Meat Hunter versus Trophy Hunter

[Mike P]

I have been saving this one. Many of the threads have been touching on the issue for the past month. Some of the herd management issues have been brought to the forefront. Here at the forum we have proponents of both sides of this issue. I for one am looking forward to seeing the posts from both sides of the fence.

Most of you know the side of the fence where I reside. I am a “make no bones about it” chest thumping trophy hunter. I apologize to no one for my position. I am fortunate to live in Ohio and this fact presents me with opportunities to pursue major whitetail bucks. Many of you are not so fortunate. Many of you have vented frustration pertaining to the “if its brown it’s down” philosophy of some hunters. Many of you have lamented the fact that where you hunt the buck doe ratio is way out of proportion. Some of you have thumped your chest as I have for the complete opposite position. You are meat hunters and damn proud of it!

I think a point of view can be skewed dependent upon where you are standing. A point of view many times has been shaped over years of influences from various sources. Maybe in your younger hunting days you were mentored by someone who had disdain for trophy hunters or meat hunters and that shaped your point of view. Many times it helps to see another’s point of view

I love meat hunters. For me, meat hunters and trophy hunters have a symbiotic relationship. They both benefit the other. Were it not for meat hunters, the out of whack buck/doe ratio would be worse then it already is. The basis of my statement is based on a premise that most meat hunters kill doe’s. I and my hunting partners invite other hunters to hunt our properties and kill does. We know the value of the meat hunter. We give hunters a chance to hunt some quality areas and feed their families by killing doe’s. We also allow some of these hunters to kill “management bucks.” Those that we select for this task are the hunters that have proved to us over the years of hunting on our properties to be honorable men. For us, it’s a win win situation. That being said lets look at some other scenarios.

How do you feel about a meat hunter who makes no distinction between a doe and a buck? To this hunter, they are both meat in the freezer to feed himself and his family. Are trophy hunters wrong when they criticize this hunter for shooting younger bucks? And what about the trophy hunter who never shoots doe’s? Are his complaints about the buck/doe ratio legitimate when he contributes to the problem? How do you feel about the trophy hunters that travel from state to state, province to province to shoot major bucks? Should that hunter criticize the meat hunter for shooting small bucks? Should the meat hunter criticize that same trophy hunter for taking out some of the best genes in the pool?

I get the feeling that most of you sit on the fence. I think you’re a hybrid. I think your deer hunters. You chase that buck of your dreams every time you enter the woods and you have a grin on your face from ear to ear after you pop a double lung shot through a fat doe. You feed your family and your dream. And like that hybrid car, you just tool down the highway and have the best of both worlds. Life is good.

But somewhere along the journey, a few of us took a different fork in the road. Some went left and some went right while the majority of you just kept going straight. Some decided that meat was more important then antlers. And some decided antlers were more important then meat. And we who took those forks are in the minority. And if the truth be known, we both pay a price for traveling these roads. Perhaps the meat hunter has lost that dream of the monster buck under his tree. And where did that ear to ear smile on my face go after lacing that fat doe? Regardless, we are who we are. We are at opposite ends of the spectrum that is our passion.

Where are you? Are you in that hybrid tooling down the road? Are you in the camp where the best part of whitetail hunting is when you chew them? Or are you in the camp where old re-runs of Saturday Night Live featuring skits with the antler dance now seem erotic. Do you figure what weekly consumption rate is required to ration your venison until the opening of the following season? Do you subscribe to RACK magazine?
Do your children have a confused look on their face anytime they taste beef?
Do you list a taxidermist on your tax return as a dependent?


The fence is right in front of you now. You can stay here with me or you can jump over it. The smart guy, however, will be the one that climbs up on it and claims that it’s the only safe place to be with all the bulls**t piling up here in this thread.

[ninepointer]

Mike P,

I think I am what you have called a hybrid. I like getting a big buck as much as anybody and I like to display my trophies. I have also passed up shots at lesser deer when I knew a big buck was nearby. But in most cases I will take the first legal deer that comes along. I want to fill my freezer for my family and I.

[Big John]

As you can see from my avatar, I am in it for the meat, any species I Hunt. It is always nice to be able to get a Trophy, but that is low on my list. Fill the freezers, keep the family happy. The way I see it is, if a big buck or other is near by, I will try for it for a couple days, if not , then what ever comes by is coming home if I have a Tag. This could be a large doe or a Spike buck, they all taste good. In my neck of the woods if you pass up on something you will probably do with-out. It gets pretty crowded in these parts, in the woods. I have nothing against Trophy hunters either, except they always seem to wan't to borrow some game meat.

[BigTiny]

I would like to have a nice wall-hanger, but if given the choice of a six point or a doe that outweighs him by 40 pounds, I'll take that doe every time.

[Grizzly Adam]

From another post on one of your threads:

I am a meat hunter.

Trophy bucks are interesting, but I don't think they're worth the powder and lead it takes to put them down for eating.

I take at least four deer every year, and sometimes six, depending on the freezer levels. I focus on killing the deer that will make the best meat.

I finally killed one big and heavy old eight pointer that lived here on my farm (I'd had him in the crosshairs many times previously), and he was the toughest, rankest deer I've ever put a fork to, in spite of rapid and quality butchering right here on site.

Trophy hunters march to a different drumbeat than my own. It saddens me that many of them think theirs is the superior tune (I trust that wouldn't be any of you) ... because hunting to put food on the table is an honorable affair, to my way of thinking.

In areas that can support the kill, my rule is:

Take what you can use; use what you take.

As for me, I hope my first day out produces a nice sleek doe ... and a button buck would do just fine, too.

Callie Rose, my #10 WagnerWare skillet, won't know the difference.

I'm just a deer hunter.

I'm not kidding about not liking big bucks for the table, either. That six year old trophy (for here) I killed two years ago was so tough his meat was almost crunchy ... he was so tough, you could have saddled up his tenderloins and rode 'em to town! I know, I know: Many "trophy hunters" claim that no one can tell the difference between their big-buck venison and the tender cuts of smaller deer, but I have yet to be convinced. The ol' taste buds just don't lie.

Trophy hunters are OK by me. More power to 'em. Whatever floats your boat! I appreciate your kind words about those of us who just don't care about trophy hunting. So many trophy hunters are insufferable, condescending holier-than-thou's ... glad you're not like that!

I do find large bucks intriguing, and am not at all against hunting only for them. I always leave myself that option. I don't pressure myself about hunting, or define myself by what kind of hunting I do. Honestly, I get more of a kick out of trying to hunt any deer with various primitive weapons than I do anything else ... having employed many obsolete weapons of the past in shooting whitetails, one of my goals is to kill some deer with a matchlock musket. That sort of thing "floats my boat." Guess I'd better get a matchlock first!

Good luck this season, trophy hunter! Kill a whopper ... and you keep that meat, hear?

[Boo]

From a management point of view some Rack Hunters are somewhat self-serving or lack information and some are just plain self-serving. I do know some rack hunters that know and practice good deer management. I am a meat hunter and the first one I can take is going to be an either sex deer. I then take more care about what I shoot later. If given a choice any real Rack Hunter will nurture his heard which rarely happens to my knowledge. The reason this rarely happens is because most Rack Hunters I have met don't know how to improve his heard and some just don't care. If given a choice I will take an older doe to take the "poor genetics" out of the pool. I know guys who will not take any animal if it isn't a book animal which is not a really bad thing but if a tag is given for a specific area it is because deer managers feel it is beneficial to do so to reduce the population for the winter range. IF it is near the end of the season and I have the opportunity to take a buck with a crappy rack down it goes. I mention this not to criticize the Rack Hunter but to possibly spark interest in the hunter in gathering knowledge. I have no issues with Rack Hunters and have the utmost regard for any ethical hunter. I am not a wild life manager but I do have a forestry education so I practice what little I can with what little I know. Please don't flame me guys, this is not disrespect, I only mean to spark interest. If a hunter takes only the "good ones" I have no disrespect for him/her. The hunter has a right to do it and it is also ethical.

[DropTine]

You can count me the same as ninepointer. If i know that there is a good buck in the area, i'll hold of on other deer till i get him or know hes been taken out, but most of the time, ill take the first deer i see. But if it's early season, ill hold off on the smaller bucks or does. A deer is a deer, im a deer hunter, not a buck hunter.

[chris4570]

Well I want to have venison in the freezer. That doesn't mean I will necessarily shoot the first deer that walks by. Then again I might, depending how many days I've already sat in a tree.

It may also depend on what kind of challenge or goals I set out for myself. This year I have the opportunity to take two bucks, initially that will be my goal. But as mid-November rolls around and I still have two tags in my back-pack I will take a doe.

"Are trophy hunters wrong when they criticize this hunter for shooting younger bucks?" Sure, because the deer are not there solely for the trophy hunter. Feel free to shoot what you want when you want, so long as it is legal.

[Boo]

"Are trophy hunters wrong when they criticize this hunter for shooting younger bucks?" Sure, because the deer are not there solely for the trophy hunter. Feel free to shoot what you want when you want, so long as it is legal.

Agreed, any deer with an arrow is a trophy!

[Rick Teal]

Many times over the years I've seen these threads asking if I'm a trophy hunter or a meat hunter - and my usual answer is "NO".

I hunt because I love to hunt, and any meat or trophy I may get is merely a bonus. The time spent in the bush, the "quest" the cameraderie of camp are all part of it, and its something my life would be far less for if it were missing.

However, I do appreciate a good trophy, and I'm an official measurer for FROW, B & C and P & Y. I have a great time at the shows just seeing and handling these outstanding trophies.

When I set out on a hunt, I'm usually looking for the best animal available, but when hunting in my camp, I have a "responsibility to the group" to take an animal that can be shared, and often take the animal of opportunity.

Also, being someone who only reluctantly takes a stand and normally prefers still hunting, tracking and stalking, a successful conclusion of a hunt that has really come together is its own reward regardless of whether the animal is a fawn or a 10 pointer.

If I lived in a jurisdiction that only permitted a single tag and didn't allow party hunting, I might tend more toward trophy hunting, but as I said, its the quality of the experience that I go for, and I'm sure that in the right circumstances I'd forgo the trophy in favour of the quality hunt.

[kev]

I'm a meat hunter. If theres a big Buck in my hunting area I'll pass on lesser Buck's for awhile. I almost always fill my anterless urban permits first, taking the buck last. I don't get hung up on the big ones anymore though.

[sumner4991]

I am a deer hunter. If it's brown, well it's down. However, I have families to feed. I donate most of the meat to the needy. The smiles on their faces when I pull up with the meat is my trophy.

What some of these guys do not understand is shooting small racks isn't always taking out the best of the gene pool. In fact, there are racks that never get bigger than a ugly broken off three pointer. I killed a 160 pound buck last year with both horns broken off. In the same part of the farm the year before I killed a buck with broken horns. Anyway, bad genes need to be killed out too. Otherwise, you could have a lot of large ugly racked bruisers.

The "trophy hunter" needs to thank the meat hunter everyday. Otherwise . . .the big trophies would be a dime a dozen.

[DuckHunt]

I will admit that I've set my sights on a bagging a trophy some day. One that I won't think twice about the $$$ required for a shoulder mount for my wall. I've got numerous 6,7 & 8 points that many including myself consider a trophy. But I have yet to get what I am content with as a true wall hanger.

That being said, after 10 hours in a stand a big fat doe broadside at 25 steps is just as welcome a sight to me as any buck.

Last year my 10yr old son bagged three deer while sitting in the stand with me. Two were with my Exomax and one with a muzzleloader. They were the first three deer he saw last season. Eventually I hope to teach him to be slightly more selective. In his eyes, each was a trophy. He may have the only European mount of a button buck you'll ever see.

My daughter on the other hand while sitting with me passed up a shot at a nice doe and got a shot at a small buck with the Exomax. It didn't work out, but she eventually bagged a big forkhorn later with a muzzleloader.

I'm a hunter. I hunt deer. Horns are just a bonus.

[BUCKSHOT]

Shooting Antlers can be easy given the opportunity!
If you are in a position to give others an opportunity to shoot Does or certain Bucks which you feel can be harvested, what does that say about your position and opportunity?
You obviously have a good idea about the Deer that make up your population and you can dictate what is to be done! To me that would indicate that you are in a good position to create opportunities for others so I would just like to ask how you create your own opportunities?
Do you hunt a lease?
Do you have a hundred sets of eyes?
Do you have some one feeding the Deer and telling you where to go and when?
I am not familiar with the area in which you live but I will tell ya', there is an area in Southern Ontario where some folks I know hunt. This is all Farm area and the guys know where certain Bucks and Does will be passing through! They set up specifically for certain Bucks because they know it will happen!
I guess what I am getting at is that to some extent it is a controlled hunt because they know what to expect!
What's the deal with you?
Personnally I enjoy Harvesting Deer. Antlers are a bonus!

[huntman]

Deer hunting license = license to hunt deer.

Basic stuff.

WELL SAID!! but on a personal note, if i have killed a deer already and have a fawn or doe or young buck around chanced are i would let and have let them walk. In the zone i hunt i can kill up to 6 deer regardless of sex with the bow. Tags are not an issue but HELL how much meat can i eat?