Meat or Trophy

Meat.

Brian.

As someone once said, I ain't never seen a big set of horns that didn't have a bunch of meat that accompanied them.

Very true.

Brian.

I'm the worst kind, trophy AND I mostly pay to hunt. jorge

True

That said I ain't never lived anywhere that I didn't have a pocket full of 'buck tags'. So as someone else once said; I hunt right up till it's time to shoot. No telling when/why that is but I never question it.

I like hunting far too much to shoot something. Pulling the trigger has ended most all my hunts.

Meat.

meat, if its brown its down.
some argue it doesn't "pay" because if you factor in what it costs to hunt blah blah blah.
I already have the rifles, I might as well use em. I wear my hunting clothes all winter long because they are warm. and last year I spent 30 bucks on deer tags and 40 or so on an elk tag. I'm still eating venison and elk (although running low) and I aint bought beef in years. to me it sure pays to hunt, and be successful at it. worst case, its a cheap "vacation" where I get to hike around with a rifle and enjoy God's handiwork. YMMV

I guess I'm in the middle. If it's an 8 with a 16" spread that pops out on me opening day, he's a dead man.

After that, I wait for something better. I kill a few skillet heads for meat as well.

JM

It also helps to determine the critter. Bear have always been trophy, same with a few unsuccessful (for me), and 1 successful mtn goat hunt.

Trophy....not hard to fill a meat tag where I live and the plus side they have a faint apple flavor

Both, sort of, but certainly if it gets too late in a hunt, I fall strictly on the meat side of the fence.

meat, but i will kill a trophy buck over a little spike if given the choice.

I'm not mad at any of em any more. Give me a jug of wine and a poker game, and I'll be there.

Both for me too. I go out in the early bow season and take the first nice doe that shows up. After that,it's strictly trophy. Weird thing is I've never killed a buck with a bow but have passed up several nice 10pt bucks because I know there's a better buck out there. Of course, I usually end up with nothing but that's okay,the meats already in the freezer.

Trophy. If you kill the little ones, they never get to be big ones. If you're after meat, there are far cheaper ways to get it.
Course if it's getting near the end of season, and the larder is low, things change.

First adult deer that shows up. But I'll take the 10 pt. buck before the doe that he's chasing.

yes and yes

I am fortunate, because I can have multiple tags for does and bucks and liberal seasons.

This year alone, I have 4 antlerless tags and four any deer tags.
Plus a cow elk tag.

So I can have both.

With my son having 11 tags this year, I don't expect to shoot a buck unless it truly is a trophy. I may shoot some does if he isn't filling the freezer though.

Neither. Existential aesthetic. I love the whole experience.

we just got home from a hunt that we were ready to shoot a nice doe but we waited till the last bit of shooting light and came home with a nice 4x4 meat buck. big body and very fat. and a respectable rack on him to boot. we would have been fine with the doe though...

Neither really...the experience first and always with a camera then possibly some steaks and jerky if the freezer is empty. Been so long since I have seen a true trophy I'd probably forget I had a camera!

Depends......on whether it's the beginning or end of the season......

Of course, it also depends on how many preference points I've burned, and what critters I scoped out before the season.


Casey

Here, there are some tags that just call to wait for a trophy, tags that take 10 plus years to draw. I get one of those about every 5 years for different species, I can get meat elk tags from the rez every year, leftover deer tags in the state draw, and hunt trophy the few years I draw out first choice.

90% of the animals I personally take are meat.

Kent

A very poor one every time I eat what I shoot I hate the paper after taste in my mouth

90% meat, not that huge mulies don't get me very excited. I love having a freezer full of meat that isn't full of crap that seems to be in everything now days.

The day I have to pay someone to take me hunting and hold my hand is the day I quit hunting.

So if two bucks step out of a clearing, one a 300lb, 200" Boone & Crockett monster and next to it a 100lb juicy tender spike, which one does a "meat hunter" shoot?

Tender meat unless the next world record strolls into view. I become flexible at that point.I really don't need another tough buck with a decent but not great rack.

If the dumb SOB is lame enough to wake me up......... it's dead.

armed hiker, but I have killed in self-defense

Sycamore

Meat. No matter how long you cook horns, they'll never get tender enough to chew.

Same for me.

A very bad one.

When I look for rabbit I find squirrel, when I look for Dove I find coyote.

So I just go to find anything now.

I am a killer hunter. Then I eats em, well most of em, ceptin them vermin we shoots fur fun.

Gota be that rank tastin B&C one.
That said, I have shot a spike standing next to a nice three point, (that would be six for you eastern hunters), cause I figured he would taste better.

No more room for heads in the house, so more of a meat hunter now. Also love being out with Goober, the bird brained Labrador. As to big or medium game, I am actually more of a hunter - mentor-teacher-facilitator these days. Often taking new folks to the deer hunting spots and getting them onto a critter.

Right now Im a meat hunter.

Being a father of 4 children ages 9, 15, 16, and 18 and having a wife that stays home to school and rear our kids. Hunting meat is a must.

Though if a ten point walks in front of me while meat hunting he will be eaten as well. I try to get a few nice burger and roast doe (thinking volume of meat) and let the fawn and yearlings alone.

If the end of season is coming to a close and I still haven't filled my quota I tend to go Jessie Ventura (in Predator) on any deer that graces my sights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=403aklHwL9g

Get's expensive in ammo but the burger is ready to package

Meat.

It's a big deal at my house. It's our red meat for the year. Two deer will do it, barely. Those two elk a couple years ago were a huge pile of meat that we are just now finally finishing- it was great to be able to make tons of jerky; my oldest daughter lived off that stuff for months.

Now, with that said, I did kill a toad of a blacktail this year. It was cool how MUCH meat I got- at least twice what I get from a young forkie or a doe. His neck had a ton of meat, though I'm always suspicious of neck-burger but nobody has complained in the past.... Anyway, the quantity is great but the quality of the meat remains to be seen. I pulled the straps and tenders, pretty much burgered the shoulders with a few packs of nce stew chunks too, and then worked hard getting nice roasts and steaks from the hinds.

A yoosta B

The hunt in itself ! Everything else is only bonus.

I hunt deer with a bow in a "suburban New England environment" (AKA....... back yards), so I consider everything I can kill and get away with to be a trophy.

+1

I consider myself a lousy hunter based on the success rate of my last 2 years...

I think a cougar has moved into my sweet spot close to home...

a decent buck is a good thing...and a trophy... well that is for someone else..

always happy when I get a big one...

I've had the trophies before.
Now I look for one with some meat on her bones!

And THEN I bang her!

Are we talking game here ?
Never mind.

Both, depending on the situation. Next week I'll be hunting whitetails 5-6 miles from the road in an area with big bucks if you can find 'em. The freezer's already full. I won't feel bad if I don't punch the tag.

I guess I'm an opportunistic hunter.....next weekend, I'll have a buck tag and 2 doe tags in my pocket. I'll shoot the 1st good doe that shows up, but have been known to turn down dink bucks. I usually strive for 3 deer a year. If they are all does, oh well.


maddog

Meat, always have been. I am the guy that never takes a camera hunting unless it is to document another's hunt, then I ain't hunting.

A nice buck doesn't decrease the amount of meat, but it might change the recipe.

I don't consider myself a 'trophy' hunter, but I do prefer to hunt. Whacking the first doe I see usually doesn't qualify. I like to put in my work and earn my reward.

That is me exactly.

meat hunters are failed trophy hunters.

I think Boise's answer fits me the best. If I could kill a trophy or meat during the last hour of the last day of the season, that is what I would do.

I agree to that, after many years of killing I really enjoy just being out in the hills,watching, observing and if the right situation comes along I will pull the trigger, just last week I watched some smaller bull Elk graze across a drainage, they were from 400 to 600 hundred yards on the rangefinder, but a very deep and steep canyon, A lotta work After pulling the trigger, I always have Coyote calls with me and have a blast with either mouth calls or my Foxpro.Cutting up meat doesnt have the same flair as it once did, but being out in the woods,prairie and mountains will always be special.

I am equal opportunity, I shoot them all.

always have multiple deer tags during rifle and MZ seasons so that said the is an obligation to shoot does. If a good sized doe shows up first, I'll take her then focus on antlers. I'm in no rush...

Off subject but here it is: Vegatarian= Indian word for man who can't hunt. Meat. Never shoot anything with a "trophy" attached.

Horn hunt for deer. Meat hunt for elk. It has to be a 3 point or better where I hunt.

I kike the hunting mostly and being out there forever ... BUT, I like the eating also - and am grateful for ANY descent animal taken.

Depends, for the most part I'm a meat hunter, but I will hunt trophy's for the first few days of hunting some times.

The main reason we don't have any BIG RACKED BUCKS in Louisiana is because REDNECKS SHOOT HAIR!!

Mostly trophy.

I do shoot a cow elk every now and again though for meat. We mostly ate elk for the first four years we were married. Now we get almost all the beef we want from the ranch. Elk is good but it ain't beef.

Meat. I'v tried antler alot of ways it's still tuff.

The reason we do not have BIG RACKED BUCKS in Mississippi is because REDNECKS and COONASSES SHOOT HAIR

Deer are trophy. Antelope can be if I draw the right area. Elk R meat.....1st legal elk gets it. I passed up way too many over the years looking for a bigger bull..........

I'll show you a trophy doe whitetail on Tuesday!

I'm a hungry one since i didn't shoot anything yesterday or today

Killed two does yesterday but passed a couple of pretty decent eight points.

I'd have flamed them and you know it.

I'm an old, tired and somewhat hungry hunter. Meat is second in importance to proximity and degree of inclination/declination from the truck.....

Ingwe

You bet. Still have two tags for ya.

The 8 points, not the doe...........

Baby killer.

You talkin' to me... ?

ingwe

No...but if the shoe fits.

I only have to make myself happy, which is exceedingly easy to do.

That is definately a gift.

Milk fed isn't just for veal.

I'm looking for that 80 lb pig in Dec.

I have something to aspire to...

Ingwe

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Nice touch,Scott!

these are the best eating size real babys

Thanks Bob. I find it best to keep things simple and expectations low, especially with the company I keep....

No deer, elk yet for me. Mostly hog hunting. The first couple of times I really wanted (and got) some nice, big boars with good cutters. Got one on the wall...so that is done with.

Nowadays I go after nice, plump sows. Much better eating, in general. Just love those hams and sausages!

I should have responded to the OPs question I guess instead of just poking at Sharpsman....I am a meat hunter, but aspire to only eat doe meat or alternatively buck meat that was aged on the hoof. Any 5 plus year old buck is a throphy in my mind regardless of antler size. I get to be a little selective on the bucks I take because of our long seasons and abundance of does. That said I hold no ill will toward any dink hunter so long as they abide by our liberal bag limits.

====================

Nice touch,peckerhead!

semi trophy hunter on one piece of property. Brown its down on another piece of property. Out of state trips, I am coming home with punched tags and coolers full of meat. Always managed to get a decent represenative of the species. We eat game meat only, so I have to perform.

Well said. My attitude is the same.

Yeah, there it is. Me too, another meat hunter. Though antlers do make a good chew toy for the dog if one only has a buck tag.




Around here, you make your choice before you buy your tag. Antlerless are draw only. (for rifle season anyway) And we only get one deer tag.

I always put in for the doe tag. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I do not and have to purchase a buck tag over the counter. The doe tag pretty much assures one that a deer carcass will be slung over the saddle before noon on opening morning.

Luckily I am in a position to do both. With management tags here I can basically shoot unlimited number of deer while in the act of managing for bigger deer. So I can go out and kill an incredible number of deer for meat and still trophy hunt.

I would guess for the majorit of the southeast that can apply to most hutners as well. They'll wind up with more opporutnity/tags to kill deer than they will have the desire to go out and kill.

Meat

I hunt because I love being in the woods, like to eat the meat, and enjoy the experience of beating nature.

Never gave a moment's thought to 'trophy' animals, and I have never passed up an opportunity to put meat in the freezer, in the hopes that the 'meat accompanying a better set of antlers' showed up.

Meat and Trophy are pretty much the same thing. Most mature animals are "trophies" for most of the hunting population. A mature animal will yield a substantial more amount of meat than an immature animal. True "Meat" hunters will obviously be out for the most amount of meat, which will come off of a mature "trophy" animal.

So, the appropriate question should be:

Mature or Immature

It's interesting that you bring that up.

My dad was a true meat hunter. He looked at body size before anyyhing else. The deer he was proudest of, was one that cost him $26.00 to process. 260 lbs. @ .10 cents a pound. Gutted and skinned, of course.

Back in the 60's they had a big buck contest in Sparks, Nevada and it was judged soley on weight. Racks didn't matter. It was all about body size. That generation was all about the meat.

Mature but that tends to be determined by antler size.


ddj

To give you a better of just how much of a meat hunter my dad was is he never kept a single set of horns from any deer he shot. He always said "you can't eat horns".

Somewhere I have an old black and white photo of the "big one" he shot. It's a worn and torn picture that he carried in his wallet for many years. Whenever he showed it to someone he always talked about how big bodied it was. He never bragged about the rack. There's five or six deer hanging on a pole and the big one dwarfs every one of them in body size. Not only that, but it had an amazing rack. It was a super tall 4x4 mulie with looooong skinny forks.

Here's one of our opening morning deer (Saturday), not too bad for SE Texas...

I've seen too many guys try to bullshit that a spike or a tiny young fork is OK, because they are a meat hunter... hahaha! Tell it like it is boyz! You couldn't find anything bigger, so you punched your tag for 40lbs of meat, when a mature animal would have given you 70lbs of meat! (Sitka Blacktail Weights)

You're forgetting about the AK whack em and stack em.

It's all about how big a pile-o-meat you can get.

Ouch! Your'e off our lease if you kill a buck less than 4.5 yoa unless it's obviously inferior. Of course, you can kill lots of does for the meat aspect, and yes, it is open range.

how do ya get a big ole plie of meat if ya keep wackin the little guys - ya end up with a little pile of meat

i do not concider myself a "trophy " hunter
I have passed on spikes/2 points the first few days of a hunt- mainly looking for something with a little more MEAT on their bones

keep shootin scrawny spikes if ya like- sure they say they are the best tastin - after you cut of all the siney mussle that aint developed yet, thats stuffs tough chewin- ya get even less MEAT

For those of us raised pretty much country... raising our own meat, eggs , milk, what produce will grow in our area. There is a balance of quality and quantity, we don't raise a steer to 4 years old before butchering, though we would reap maximum weight. Usually at 1 year and 800 lbs is the time to butcher.

As a meat hunter, I will take a 1 1/2 year old cow elk over a triangle head matron, actually hunt that way. If there is a spike deer next to a small 3 point and I have decided to put meat in the freezer, I have taken the spike. My wife is very picky about her venison, wants it tender and mild.

Anything old and tough gets ground and jerkied.

I try for a combo, this year I killed a young cow elk out of a herd and in Dec I have an opportunity for a true trophy Mulie in the areas I drew, I won't shoot a small buck.

Kent

Reminds me of the guy that takes his elk in to the butcher, he insisted it be cut up into TBones and the rest hamburger... when asked if he understood what that meant he said yes, he only liked TBone steaks... was upset when he recieved a few packages of steaks and 200 lbs of burger, wanted to know where the hundreds of steaks were, he should have got...

Kent

It depends a lot on where I am at and what I am hunting.

For example when I go out of state I am trophy hunting, no way I'm spending that kind of money to put food on the table, for god sakes the economics just don't work with that.

Now hunting in my state for elk it is a meat tag meaning I will take what I can get. However with my deer tag I always try to hunt the biggest buck I pass on a lot of smaller bucks so I think you could argue that I am trophy hunting but all it takes is for the blood to get going just right and.... presto I'm in the running for the dink-o-thon.

indoor

d-CON

aint it the truth - like the guy who wanted his whole deer in jerky - cost him a pretty penny - and when he got one box of jerky he was ticked off- it only weighed 20 lbs or so - what the hell did he expect !

i was waitin for the -

If ya don't pull the trigger ya don't get no meat !- lol

How do you score a trophy R&S club record roach? skull? wing span? length? what's the minimums to make book?

R&S... Raid and Swatter...

Kent

I've seen ya fish... gett'n sump'n would be the first surprise... worrying how big it is can wait till the shock wore off... just say'n.

Kent

No eetum neether!

That's mean.

Nor mount 'em!

I don't anymore, their little legs always get caught between my teeth... yuk!

Kent

Since I have a pile of free tags, and the hunting area is roughly 5 miels away, it's never about cost for me. Generally I'm running pretty low on meat by the time season starts so I'll pop the first legal deer I see, I pass on the yearlings and the really little guys that just lost their spots. After I put one in the freezer I get much pickier. That said, I'm strictly a meat hunter. It the flavor of the day is a big buck, he's just as welcome.

Trophy

That was charitable...

Kent

� not since discovering legs on the "raisins" in the Navy chow hall's "raisin" bread!

Meat. I shoot a doe or two each year.
If a nice buck happens along, it's just a bonus,
And of course the hogs

I am 72, hunt alone and do not use an ATV. So, find a fresh and interesting area for the hunt in order to see and learn some new territory; try to scout a bit before the open season to select a good base/camp site; arrive and set up at least a day before the hunt begins and do a bit of focused scouting; get up early and hoof it out there to a good spot before sunrise; do a lot of binoc looking with slow movement; choose carefully and decide to take the game only if it is mature and looks healthy (taking that shot is the EASIEST part of any hunt for me); if it is bigger than a turkey, die a few deaths (and foolishly swear I never will subject myself to this enervation again) while carrying it out to a road or two-track; take it home in my old truck and enjoy eating it.

If there are two bucks standing side by side, one with small antlers and one with large antlers, if you are the type of hunter who tries to drop the big buck - you ARE a trophy hunter.

All the rest, is just a question of degree - and commitment.

speakin of fish - looks like I'll have to wait till next spring to try out them new hooks.
I know it aint the new hooks but the "jerk" it takes to set,m

Meat, but like most hunters, I do appreciate a good set of antlers.

Trophy the opening weekend,meat after that.
And any targets of opportunity.

Totally depends on how full the freezer is....getting kinda low on meat and I get less picky, plenty of meat in the freezer and I'll let em walk until the right one comes along

Meat. The best trophy is a plate of the critter that I killed, dressed, and packaged.

Not to say I don't have some bones in my house, but they are mementos, not something to compare with someone else.

Ed

Im both. Usually fill my doe tag during the first week or two of rifle season and take the "fill the freezer" pressure off. After that I am pretty picky about the buck that I will take until the last week of season and anything with 4 or more points on a side is going to be in trouble. When it comes to elk, Im a meat hunter. Id love to take a "trophy" bull but an elk is an elk.

Meat-you can't eat horns, and the opportunities are way too few and far between.

Meat first, horns later

I hunt memories.
Sometimes it results in meat, sometimes it results in trophies, sometimes it resutls in pictures on a disk or in my memory. It almost always results in lower blood pressure.
Last weekend it resulted in memories (one being the first time I've ever seen a red fox and a gray fox in the same hunt. A gray fox eating half dried persimmons is pretty funny actually).

Good point. Saturday, I had a big roadrunner light about two feet from me and dig under the bark of the dead hickory I was in for an hour. That was a first for me too. Did you know they have an orange spot behind there eye?

Did you know they don't have a gizzard and that they taste like dove ?

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT!

I did not know that.