"trophy hunters" what is a trophy?

[hatracked]

Why do you fear educated debate? Not only will it bring interest to the boards here but you might learn a thing or two if you keep reading. When you get two three or however many well educated minds in the same room and start talking the opinions get deep and usually well thought out. You should be happy to see it happening because the old look at this nice one I got posts get real stale after awhile.

[freedomrules3]

I kinda like the debate myself. i know all these folks and know they can state their opinions without it leaving a bad taste in their mouth's . they respect each others opinions...no worries.

I can see points made on both sides. i can be in trophy hunter mode or just plain meat hunter, just depends on my mood. i also dont think horns have anything to do with a from the heart trophy hunt. its all in the eyes of the hunter. i mean if a new hunter shoots a good buck but not a trophy buck, but he thinks its one, give him and the deer the respect they deserve. i tend to like trophy hunters myself, they rarely shoot any other deer but the buck they are after . i like that . i look at it as this way, is it going to effect my life in any way? a trophy deer shot on saturday means i still have to get up and go to work on monday...does it really alll matter in the big picture of things?

its about time this place got a spark of life it was getting pretty dead round here

now if everyone would just vote for this site

[ncboman]

Bottom line .... y'all trophy hunters get an immediate drop down the ladder rungs in my eyes. It aint about the horn porn, its about the experiences you encounter in the outdoors. Trophies are anything that can cause something to stand out in ones memory as a great event. Furthermore it definately doesnt take an outside oipinion to qualify that as a trophy.

Sure am glad I own my own ladders. ;D

I guess we just have different ideas about the differences between a good day afield and a trophy. I agree that the board isn't level as in many areas high scoring bucks just aren't a reality and since these clubs don't have regional divisions, a certain amount of anomosity exists because of it.

The record keeping clubs will always have those that attack them; some attack the way the clubs are run, others attack the way the clubs keep records without attribute to the region a specific buck comes from. Others yet will try to attack the conservation efforts of the clubs in spite of the fact that no other clubs put so many dollars into promoting our cause. Finally we have some that attack the very definition of a trophy.

I take a different road.

Instead of attacking the record keeping clubs, I joined. Instead of harboring resentment because high scoring bucks usually don't come from the southeast, I travel to where the big ones live and hunt there as much as I can.

It's a free country and each of us has the choice of where we hunt and of course the option of defining a trophy whatever way we choose.

Trying to degrade the clubs or the hunters that make up the memberships doesn't change a 150 class buck one bit and usually such attacks say a lot more about the attacking individual than it does about the clubs. It doesn't change the contributions the clubs make to promote hunting either, even if these promotions are overlooked or flat out denied by some.

I have more on this but right now I have to get back to the job.

[hatracked]

Nah , Im going to play awhile more before I do any work.

Bowman your so high on my ladder slipping a rung doesnt hurt you in any way! I look to your words and thought right regular to check my own direction. I also dont worry much about sharing my opinion with you, weve shot at the same bag target enough for me to know its all debate meant to educate.

Please dont misunderstand my statements as accusations of a less than great efforts on these organizations parts. That is not what I am saying. Read carefully you will understand my true complaint is that for the sake of the high attraction value both of these organizations have let their blessings of conservation efforts and strength take a back seat to inch awe. I am familiar with the charters and mission statements of both of the organizations and neither was simply started to promote the biggest rack.

Comparing the quick flash, what comes to your mind when you hear the names of some organizations it is easy to see a difference. DU or NWTF who both also contrribute HUGE dollars to conservation and made impacts that are historicaly unmatched successes in conservation effort bring those thought out front..

While, the NWTF does have a scoring system and people do use it regularly, when you hear NWTF the first thing that comes to mind is turkey restoration and conservation for most folks. Thats what I believe should be the true and commonly stated purpose of all organizations representing themselves as hunters. While it is obvious and by no means was I in the dark about PY or BC's other activities my point and opinion remains the same, this isn't what these clubs are known for.

[tailnbone]

hatracked said:

Why do you fear educated debate?

Fear an educated debate? Not hardly.

Don't take my last post the wrong way. I love heated debates, it does liven up the boards and really gets the blood boiling when you don't agree with someone elses persistent views and opinions.

Its just that some people always seem to get off topic and go off on different tangents. The topic is "what is a trophy". aro listed it under the deer hunting section. He's asking trophy hunters "what is a trophy"? This subject has nothing to do with turkeys or conservation.

So what is a trophy? Asked this way, I would have to agree with campkingmd's response.

If asked "what is a trophy to you"? Then its everyones opinoin as to how they individually classify their personal trophies.

It's been planted in everyones head, since hunting was acknowledged when they were a child, that a trophy buck has a big rack. I don't know about you but when I hear the word trophy I think of a huge racked buck, a record book buck, a world class deer.

P & Y, B & C just put minimum scoring requirement to classify the buck as a trophy. That doesn't mean I have to.

If I were to kill a small racked, three eyed, five legged albino six point it might not be a trophy to some people, but it would be to me........ That would be one freaked out trophy now wouldn't it?

Come to think of it, I should have never posted a reply on this thread because I'm not a "trophy hunter", I'm just a deer hunter hoping some day to get a "recognized by all"...........Trophy.

Would you like to marinate those antlers? Maybe a side of tailbone with that?

[hatracked]

I dont see the topic going off I see it going deeper into the real problems assosciated with the term trophy and requirements to attain trophy status. Furthermore I didnt bring in the sideline topics, someone else went to how hunting was being portrayed today .

Posted by ARO in the original post :

i think that all of these hunting video's and tv show's are the down fall of the "sport" of hunting.


i just think some people are so wrapped up in the commercial hunting hoopla, and put so much pressure on themselves, that they have forgot what hunting is all about, relax - have fun - and shoot a couple deer.

Turkeys and Ducks are only mentioned as examples of other organizations founded in conservation that have maintained that as their goal not succumb to trophy fever and the old horn porn. Being that were talking about what makes a trophy I reckon it isnt so far fetched in my opinion to talk about the insides of the organizations some of the folks here are in the opinion deserves a position to qualify that statement "trophy".


The side line topic of the organizations that are calling themselves and have been accepted to be "the trophy scoring standard" should be looked at for intent and direction by any hunter . It should be espescially important to a hunter wishing to become one that has taken a "trophy". The little side creek of information and opinon there is usually where the education about the topic occurs. I wouldn't be so quick to shun it happening. This isn't by any means the first time I have rolled into what ended up being a very informational post with several of these guys. almost none of those stayed mired in the original question completely, the world aint that cut and dry.

[campkingmd]

Hatracked, you wrote

"Thank you for your post Charlie you have reminded me of me why I don't fall into that trap of being a "trophy hunter ".

I don't see it as being a trap. Maybe you realize that its just a level or goal that is unobtainable for you.

I'm sorry to have reminded you of the pitfall our sport has stooped too. Its such a horrible thing that the trophy hunter has impaled your spirit. By your rational, I guess setting a goal that may be above someone else's just shows a hunters lack of concern for conservation and heritage as well as "the real truths about the honor, responsibility, and priviledge of hunting." Give me a break

What is unrealistic about wanting to match wits with a mature ,majestic ,wise and clever buck. Allowing a young deer to live another year and enjoy watching them walk by oblivious to your presence. Maybe we should all be cookie cutter hunters so that your fear of the media would go away.

I can kill deer at will, if I chose to shoot everything that walked by me, I just don't. I love the hunt and I enjoy the harvest next to my mash potatoes as well as the next guy. I ate my bow buck tag last year and don't have a problem eating again this year. But thats my choice.

I personally never considered myself a trophy hunter but I guess I am

So before you spat a chaw of tobacco on the boot of a trophy hunter remember this:

I too can also stand on my deck reminisce, reflect, play back and remember all those spikes, 3 points and button bucks I let live and watch them embrace their surroundings undisturbed on a frosty Nov. morning, knowing I can leave them and come back to hunt them another day.

That to me is much more rewarding and sportsman like then clocking them at 100 yards with a 270, whacking off their rack and tossing it in a basket with the rest of the so called racks and go tell the boys "I got me a buck This morning a real trophy"

It may be the norm where your from to have the freezer capacity to hold 10 deer 6 turkeys and 50lb of fish probably a tub or two of Ice cream, but not where I'm from.
I put one in the freezer a year and if I happen to kill two I donate it.

We will have to agree to disagree on this one, I reckon.

In my original post I mentioned nothing about PY or BC. But these 2 clubs just so happen to set the bar years ago to classify, monitor and record a certain class of animal in individual categories.

I personally think both groups brought alot of positive to the hunting world as well as the NWT and DU. I am proud to say that I am a member of all of them as well as MSA and the MBS for that matter.

PY and BC are no different then the Football or baseball or any other Hall Of Fame. It is a special place and takes a special athlete or animal to be recognized in. But the fact remains to be a hall of famer or PY/BC it takes something or someone exceptional.


Shane I agree if you happen upon a lucky hunter you don't know just congratulate them and move on .

Charlie.

[ncboman]

Charlie,

It's not unusual around here for someone to have several hundred pounds of venison in the freezer along with a large supply of tuna and various other fish. I think people tend to use the bounty of the land more down south.

I think a lot of what Hat is addressing is the trap I fell into for a good number of years before I finally woke up and smelled the roses. It was the deer hunting mags that got me to sittin in trees lookin for giant racks to the point that I lost focus on reality and a certain respect for the animals I was killing was gone also.

Now the internet has made the fixation on antlers even more popular and I'm sure that each fall, thousands of hunters sit in stands and look for something that simply doesn't exist within a hundred miles and when they kill a buck, automaticly start coming up with 'excuses' because it ain't in the same class with the cover of NAW.

Now that's a long sentence!!! ;D

Like I said before, I wear two faces when it comes to trophy hunting. I can stand on either side of the fence. It all depends on what state I'm in.

[hatracked]

I think a lot of what Hat is addressing is the trap I fell into for a good number of years before I finally woke up and smelled the roses. It was the deer hunting mags that got me to sittin in trees lookin for giant racks to the point that I lost focus on reality and a certain respect for the animals I was killing was gone also.

Thank you, thats exactly what I am trying to say and I believe thats exactly what aro was saying when he said in the first post to this thread that video and commercial hunting were damaging our sport. Its about being a woodsman and apprieciating everything in the woods first. The rare /unusual/extraordinary sized buck is something to show all the neighbors for sure but shouldnt be the only experience we seek when we tie the boots on. At least in my opinion. I reached that place too once, it was the worst period in my hunting career. I took much less satisfaction for those five years I dedicatd myself to killing big racks only.

Charlie, before you go running down the creek to fast with me and start forming ill informed ideas about what kind of hunter I am , you might slow down. I doubt very seriously you have passed up 1 /10 of the bucks I have in my life. If you think I cant live up to a trophy hunters chore, cut me loose in your favorite honey hole and lets just see.

I dont hunt the for the inch score here in lovely SC anymore I hunt the "mature age class" or I fill my freezer much like bowman I am forced by the situation in my state to wear two faces. I dont give a hoot where you are or what a scoring book says , killing any 110-120 4.5 year old deer in this state is a superb trophy and in many many ways are due far more respect and jaw drops than a buck with 30 more inches of horn from the classic big deer areas of this country. For reasons of challenge, numbers, and genetics, I know this is true because I have experienced it personally. Getting bow close to big deer isnt near as hard in some places hence why many of us gas up the truck each Nov. and ride outta state.

Bottom line...

My heart dont go all flippity in Maryland when I see a 120, I see several of them every year in a short week of public land hunting. Show me one here and I'll show you an excited shakey hunter.