Mule Deer over Money

[wind gypsy]

I burned some points on a mule deer tag this year. I had a whopping 1.5 days of targeted Muley hunting prior and a lot of days holding a MT combo tag while elk hunting. I'm in the "find a decent representative buck" stage. I found that on day 1. In the future, if I have meat in the freezer like I usually do, I'll hold out for something a little more rare now that there's a "representative" rack at home. I have no qualms about eating tags if the alternative is another token youngster who's rack will get thrown in the corner of the garage.

 

[Mtndawger]

I have no issue trying to shoot big deer, I enjoy it too. I’ll be the first to say that I probably don’t fully agree with a lot of the hands that be, and how things happen, but I also understand that we can’t all fight each other, because of that we are losing.

That’s just the icing on the cake for me though(the antlers/horns). I also don’t see hunting as a sport.

Glamorization of trophy animals has put us in place where it’s not only making things increasingly more expensive, on top of becoming a cash cow to many state agencies; but it undermines the reasonable purpose of what we are doing.

Hard to justify to a non hunter that we are just out there for a big buck, and if we can’t shoot that then we won’t shoot anything. It also taints the experience to people just beginning.

Iv seen a growing attitude of disrespect for anything but a big deer.

“Glamorization of trophy animals has put us in place where it’s not only making things increasingly more expensive, on top of becoming a cash cow to many state agencies; but it undermines the reasonable purpose of what we are doing. “

Very close to my current thinking. After going through the wolf chronicles here in Colorado. Followed by the “cats aren’t trophies” chronicles and the defeat of 127 it is very clear that the hunting community has a large public relations task to ensure the viability of our sport ( for lack of a better term) into the future. I think it’s generally true that most members of this website are dyed in the wool hunters and that they want to connect and share stories and photos of their moments including the large horns or antlers. I think the focus on antler size as the only relevant metric and the illogical arguments supporting as much are ultimately damaging to our community. Me, I hunt for the experience, for the meat and hopefully to occasionally shoot what I consider to be a representative animal. Ya all should listen to the excellent podcasts about mule deer genetics etc by Mr Denning on this site.

 

[Pulleye16]

For the prices they charge, I'm filling my tag with any legal animal, as do most I hunt with. That said, the first day or two are typically trophy days but after that, its brown-its down!

 

[TaperPin]

If someone would rather shoot a doe over monster buck I’d worry about them. Seriously. I stopped hunting doe or cow only hunts long ago, so I’m biased, but there is a long long tradition of seeking out large trophy animals.

I don’t feel any sense of having to apologize for hunting based on antler size, to other hunters or the general population. Same for fish size - when the day comes other fishermen are arguing little stockers are just as worthy as trophy size whoppers I’ll worry about them as well.

What about animals that aren’t eaten at all, and we simply kill them, like varmints. Most varmints aren’t in anyone’s way, there’s no practical reason to smack prairie dogs out in the middle of public land, we aren’t protecting crops or livestock out there. I don’t feel any need to apologize for that. Same for trophy animals that aren’t eaten like grizzlies or mountain lions - there is no reason anyone should apologize for hunting the biggest baddest one they can find.

 

[bigsky2]

I'm looking for a trophy buck and fine going home empty handed. Maybe I am biased since I live in a state where I can hunt OTC mule deer every year, although I only shoot a buck about once every 4 or 5 years in my home state.

 

[TaperPin]

I think the general population needs to understand trophy hunting is a part of our hunting tradition, and we aren’t just harvesting game as if they are nothing more than a food source. Anti hunters would love for all of us to say hunting is nothing but a food source, because then it’s easy for them to justify doing away with hunting opportunities when $1.29 chicken and $1.49 pork could fill a freezer for far less than what most of us spend each year.

Also, the “don’t kill it if you aren’t going to personally eat it” crowd can kiss my ass.

 

[lif]

I don’t mind hunters that only kill trophy bucks or will eat their tag. But I do mind hunters that look down on folks for shooting smaller bucks. If we all decided as a hunting community that we would shoot nothing smaller than a 170” buck, success rates in most units would be 5%.

 

[Mojave]

Depends on about 1000 factors.

1. Quality of Tag, time, weather, conditions or whatever. If any of those are factors. I am dumping the first legal whatever.

2. Time is finite. If I am done and can come home early I am doing that. If I put in for 5 days of leave and I am done hunting and home on Monday I am going to work Tuesday. So while I love hunting, I want to be able to balance it against a million other family requirements. I will not come home early for something stupid in the middle of the time I have allotted.

3. What happens if you draw a super tag, in a super unit, and you have 9 points into to draw a tag that takes 11? But, the weather is BS massive draught. Your hunting companion has covid, gave it to you and he is your 83 year old father. This happened in 2022. It still pisses me off. I don't tell anyone about these big tags anymore I just go do it by myself. Do you shoot the first decent buck on opening morning so you can take your father home? I did. I regret allowing him o get involved, but at least I got to hunt with him again.

4. A lot of things can happen.