Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Has B.C. score obsession ruined deer hunting?

Has the never-ending obsession for Boone and Crockett bragging scores ruined deer hunting?

Seems far too many turn their noses down on anything they don’t perceive as shootable? What happened to simply enjoying time in the woods and taking a legal deer?

Nothing. Everybody I know that hunts does so to enjoy time in the woods and to try and fill the freezer. I don't know anybody that only hunts for the BS score. That being said, the amount of attention placed on score does not bode well for the sport.

Same here, my buddies and my family hunt for the hunt. We just enjoy hunting together or apart. I'm happy if I take a buck, a doe if I've got the appropriate tag. Now and then I'm happy as all get out if I take a buck that I consider "big." But that doesn't take much honestly. It's legal? It's a good shot opportunity? Okay, I'm in.

Regards, Guy

QDM definitely changed the way a lot of hunters hunt. I've never hunted to fill the freezer and sure as hell wouldn't shoot a buck during the rut or post rut for my freezer. I don't believe in killing a buck just because he's a buck or has large antlers. To me seeing 100+ different bucks in a season and a few from the previous years is what hunting is all about. IMO
I enjoy when we start doe hunting more than buck hunting, cause I know I'm going to kill something.

Not for me.

I may never kill another deer in my life. I'm OK with that. I KNOW I'll never kill a book buck. I refuse to go on guided trips for whitetail.

I would be sad if I couldn't ever deer hunt again tho. I like time at camp, wood smoke, putting with stands, bourbon over cribbage and pasties warmed up on the woodstove.

Sluicing a deer is just frosting on a pretty big slice of cake.

I pass on decent legal bucks cause I want to hunt the whole season looking for a stud while having fun hunting. I wish I lived in Africa.

Prolly for the urban hunters.

For myself, i like to shoot deer.

All sizes.

Put a few in the freezer.

For me it’s the whole process i enjoy the most.

Planting food plots. Putting up stands. Cameras.

The fellowhip among friends.

Not for me, I don’t hunt anywhere that will produce a big time buck. I like watching it get daylight in the morning.

Deer hunting yes. For me no. I pay no attention to it.

May have 'ruined' it insofar as private access is harder, trending towards leasing / pay to play, etc...

If caring what other people think about what you shoot ruins it for you, well, thats on you.

Hunting isn’t about inches, but several states are trying to make it that way….

Not deer, but my brother and his circle of elk fanatics live for the tape measure.

They all have their 300 class elk on the wall, so now only a 330 class will do. Whatever it takes.

Warms an outfitter's heart...

I chased score for a while. However, to me it’s more about the moment being right. I’ve killed some big deer and I’m partial to big frames and mass. That is frequently incompatible with B&C scores. On my own place, even with 200 acres and 17 acres of plots, our poor soils will never produce more than 140s deer. I’m cool with that and focus on only shooting deer that are at least 41/2. To me a perfect season is harvesting the 3 does I’m allowed, and an older buck, all on the last day of the respective seasons. It’s about watching wildlife in a beautiful setting.

Chasing score has put a monetary value on hunting, which drawls greed and marketing , which drawls more money which drawls more monetary value , which ................ well I think you get the point. The long story short money ruins most hunting for the traditional sport and makes it into a nascar of the outdoors, until it gets so backwards that no one either can afford it or get disgusted by what it has become.......The thought of paying to shoot a deer out of a blind or stand is unfathomable to me.

For me hunting is about spending time with family and enjoying the outdoors. If I fill the freezer that’s just a bonus.

Yes sir and it's the wrong message. I'm in the kill what makes you happy camp.

B&C hasn’t been as hard on access as social media posting has been.

Take the deer that makes you happy. I don’t let others influence when I’m filling my tag, that’s my decision.

^^^^This^^^^

I get just as much excitement shooting a doe as a nice Buck.

Ain't up to me to criticize another man's motives to hunt, or how much he can afford to spend in pursuit of his goals....but I will remark that it has narrowed places to hunt for those of us sheltered by T 111 and aluminum siding. Ranchers that used to welcome us dirty necks now look at us suspiciously if we pause on the county road to glass 'their' elk or deer.

Look at some of the slot limits on fish that states have imposed. They'll never be a world record snook or red fish caught in Florida.