trophy animals

[ghost rob]

Just having the freedom to hunt and enjoy the outdoors is the "trophy" to me. Anytime I bring  game home is a bonus to be shared with my family. I'm so glad I was blessed to be born in the USA instead of another country where people don't have as many chances to enjoy hunting. Happy Father's day to all the dads and grandads. God Bless our military forces.

[Doug S]

Seems to me there could be lots of trophy items from a hunt. A horn, a tooth, a rock, a memory or the whole hunt. I guess I would call the animal a treasure, weather I took it or not.  
we have gotten (as a hunting group) warped into thinking bone mass = trophy size. How stupid we are.

[frassettor]

Originally posted by John Nail:
here's what it means to me:                                                       Trophy

"Hey Guys! Come look at this dinky deer! Boy, I'd have passed on that one."
I couldn't hear their conversation all that well, but I knew it went over poorly with the young fellow who was checking it in at the State Wildlife area. I could see the color in his cheeks and his clouded, narrowed eyes.

I was helping out at the check station, having filled my tag early with a fat, mature doe. I wouldn't hunt them again until the late season when the bucks are trying to breed last year's doe fawns and the woods is empty of this crowd.

As we checked his little deer, he nervously told me his  name was Joe. He was from Columbus, and he said he had hunted deer for three years.  This was his first one and he was proud of it. I had some time to kill and I could see that he wanted to tell someone about the hunt, so I asked him to fill me in.

He told of the first couple of season's frustrations and close calls and tags that went unfiled.
He went into detail about how he had scouted and built a treestand from scrap lumber in the summer after work so it would be nicely aged by deer season. How he had cut shooting lanes just like it said in the magazines. He kind of got caught up in it and began telling  me about his father.

His father had been a hunter. A bowhunter.
He had been too young to go, but he remembered the sweet venison and how his father had loved hunting them before the war. "Dad would take a bite of his deer steak and say, That's God's own candy!" he said with a smile.

His father hadn't come home.

"Missing in action, presumed dead" was what the letter had said. His mother remarried after a time, but stepdads don't always make time for someone elses' kid.
He taught himself to hunt by reading everything he could get his hands on and spending his spare time in the woods.
He had to work his muscles into his dad's old Bear recurve, and make his own practice arrows with money earned working weekends and after school. He said he'd had an awful time learning to release, but had practiced daily, rain or shine, until he felt comfortable with his shooting. The other guys were busy with girls and their places in the pecking order, so he was on his own.

He said that as the deer turned broadside and he drew the bow, he could  feel his father there with him and I suddenly felt the need to wipe something damp out of my eye and  I   thought of my first deer--shot with a model '97 Winchester--so long ago I can't remember the exact year, and of the fox squirrel that was my first bow kill and the 42 lb. Kodiak special my father had given me.

We passed a few more pleasant moments in conversation before he left.
I was impressed with this young man.
He could have been out raising hell or on drugs but, despite the odds, he had taught himself to hunt- the hard way- out of love and respect for his missing father.

His "Dinky deer" was a trophy !
Not so much for itself, but for how the purity of it's spirit had mingled with that of a young boy's.
How it had helped him through some rough times.
How it had helped forge a man from a boy whom circumstance forced to grow up much too soon, and how it showed me that his big heart was indeed,
"God's own candy!"
John Nail

Thank you for the great story!

[Boone the Hunter]

I love what Dave Bulla said, I'm o so proud of every deer and animal I harvest, but my pursuit every fall is for big mature smart ol' bucks
the doe's and smaller bucks i shoot along the way get me very excited and i'm so proud of them, but trophy class animals are what they are, last year as an example I had about 5-6 close encounters with big mature bucks and was able to connect on one of them, were as i had probably at least a 100 or more close encounters with small bucks and doe's. that being said I would say having hunted in the past with a compound I might have shot them all with more advanced equipment but i'd be more proud of my one good buck with trad gear, than all 6 with a gun or compound. So in closing i think the word ''trophy'' has different meanings, it's used to describe a class of large mature animals, as well as an animal that your just very proud of, i think my biggest ''trophy'' is a small 2x2 mule deer i shot after an incredible stalk on public land, but i have taken several ''trophy'' class animals. Really in the end it's all about the hunt to me.

[RickE]

I consider myself a trophy hunter and the best explanation I have of that comes from Steve Fausel in Masters of the Barebow V2.  "To me trophy hunting is using the bow to create the ultimate experience."  That statement just says it all for me.  The size of the animal's antlers or skull isn't nearly as important (and most times not even relevant at all) as all the circumstances surrounding the hunt including maybe stalking it and getting close, remaining unaware, making a good shot and a short recovery.  Good hunting, Rick.

[Dave Bulla]

Boone the hunter said:

"I think the word ''trophy'' has different meanings, it's used to describe a class of large mature animals, as well as an animal that your just very proud of."

That about sums it up!.

In my first post, I was trying to advance the point that a trophy ANIMAL by definition needs to be among the best there is of mature animals of the given species.  I stand by that.

But a trophy "generally speaking" can be the attainment of whatever it is you seek when YOU hunt.  If that is memories of times with friends, scenes of peaceful times in the woods, seeing your child take their first animal or whatever, THAT is a trophy too and likely more valuable than a trophy animal in many cases.

[tim roberts]

Ahhhh, they are all trophies.  One can define a big animal as a trophy, but when it really comes down to it, the journey, the sights, the smells, the sounds, all of the things that make up the hunt add to the value of the trophy, be it a huge bull, or a lop eared doe!

[PAPA BEAR]

far to many hunting shows stress that you have to shoot the biggest,own the best gun/bow,score in the book or go home. bunch of hogwash.this my little forest pixies is what is called being human.a trophy to me is waking up each day and realizing i made it to today. take care......  

[PAPA BEAR]

but a nice big 6x6 never hurts either  

[jonsimoneau]

During the last few years I have Tried to limit myself to taking only mature bucks.  But this is because I live in Illinois, where there is a reasonable chance of taking such an animal.  I hunt as much as I possibly can, and I really hunt hard during November.  But I enjoy it.  I love passing on smaller bucks that I could have legally taken.  Sometimes the challenge can be almost too much, but I keep going with it, because I love it so much.  HOWEVER, not everyone is fortunate enough to live in an area where mature animals exist.  If I lived and hunted in a state like NY or PA, I would be content to hunt whatever the area offers.  I don't care how good a hunter you are....you cannot shoot what is not there. This is why many fine deer hunters from poor whitetail states can come to Illinois or Iowa and enjoy great success.  They already have the years of experience and knowledge, they just did not have a place to apply it.   I think alot of people try to limit themselves to mature animals, where few if any exist and can become frustrated.  In the end its about having fun and making memories.

[Covey]

A trophy is in the eye of the beholder!! I have a 10 year old boy that loves to hunt and fish and I want him to be happy with any animal he my take! I know a fella ought to let the little one's get big but I would'nt dream of making him hold out for a big wall hanger unless it was his choice! I am just thankful for what GOD has blessed me with and I love every accpect of hunting...come what may!! Good Hunting,Jason