What constitutes a trophy hunter??

[MUDRUNNER]

I'm sure some of you have seen the latest story of a wolf wandering off of Yellowstone & getting shot. Now they are calling for a buffer zone around Yellowstone, because....you know.... wild animals know where the end of the buffer zone would be & not get shot. Bunch of morons.The context of the stories & comments really tick me off. They all say "trophy hunter", which seems to be a phrase the media uses to put hunters in a certain light more than anything. Am I a trophy hunter since I like to shoot big deer? Am I a trophy hunter because I shoot coyotes & don't eat them? Is the person who shot this wolf legally really a trophy hunter, or just hunting a predator? The thing that these people don't seem to get is that a few wolves can decimate a deer or elk heard, and the population has to be controlled. I hear first hand stories of my buddies in Minnesota of the damage wolves do.

I feel better...just needed to vent lol.

[Ravin R10 man]

Just vent with a rifle;

[Ultradog]

To me, at least for deer hunting, a trophy hunter is anyone who prefers to take a buck over a doe.

You're out there to get some meat. A doe will provide meat just as well as a buck. But with a buck you get the meat And you get a trophy.

Sometimes the trophy is pretty small though ?

Edited December 4, 2018 by Ultradog

[wtnhunt]

Honestly think the idiots slapping around labels are totally ignorant.  I have no issues with someone whacking an animal they have no intentions of eating and that does not mean they are "trophy hunting".  I personally see conservation matters that require the killing of animals that are destructive to property and other animals.  There is no trophy in killing rats or mice, but you can be danged well sure that those boneheads spouting off at their mouths don't want them in their beds with them and they would pay an exterminator to rid them or use baits to "magically" make them go away.   

Far as what Jerry has to say about all buck hunters being trophy hunters, I would tend to disagree.  When you have an issue with declining numbers and want to do your part to help and you hold out for a mature old deer that is gonna yield twice the meat of a mature doe, in my mind that person is conservationist and hunter.   

Me, I am just a hunter, I do indiscriminately kill some species though.  Yotes, beaver, armadillos, possums all will get a projectile coming their way.  

[Ultradog]

William,

I was being tongue in cheek about buck hunters being trophy hunters - thus the itty bitty "trophy" I posted the photo of.

I dont care why you hunt or what you hunt for. That's your business.

This bruhaha about the wolf is just another attempt of the Antis to divide and conquer by setting us hunters at each other's throats.

[Ravin R10 man]

I shot two "Trophy Does" with my bow, then shot a gun buck some guys would prob. call a trophy to them...no big deal.."Eye of the beholder"etc. To some, shooting a Wolf would be deemed a "Trophy", most would just call it Duty.

[Rhino]

I caught and ate some trophy fish too.  Never heard anyone accused of being a trophy fisherman though.

[Ravin R10 man]

Al, I caught a "Trophy" Lake Trout on Nipagon  30+lbs

[MUDRUNNER]

21 hours ago, wtnhunt said:

Honestly think the idiots slapping around labels are totally ignorant.  I have no issues with someone whacking an animal they have no intentions of eating and that does not mean they are "trophy hunting".  I personally see conservation matters that require the killing of animals that are destructive to property and other animals.  There is no trophy in killing rats or mice, but you can be danged well sure that those boneheads spouting off at their mouths don't want them in their beds with them and they would pay an exterminator to rid them or use baits to "magically" make them go away.   

Truth right there brother! These people just don't get the point that predator control & population control are part of conservation.

[VermontHunter]

A trophy to me is NOT unlike beauty ,, it's in the eye of the beholder ... I do things for me and what makes me happy, especially when it comes to hunting.

[RangerClay]

Things I have that I consider trophies.

The 9" beard from a hen I got

A coyote pelt that hangs in my man cave because both my kids were with me.

Some wing feathers from my daughters first duck.  Plus some from my son's first duck

A 5 point rack that I never would have gotten without the help from my brother and dad.

The tail from a black squirrel.

The fan hanging in my garage because it was the first one I ever killed on my own property.

Like Luke said.  It's all in the eye of the beer holder.

[Ravin R10 man]

On 12/3/2018 at 11:07 AM, MUDRUNNER said:

"trophy hunter", which seems to be a phrase the media uses

I agree mud....funny how the Liberal LEFT Media can twist words to characterize people in a negative manor..

Just look what they try to do to TRUMP; 

Media really likes throwing this word into any so called "news story", just to give it a bad light.

con·tro·ver·sial  

[Adjam5]

Anything the media puts out there is twisted and usually untrue to promote their agenda. I know we do not need more laws, BUT...If the media had to be held to tell the truth, because of a law. Now that would be something I would be behind. But I guess journalism is just that, different takes on topics. But in my eyes. The truth has to be told somewhere in that story. To me anyone who follows the laws and regs of their state and is successful scored a trophy. Less than 35% of the hunters in NYS are sucessful. So, if you over come those odds. You did good and filled your freezer. I shoot does as well as bucks. Heck in my area 3H in NY's Sullivan county, I have to wait 3 years for a doe tag and bucks have to be 3 on one side with at least an inch on each point to be legal. I got one this year, but didn't see squat, signed it over to my neighbor. They did drives and filled the tag. I left for Texas and came home tickled pink because of the marginal critters I took there. They were all trophies to me.

Edited December 13, 2018 by Adjam5
grammer

[fly]

My 2 cents...

The term trophy hunter is commonly used by anti-hunters as a negative term. We all know they want all types of hunting destroyed but they can't get that so they target what they can. When a hunter kills a lion the anti's will always refer to the hunter as a "trophy" hunter - even if the meat is eaten and the lions mane is bald. If the term gets enough negative publicity (social media) people will develop an automatic negative reaction to the term and hunters will start justifying what they kill as "non-trophy" to avoid backlash.

I think we as hunters need to stop this and say HELL yes I'm a trophy hunter! It doesn't matter if it's a doe or a buck or has 150 inches or 10 inches. If you legally harvested a game animal that you are proud of then it's a trophy! You don't have to mount it because you'll have the memory and to me that's the real trophy.

Now that I've said that... yes I do take pictures and mount the bigger animals I hunt. Mostly because I like to decorate my house with them and have the reminder of those memories each day I walk through my house.

[elkoholic]

The real problem to the original story is that the wolf killed was anthropomorphized by people who are out of touch with the natural world.  This was further clouded by the shooting several days later of the female pup/daughter of the first wolf killed.  Even though the biologist did not give names (only numbers for each individual wolf) to help alleviate this humanizing of an animal species, visitors were still inclined, as is the press, to look at these animals as human characters.  There are many different dynamics going on in our national parks and in Yellowstone it is very pronounced as the natural world tries to balance itself every time man attempts to regulate it.  As an example, there is an interesting cascading affect caused be the reintroduction of wolves which has caused a ripple in ungulate, grizzly and fish populations.  There were good affects such as regeneration of riparian zones that were over grazed by elk.  The issue being that the elk population had gotten way too large because human depredation is outlawed in the park.  So then, the reintroduced wolves have not just controlled the elk population, they have pretty much decimated it.  It is strange how the killing of a couple of wolves is frowned upon in the press but the wolves killing thousands of elk is okay.  Cow to calf ratios have plummeted since wolf introduction and there has been a shift in elk populations to lower elevations and often to more human populated areas.  This has happened in much of the western side of Montana.  A buffer zone around the park is an absolutely ridiculous idea and a better idea would be to allow controlled hunting for both predator and prey species within the park.  Man is a predator and has been for thousands of years and as such should be allowed to participate in the "natural world" we are striving for in the park.  And, predators kill other predators.  Ah, but I regress.

To answer the original question, I believe a "trophy hunter" is one who seeks something that which will help inflate their ego or feelings of self worth.  I, personally, have never met anyone who hunts for that reason.  A "trophy animal", I'm pretty sure the critter didn't try to grow to "trophy" size or be a prized species.  A trophy is something you earn, be it a special achievement or through competition.   In truth, trophy is an overused word in the hunting community.  The "trophies" hanging on our walls are really mementos of a time, place, or event.  A memory.  I have several memories/decorations hanging on my walls and no they are not trophies to me.

[im your huckleberry]

It sounds like to me it was a rancher protecting his cattle or someone that he hired to do it. These animals aren't stupid if they don't get shot at in the park they will stay until they eat all the game animals in the park. When they come out of the park after eating all game they are after domesticated animals and they are fair game. Trophies are just as everyone mentioned in the eye of the beholder and the people who think all hunters are trophy hunters are the ones who probably think chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

[Stinger-Hunter]

A Trophy Hunter is somebody who only hunts for the trophy. And does not care about the meat and even though they may donate the meat they don't kill for any other reason than the prestige.

People who would rather shoot a buck that a doe are not Trophy Hunters that's just somebody with a preference.

They might want to shoot a buck because they already shot does and suddenly they become a Trophy Hunter? I don't think so.

Also there's more meat on a buck so wanting to shoot a buck does not necessarily make you a trophy hunter.

Some states and in some areas, like Indiana Public hunting ground you cannot shoot a doe with a shotgun you must shoot a buck. All of a sudden does that make everybody A Trophy Hunter in Indiana who hunts public land?

That's ridiculous.

A Trophy Hunter is someone who hunts for the rack, but there's nothing wrong with that as long as you use the meat as long as you donate the meat and as long as you do not waste it.

I think what a lot of people mistake is the difference between Market hunting and trophy hunting.

Market hunting is what put the Buffalo into almost Extinction trophy hunting is taking the best animal that you can, which makes it likely more difficult which means you shoot less of them.

Market hunting destroys entire species. Trophy hunting does not.



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[wtnhunt]

Some good posts in this thread.

Like I posted above, I am just a hunter, the mount or trophy when we have one that goes on the wall is a great reminder of the hunt and I enjoy seeing our mounts on our walls, and what better way to share the details of the hunt with others who visit us in our home. 

This season has had some real lows and also some highs.  I kind of encouraged my 13 year old daughter to pass on this 2.5 year old buck below that has been hanging around, knowing he could be real nice next year.   She was kind of bummed about it and I told her the gun would be ready if or when he showed and she would make the decision that I would be proud of her either way.  

I told her if she shot the 8 that we would not have him mounted since she already had her first deer on the wall.  Turned out she would not have to make that decision as she got an opportunity on a mature buck that I personally would have been proud to shoot.  And she hammered him.  This is my trophy from this hunt, a great memory and we will have a reminder on the wall in about a year that she may take with her when she has her own home.  It does not get any better in my book than seeing my kids successes.  

Story here

 

[Maine Hntr]

Nice pic William, you'll hold onto that one forever. That photo shows the maturity/size of the deer well. Congrats again.