I grew up hunting in a family that shot just about every single legal buck they saw. I'd have to say we had a pile of fun killing all of those deer and I still have a pile of small antlers from back then as well as many fond memories. A lot of those guys would pass up a pile of doe to shoot a 1.5yo fork horn and be elated about the "accomplishment." After 15-20 years or so of that style hunting, it started losing interest for me, so I started shooting does for meat early & late season and hunting the core of each season for older bucks. I do think that those early years and the enjoyment we had hunting "deer" instilled a fire in me for deer hunting in general as I still get really shook up even when shooting a doe. I've been around many hunters that don't get much excitement out of deer hunting and many of those hunters are really caught up in "score." It's much more fun sharing camp with those that get utterly thrilled out of any deer period regardless of antler size.
I do feel like the TV hunting takes away from the sport in many ways, especially for what some feel like are trophies based on antler size alone. When you've hunted in many states/areas, it's pretty easy to determine that "trophy" status is more about area than what a tape measure reveals. I've hunted in some places where an older deer may only score 100-110" yet they are of the same maturity as some of the TV show 160" plus type bucks and some guys consider the smaller bucks dinks just based on score. I can also bet good money that some of those smaller deer took a heck of a lot more effort and time than some of the unpressured giants you see on the TV.
