Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Head Hunter vs. Meat Hunter…

Not sure where you draw that conclusion from based off my post. I load my freezers up with bear meat before deer season starts. No desire to kill a buck unless its a very nice mature animal. Doubt ill shot a deer this year. Could shoot a young buck from my living room window with zero effort every year if i wanted, but im flush with bear meat.

Where I hunt whitetails seasons are long and deer are plentiful. I don't wear any sort of label or characterize myself other than being a deer hunter. The first part of the season I shoot mostly does but will shoot mature bucks if I see one. I target deer not mature bucks. Once I kill 3 deer then I start hunting mature bucks. A mature buck might be a wall hanger or a cull buck. I enjoy the activity and lifestyle of a hunter as well as the meat. I don't consider myself a subsistence hunter as I make my living in another manner. I spend money on hunting its not a living, not by a long shot.

I guess I’m a meat hunter that still likes heads…

Gotta disagree about the "No bad feelings" part.

Hear entirely too much "should have left it grow".

BS spoken by trophy hunters. (Or wannabe)

Too darn much TV.
Every deer video is on some private pay to hunt farm.
Some, are pen raised, many are "free range" but still "managed".

Guys think real life is like that.


So they shït on another guys trophy.
Pretty sure they have bad feeling toward "meat hunters".





The flip side is what has been done to our deer herd.
We used to be covered in deer.
PGC managed for numbers and opportunities.

Then, buck fever took hold. (Or money fever)

Kill off the does, antler restrictions....
Now it is opportunity to kill bigger bucks. And it has worked.
We see nicer bucks. For PA.

But, we used to have lots of deer. Knew I could find some by taking
a little walk. Very rarely hunted and didn't at least jump some.

People actually upset we didn't hunt with them.
It was social,
Little posted land.

Now?
Fewer deer.
Posted land.
Folks don't want anyone hunting on them.
Fewer places to hunt, even though there are almost 1/3 fewer hunters.

Driven by trophy hunting!

Last 2 bucks I killed were the 2 biggest ever.
But I used to see deer. Hunting was fun, killed a lot of deer, we pretty
much ate deer meat as our red meat.

Can legally get a bunch of tags now.
Can't, in good conscience, kill several does.
Feel guilty shooting one.

Great post Dillonbuck, I can relate!


OK, just noticed you are from Texas, insane hog hunting there. l I have watched some videos and I am jealous, unfortunately we do not have any to speak of where I am from. Sure wish we did though!

Cheers ~

One of the reasons I can’t take “meat hunters” seriously. They whine about shooting big old bucks as no good eating and then shoot skin heads that they have no idea how old they are. Pick the biggest one. She will have more meat. Good grief.

Was out yesterday. Literally could have shot 20 bucks. At least. That isn’t hunting. It’s grocery shopping. Which is fine if that’s what you want to do.

There is also nothing wrong with doing both.

I've been hunting the same big woods in PA for 36 years and, with the exception of doe hunting, the two biggest changes have been the addition of all the early seasons and posted land. I'm not sure the deer numbers are down as much as it feels like in PA. There's lots more pressure from all the early seasons and the deer are more dispersed. You don't see large groups of deer like we did when I was a kid. Deer also have lots more posted land to slip into when pressured.

Are we talking live or via Zoom?

There are plenty of middle aged and older fellows out west at least that aren’t the hunting show watching type that still think that way.

Something about mule deer really drives this mentality.

Then there are those who get pissy if you see a buck, regardless of age or size that needs culled and you don’t do it. 3x4s and such. One guy in Montana was gut shooting any forked horn mule deer or small 3x3, 3x4, etc. he saw because he didn’t want those deer in the gene pool. He thought that any deer should be a 4x4 by 2-3 years of age and were genetically inferior if they weren’t. This was all on public. He was caught 10-12 years ago, thankfully. I remember reading about it somewhere.

That is just [bleep] no matter where you're from in my book.

Depends on price.

They should have gut shot him. Hunt/shoot what makes you happy and tell everyone else to pound sand.

Agreed, that sorta stuff is just BS.

I can pick out a 2 yr old or yearling cow pretty easily. Hard to find a spike bull area in Colorado, but I will shoot one first if permitted.Shooting the lead cow is where you really get into trouble for tough meat, or if you debone before rigid has set in and relaxed

Rates Please? Hourly and daily with overnight stays. We provide the booze and food, and do you take Canadian funds?

KB

Not sure I agree with that.
Some of the better eating and tender critters I have had were way past their prime.

Younger=more tender is a myth in my opinion and doubly so if the meat is taken care of properly.

Do I look like a cheap slut? I lied earlier.

I am a high class man whore.

No, to Canadian funds.

Absolutely. The trophy hunting craze has ruined whitetail hunting across the country. Everywhere that becomes known for trophy bucks, the posted signs go up right along with the lease fees and it goes from being a fun and relaxing sport for the masses to another rich mans dick measuring contest. We've been fighting the push for statewide antler restrictions in NY for years.

So can I. This cow, from body size, was really similar in size to a 2 year old cow. I just don't think she was ever a very big animal her entire life. Feet were small, head/face was short, etc. I packed both hind quarters, bone in at the same time...wasn't that heavy and they fit in a mystery ranch Metcalf no problem.

In my experience, not matter how many pound of onions you cover them with, or how long you smother them, antlers never get tinder.