Trophy Mounts?

[lighthorseman]

A friend and I were recently talking about "trophies". My friend feels like there's too much of a man's ego that goes into a trophy....and I agree, when more often than not, the fact that we kill a big buck or bull, was more about being in the right place at the right time than our prowess in making a good stalk. Now some do spend countless hours honing their skills either in target practice, stalking, or preseason scouting, looking for the perfect set of horns. But for most of us it's a "crap shoot", just happening to be in the right place at the right time. However, a good number of successful trophy hunters self elevate themselves over a "crap game" to the place of "supreme great white hunter".....no racial slur intended.......over something that they really "lucked out on". Don't misunderstand me, even in a crap shoot you got to throw the dice....i.e. take the shot and hit the target. 

After I moved to Northern Idaho, I hunted hard for a trophy whitetail buck.........walked all over a 1,800 acre ranch but to no avail. Then one morning, feeling a bit frustrated over my efforts, I decided rather than going out to the ranch, I stayed at home. At 11:00 a.m. I'm standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes when I doe runs in from the window...maybe ten yards away. Another grey flash revealed a 8 point buck on her tail. At first I thought, "oh that's the little eight point I've been seeing around the house"...but suddenly realized "NO!!!that bucks a lot bigger." I went to the back door, reached for my loaded Sharps propped up next to the door...slowly opened the door....saw big 8 pointer about 25 yds away, leveled the rifle against the door post, and fired.........gosh guys I could tell you I shot him at 400 yds, but this trophy was one I had ask God to give me and this buck more or less fell into my lap. Really no bragging rights, other than the goodness of God....and that's all my hunting has ever meant to me is that I enjoy the fellowship of my Creator in the midst of the creation He gave me and the occasional success that puts meat on the table and a beautiful trophy on the wall to forever remind me of His goodness.

Tell us why you "trophy hunt"...or the your personal philosophy as to why you hunt period.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Pretty sneaky Doug, but i'm staying quiet.

 

[lighthorseman]

Pete......you have a hunting philosophy and it's as valid as any....go for it!!!! :hats off:

 

[hawgslayer1]

Beautiful buck Doug. Sometimes things are just meant to be no matter how it comes about.

Ray............ :Red tup:

 

[patocazador]

I hunted a particular buck for 3 weeks. His track was huge, his rubs were on 10" diameter trees. I finally figured out where his bedroom was and climbed a tree on a high hill downwind of it. Two days later he showed up and I got him. He was a huge deer but only had 5 points total. I had him mounted and was proud of the trophy.

Sometimes it's not the size but the effort.

 

[Muley Hunter]

You climbed a tree and waited for him? That must have been 50 years ago.

 

[CoHiCntry]

Tell us why you "trophy hunt"...or the your personal philosophy as to why you hunt period.

I consider myself more of an opportunity/ meat hunter first and a trophy hunter second. I don't really care for the label "trophy hunter" though.  It conjures up all sorts of images that aren't too flattering to me.  I get excited about hunting period, wether I'm the tag holder or not and wether it's for antlered animals or not.  I routinely hunt 4-6 week long seasons every year here in Colorado and occasionally other western states if the draws work out!  I've got 5 week long seasons on the books for this fall already, hoping to add one more.  Two of the hunts I don't have a tag for, just tagging along and hopefully packing out some meat!  Trophy hunting seems to be the direction the industry is heading though, like it or not.

I've got a few heads on the wall but like you alluded too it's not necessarily because I'm a great white hunter.  A couple of them are simply because I beat the slim draw odds and drew a tag for species that are a one in a million type draw. Drawing the tag is almost the hardest part of the hunt!  Others are when you draw a quality/ trophy area that took several years worth of points to draw.  These units really stack the odds in your favor of getting an animal worthy of putting on the wall.

At the end of the day, I can't totally explain my love for the hunt and my need to put meat on the table.  I'm in love with the mountains and the wild animals that call it home.  If I could only hunt cows and does the rest of my life it wouldn't really bother me.  Until then, I'll mix antlered along with antlerless hunts, and have a great time chasing whatever animal my tag say's it's good for!

 

[Okie Hog]

Never got into trophy hunting.   With the help of others and some good luck i've gotten three really nice whitetail bucks, all decades ago.   In 1965 while stationed in southern MD i asked a USMC officer for permission to hunt on his farm.  He answered in the affirmative.   Then he said:  "Go  to the SW corner of the cornfield and stand in the woods close to the corner post.   When it gets daylight there will be a huge buck eating corn about 40 yards in front of you." 

Did exactly as instructed.  When daylight came there stood the  12 point buck.  i shot him with a single barrel 12 gauge shotgun.   Had a long drag across the frozen swamp to my truck.   Buck weighed 241 pounds field dressed.  A local sporting goods store gave away two Winchester model 94 rifles each year.  One to the hunter who killed the biggest buck and to the hunter who killed the buck with the biggest rack.  i won both guns but gave one back.   He was finally scored in 1999 at 188 points. 

i'll save the other two stories.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

My trophy is tasty, tasty meat, enjoying the breeze, and earning useful hide. 
Besides, God speaks more clearly in the woods than anywhere else.

If I got a 'trophy?' I'd be shocked. Then I'd be faced with having to decide if I 
want to pay for mounting the darn thing...

Nah. My way is better. No pressure. No worries. Just sizzle, sizzle.

Falcon, that is a great story.

 

[exMember]

You climbed a tree and waited for him? That must have been 50 years ago.

STOP THAT PETE! I almost freakin launched beer out of my nose!

 

[lighthorseman]

Great Stories! I became "unashamedly" a "trophy hunter" after I killed my first Colorado forked horn mule deer. This was outside of Wolcott and in the final daylight hours of one of the first "combined" hunting season. Killed with my Lyman Plains Rifle, I still own the two little horns from my first trophy. For newlyweds with low income the venison was a blessing. However, the meat was strong enough, that I wasn't going to kill another Muley unless it was a "big one". So though I had many opportunities to take a lesser buck, I waited...................and to this day though I have seen some monsters, the opportunity never presented itself, except and unless I was willing to risk a shot that wasn't sure, which I wasn't. But here's where this trophy hunter differs from many. If meat was truly needed, then I always put in for a deer doe, antelope doe or cow elk tag............and back in those days doe and cow tags weren't extras. After that first year, I have always hunted either with a flintlock...or later on my Sharps. Had I wanted to be a "trophy hunter" in the traditional sense, I would have bought a high powered center fire scoped rifle in the very beginning.....so though a trophy hunter, I consider myself a "method" hunter first and foremost.

The one thing I have always resisted is the "political correct" labeling of a trophy hunter being someone who hunts for horns and then takes only the head and leaves the rest to rot. In all my years I have never known a "trophy hunter" who did such a thing. However I have known of outlaws who poached antlers out of season and did in fact leave the carcass to rot........but these scoundrels are not hunters, but thieves! I refuse to let the left dictate what it means to hunt for the bigger bucks and bulls. The best game management is to "retire" the old bucks and bulls and allow the younger males to grow up and cover the females in the herd.

I think what the DOW did in Colorado by putting on point restrictions was the best game management I have seen in any state......again, take out the older stock and let the younger ones grow up. Even many hunters don't realize that often the older bulls/bucks...will put up a big fight to keep the youngsters away but will either not breed or be shooting blanks because of their age......Pete, Bob and the Colonel know something about that! :cheers:

 

[RonRC]

I have never had "trophy" in mind while hunting. It always has been for the meat, and, in one case, for a culling. Then again, I haven't hunted nearly the amount of times most of you fellows have. My work and travel schedule never permitted frequent hunting.

My experiences with trophy hunting turned me off to that activity. I can't tell you how many times I have flown with the self-possessed and self-defined "great hunter" on the way to or coming back from South Africa. It's amazing how loud and boastful some guys become after shooting a trophy sized game. Some may have worked hard for their shoot, but most that I have met or heard shot their trophy on a small, private reserve. Many were decked out in full camo, head to toe, yet shot off of lead or sand bags on the roof of a white Toyota.

I've been fortunate enough to have stayed in the farm house of several of these reserves that were owned by the families of my students in SA. The reserves are partitioned such that you are almost guaranteed to get a good animal.

When they take me hunting, we seek out the game with the best meat. The reserve owner takes some choice cuts to make biltong (jerky) and the rest goes either to the local settlement or the workers at the reserve. I've been offered the hides, but I have always turned it down. For me, walking and hunting in the "high veld" was all I wanted and was the part I enjoyed. In fact, if I walked through the high veld all day while looking for game, I wouldn't care if I did not get an animal.

Hunting in the Rockies would give me the same thrill as in the high veld of SA, or even more, regardless of the hunting success.

This, and several other ducks went to the farm workers at the site we hunted in South Africa:

Ron

 

[lighthorseman]

Ron

I too am okay if a season ends with no game taken.........but more times than not, the reason the season ended without taking anything is because I didn't see one big enough to shoot. The fellow who manages the ranch I sometimes hunt on allows the guys who have bull tags to take anything with horns.....yes even spikes which are legal here in Idaho. So that means every male out of a herd of near two hundred get's taken. If I was managing it, I wouldn't allow anything of at least 4 points or  better to be harvested. I'm certain like in Colorado, the branch antlered elk would multiply and the herd size would grow. I don't say anything because I want to be able to continue hunting there. Now here's the rub, none of these guys "need" the meat...sure they like getting elk meat to fill the freezer, but won't go hungry if they let those little guys grow up. They could put in for cow tags to fill the freezer, but hoping for a "trophy" they hunt with bull tags but end up taking spikes. Without good management practices, our little microcosm very much resembles Colorado back in the early 70's when branch antlered bulls were few and far between.  

I have heard stories about hunting preserves in South Africa......not all that different I suppose than hunting elk ranches here in the west.....not something I could afford even if I wanted, but in a way I'd rather some hunted an elk farm and get their trophies with little effort than shooting anything with testicles in the National Forest.

IMHO, taking out the old bucks and bulls and leaving the youngsters is good game management. When I was on hard times, I always put in for a cow or doe tag...better meat anyway.

 

[Muley Hunter]

I find it hard to believe anybody who has a dead head hanging on the wall is not a trophy hunter. Saying you hunt for the meat doesn't change that.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

I find it hard to believe anybody who has a dead head hanging on the wall is not a trophy hunter. Saying you hunt for the meat doesn't change that.

:lol!:   I don't have any heads mounted at my house. I do have a freezer. You should have more faith!

I am kinda glad Bob is still climbing trees. I don't think it was 50 years ago. 

I like those dogs. Looked like that was a fun day. 

I think Doug would take a Yeti if the opportunity came by. 
Is that a trophy? :rabbit:

PS. There was a time that I hunted for trophy racks... but, my hunting permits for those have long since expired. :joker:

 

[hawgslayer1]

:scratch: 
If I remember correctly, I've only taken 2 bucks that had any kind of measurable rack and a ton of does. I would be Bull Shitting if I said if the opportunity  presented itself to take a big buck that I wouldn't. Sure I would and I'm sure everyone would if given the chance but I'm happy putting that doe in the freezer every year. I've learned that you can't eat the rack anyway boys. :Red tup:

Ray...............GOOD HUNTIN' EVERYONE :!: :!: :!:

 

[Muley Hunter]

Ray....Shooting a trophy animal doesn't make you a trophy hunter unless you would only shoot that trophy animal and it's your only goal. I've shot some nice racks over the years but they were left on the ground.

Just because I hunt for the love and challenge of the hunt and for the meat. Doesn't mean I shoot only cows and does. To be honest I don't like shooting them at all and my dad taught us not to. Not because he was a trophy hunter or taught me and my brother to be one, but that mature males are more of a challenge. That makes a true trophy hunter mad, because they think i'm taking an animal they should have and i've wasted it. Did anybody have that feeling when reading what I do? That will tell you if you're a trophy hunter or not.

 

[Newtire]

I've never had anything of my own mounted.  The rack of the best buck I've killed is on a rock pile behind my parents barn.  Except for making a good shot, it was 100% dumb luck and it didn't mean enough to me to have a mount done.  I had a buck that my youngest daughter shot and a bull moose that my eldest daughter shot mounted.  I smile everytime I look at them and think back on those hunts.

 

[patocazador]

I hunted a lease for 22 years that was a trophy-hunting lease. Only bucks that were 115 B&C+ were OK to shoot. There were plenty of doe tags so no one went without meat.
After several years of seeing 8-10 8 pt. bucks/day that were not big enough, I got tired of hunting with binoculars and a calculator and started duck hunting on the lease. If I wanted meat, I shot a doe in the evening.
I killed 5 "trophy" bucks over the years and got most of them mounted. Two of them were killed with a pistol. I enjoy looking at the mounts and remembering the hunts.
Since 2002 I have hunted public land only and have done quite well but only killed two 8 points during that time. Both were targets of opportunity.

Everyone has different thoughts and enjoys different things. Trophy hunting is one of those things. If you like it, fine. If you don't, that's fine too. However, it is not our place to criticize anyone who likes it either way.

 

[lighthorseman]

I smile everytime I look at them and think back on those hunts.

 ............and my point exactly.

I knew when I posted this, passions would run high. First, I think we live in a politically correct culture that see's trophy hunting only in the light of arrogance and wastefulness. It's a stereotype that fits into the narrative on the left that says all hunting should cease. I would hope to dispel the notion that those who don't hunt for "trophies" are somehow more noble than those who do. WE men are most usually trying to out do the guy next to us......competition is inherent in our DNA.

Stating that I "period hunt" somehow also brings offense to those who don't....or that I use a flintlock and not an inline. First let me say that what ever you hunt with puts us all into the increasingly smaller and smaller category of the hunting public. That should cause us all to be on the same side.

If your state passed legislation outlawing "Trophy Hunting" how many hunters would indorse it? We are our own worst enemies sometimes.

Now back to the fun side........my wife keeps filling my freezer with stuff she has grown in the garden...so this year if I take anything afield, I'll have to buy another freezer!

As to Yetis or "Big Foot" as we know them here in the Northwest.....the average run of the mill hunter is more likely to kill one than a "me the trophy hunter" as I tend to check very carefully what I am shooting at before I pull the trigger........some goofy guy in a gorilla suit wouldn't fit on my wall or in my newly purchased 2nd freezer anyway! :lol:

Whether you hunt for mature bucks and bulls for the challenge and the meat and leave the heads on the ground, or only hunt for the meat regardless of the sex of the animal or hunt for "trophies" to grace the walls of your den or to properly decorate your rustic log cabin....it is well to remember that we owe much of today's big game populations and hunting privileges to big game conservationist and avid trophy hunter Teddy Roosevelt. I think he understood the balance as well as anyone.