What is a Trophy Deer?

[deerhunter61]

I guess I was curious about what you all consider to be a trophy? Over the last 23 years of hunting I have came to the conclusion it is not simply a matter of how large the rack is but how great the hunt was that landed the deer!

One of my most memorable RACKs is a small basket 7 point that has a prominent place on my wall. Why was it a trophy? Well my Father-in-Law and I were hunting and we hiked over a mile into the woods in the mud to hunt one morning. As we went our own way he half kiddingly said unless it is a trophy don't shoot one...we do not want to have to haul it out of here. 15 minutes later I shot this deer. My Father-in-Law had just got to the area he was going to hunt. As soon as I shot he came over to see what I had got and then it started to rain on us. So we had to gut it and then carry it over a mile in the ran and mud . He was giving me crap the whole way. At times I wasn't sure if he was serious or not...heck I do not think he knew if he was being serious or not... I still never let him forget all the help he gave me that day.

I have better racks on the wall but none mean as much to me as that one but each has their story and I get a smile on my face when I think of each. Again it is not the size of the rack but the hunt that makes it a trophy to me. Perhaps it is because I do not have a giant trophy whitetail on the wall...but I believe that even if I did it would not replace the deer that I have killed while hunting with my Father-in-law as the biggest trophies I have on the wall.

 

[~z]

I gotta agree with you. I do mostly management and cull hunts, I seek old spikes and grey does. For me the trophy is in the hunt and a well placed shot.
~z

 

[charby]

I haven't shot what folks would call a trophy buck and for the most part I really haven't seeked one out in a while because most of the places I hunt are wanting the herd thinned so that means chubby does. I do spend a couple days during late muzzleloader season in Iowa trying to harvest a large buck on public land, to me that would be a trophy buck. The buck has been educated by weeks of bow hunters and shotgun hunters. I haven't had the opportunity to even raise my rifle to a large buck yet during that season.

What I consider trophy deer are the ones I shoot on days where no one seem to be seeing deer. Those days of ice storms, rain, sleet and/or cold winds, the days when the hunters give up early. The days where I have to keep breaking ice off my safety and trigger so I can make shot when it presents itself.

A trophy deer is those you end up dragging a half mile or further through rose thickets. A trophy deer is one that drops in its tracks when you pull the trigger. A trophy deer is the one you shoot in the last half hour of season. A trophy deer is one that you are eating while camping in the summer. A trophy deer is one that you make into summer sausage and share with your coworkers.

Basically a trophy deer definition is different to everyone.

 

[sam700]

I think a trophy deer is the one you work the hardest for. A 12 pointer on the wall may look cool for all of you're friends, but if you're like me it's the one you drag for miles after hunting for days on end that means the most to me.

 

[buck460XVR]

It ain't the size of the buck in the hunt, but the size of the hunt in the buck.

 

[matrem]

Two of my biggest trophies wouldn't add up to 100" with a cotton tape that had gone through the dryer.One of em would account for zero of those inches.
It IS way deeper than some "standard".

 

[skinewmexico]

I understand completely. My former boss wounded a mule deer in the early early morning, and we went back after lunch and kept tracking it. Finally found it, and put it down about 4 hours later. I had never seen a buck lay down on it's stomach in 15" tall grass, but that one did. Rack wasn't that big, but we were proud of finding it, and not leaving it on 3 legs.

 

[Griz44]

I keep all my trophies in the freezer and eat them one package at a time. Have not shot a buck (other than a spike that needed culled) since I was 16. I grew up on a ranch, and meat was the focus. Never got it out of my system. I do love the ladies, one tender mouthful at a time.

 

[Flyrodder]

It's the enjoyment you had, be it a buck or doe, that makes it a trophy. Flyrodder

 

[Zip7]

It really depends on where you hunt. I used to bowhunt on a NWR in the early season, and an 18" spread 8 point would have been a real trophy there.

About 5 miles east is a WMA that I hunted late in the year, and a trophy there would have been Pope & Young Caliber. Difference in soil type is what made the difference in antler (and body) size

 

[627PCFan]

On public land, any deer you shoot without spots

 

[koja48]

There are BIG bucks, there are deer harvested after great stalks & exceptional shots, there are memorable hunts. Trophy, in my book, isn't dictated by size or point-count . . . it's decided solely on the sum total of that particular experience. I've seen gophers shot that qualify as "trophy hunts" (and my then-young Daughter & Son were the determining factors at the time). "Excellence" is not being:
a) Better than everyone else
b) Better than anyone else
Excellence is being the best you can be/experience at the time.

 

[1911 guy]

Trophies are beautiful.

And we all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A kids first spike buck is a trophy. Heck, it's a trophy even if it's a smallish doe. The guy that spends his whole week wandering the woods and pokes a legal deer for the freezer almost as an afterthought has gotten a trophy, and it likely has little to do with the animal. Ten years ago my fiance (now my wife) held up an average sized squirrel she knocked out of his tree with a 20 guage. That was a trophy. People who like shooting big antler deer have my blessing, just don't limit yourself to one definition of "trophy".

 

[Art Eatman]

I don't guess the word "trophy" ever really entered into my hunting. I've done some culling, and I've done a fair amount of pot-hunting 'cause I was POed at grocery store prices. (Meat went up in the store, but I wasn't getting any higher prices for my feeder calves.)

During some deer-lease years, we all sorta tried to out-do each other on bucks, but we weren't real serious about it. Didn't think "trophy" so much as, "Hey, let those little old sixes and eights go on and grow up." So we mostly looked for ten or more points.

So the horns I have around the place are mostly for the memories, not as trophies to brag about.

 

[MCgunner]

What is a Trophy Deer?

Something they grow up north and on select managed, high dollar hunting ranches in South Texas. Personally, I've seen a few, but couldn't afford to shoot 'em. Most of those ranches charge by the inch or the B and C point. Figure 25 dollars a point for a 150 point B and C buck, well, that would be an average cost one. I'd rather just go buy beef at HEB.

 

[XDKingslayer]

The one that made us buy a bigger freezer...

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I have one set of "trophy" antlers..., from the first buck that I shot with a flintlock in the rain. Barely four points. Myself and my buddy have had larger deer since then..., but haven't kept the antlers....well as antlers, as they made good knife handles and awl handles, and buttons etc. I also agree, I too love the doe, each and every mouthful!

LD

 

[MCgunner]

Seven or 8 pointers, I'll buy those plaques that you mount the antlers on and do 'em myself. I had one shoulder mount done, not that impressive to a "trophy hunter", but it's the biggest buck I've ever shot, taken out in west Texas. It ain't wide, just an 8 pt basket rack, but it's got 10" G2s on it which are kind of impressive to me. Sure looked a lot better before I shot it. ROFL Think it was those G2s that freaked me out. He was quartering away about 200 yards out.

 

[Clipper]

A trophy deer to me is any one in my freezer.

 

[pbearperry]

To me a trophy deer is any deer I have harvested.I hunt mostly in Maine and I have gone several years at a time without ever seeing one while hunting.One of my friends is on 8 years without even seeing one in the woods.If he ever gets another,I am sure it will be a trophy in his mind.

 

[280shooter]

Any Deer I kill with my bow,,

 

[cpttango30]

One that puts some meat on my table.

I don't really care about size of racks and all that. I just want meat can't eat antlers.

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

A trophy deer is a lot like a trophy wife--if you're focusing only on what other people are going to think, you're making a big mistake.

 

[publiuss]

One that scores at least 160.

 

[justice4all]

I mainly hunt whitetail deer in western PA. A legal buck is three points or better per side, so basically a five point overall minimum. Any legal buck is a trophy to me. Last year I got a decent 8 point on the second day after sitting in the rain all day opening day, and an hour or so the second day. I drilled him right through the center of the chest as he turned to face me, and he was down and out immediately. He'll be on my wall soon. To me, he's a trophy, not because he'll be in the record books, but because I'll always remember the hunt, and the time spent with my brother, father, uncle, two cousins, and three good friends.