so we don't mess with them...but meat in the freezers are the prime goal.:D
 
I'm a true believer in the statement, "It ain't the size of the buck in the hunt, but the size of the hunt in the buck!". Some of my most exciting and challenging hunts produced small bucks while the biggest buck I ever shot was like shooting a fish in a barrel.

My family and I are big venison fans so we shoot meat animals if the rules and the population of deer in an area allows. We also hunt for horn, but where we are hunting and what point of the season determines the size of the horn we're after. Last year I shot a fat doe standing beside a nice 9 point because I was hunting my oldest son's land and I was hoping my youngest would get a chance at the same buck later in the season when he came home from college. Had I been hunting the large parcels of public land we hunt also, or had it been the last day, it would have been the other way around. As my grandpa used to tell me, if the biggest bass in the pond is two pounds than a pound and a halfer is a trophy. If the biggest bass is 8 pounds than that same pound and a halfer is a throwback.
 
I consider myself both, with the caveat that a "trophy" is determined more by the circumstances of the hunt than by what the animal scores. I'm not hung up on scores, I'm hung up on hunting. Good luck to all this year.
 
Trophy..but not interested in high fence..200 inch bucks.....
A trophy to me is a free range mature buck....
The meat is a bonus..besides I get doe permits.....
 
I'm primarily a Trophy hunter as they are rare on my lease. I don't cook much and does are easy. On the few occasions I've gotten lucky I give the old buck meat to Hunters For The Hungry. About once every 2 years I get on the ground and still hunt for a good doe since taking one from my stand is just too easy. I turn the does into hamburger. Makes great Hamburger Helper!
 
I get my meat from the does I kill. I only shoot old bucks, ( not always huge trophys but deer over 5 yrs. old) They've grown the rack they are going to grow by then and are starting to get too old to brred.
 
I'll take a doe any time I can. I pass up spike horn bucks and small forkies. But I'm not a trophy hunter at all; just stating my personal ethics. Good venison is the specail treat of deer hunting!

Jack
 
Meat.

But when I am hunting for hogs I will typically shoot the biggest first and then targets of opportunity after that....I guess you could call that trophy hunting (even though I don't get a taxidermist to mount any of the heads)?
 
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