Success to me means getting the meat????

[Greg Ragan]

#2826

OK,so I was just reading the story of a fellow local hunter who went to Texas and killed an exotic large game animal on a hunt. Not a high fence operation or anything, and t was a large “trophy” that was said to have been the first traditional harvest of this species on this particular ranch. Much to be proud of, but when asked what the meat tasted like it became apparent that the hunter did not get the meat. In fact, he said the local butchers would not process the animal….left to rot??? Now I don’t know about you, but if I was lucky enough to harvest something like that I would insist on the meat and probably eat every last bit of it even if it tasted like old sneaker…..I would have proudly consumed it instead of letting it waste. To me this “trophy” is not a trophy because of that aspect of the hunt.

Maybe I am a little old fashioned but I do not consider a hunt successful unless I can save the meat for consumption and collect the animal before it rots. The stories I hear of a guy finding a trophy animal 2 days later and mounting it proudly don’t register to me…

I would feel shame for an unsuccessful hunt every time I saw that thing on my wall….

Maybe it is just how I was raised but a rack in itself is nothing without the success of the kill and using the animal. Do you think our hungry ancestors would consider the rotting corpse of a huge whitetail as a success?? Or would they cut off the shirt tail of the hunter and ridicule him??

Maybe I am just too old fashioned???

[Steve Capps]

#14173

I’m with you.The local butcher excuse doesn’t cut it either. You kill it,you clean it. If you don’t know how to process your kill, you have no business killing it.

[DK]

#14256

I talked to a guy last year who didn’t recover his high country mule deer until two days later. He said “but at least I got my buck”. What a butthole. I have got the feeling of being looked down at because I shoot cow elk. I am in it for the meat and the experience. I have antlers and I love looking at them and will gladly shoot a bull. But if a cow gives me a 12yd broadside I take it as a sign.

DK

[David Coulter]

#14276

I agree the trophy is in the hunt. The hunt is the learning, leading up to, the actual hunt and the post-hunting experience. By taking up archery, I’ve learned to much more about hunting, about animals, about the woods. That’s been so much for the reward for me. I used to take all of my deer to the local processor/butcher until a few years ago. I have no qualms with someone taking their deer to the butcher. Some folks have not explored the skills required, which are fewer than I expected. Some folks don’t have the place to do it properly and some just aren’t interested. As long as the hunt was ethical, as long as every attempt was honestly made to recover the animal, which mainly includes the meat, to each his own.

What some folks think is a trophy hunt does not make sense to me. I watched a fenced in buck pace during the rut this year with a nice doe standing on the other side of the fence. Heart breaking.

All the best to ya, dwc

[tuxdad]

#15016

What I count as success is being able to get close to a critter and it not detecting me.. Granted I have yet to get a deer with my bows.. I’ve gotten plenty of small game(pheasant, squirrel, rabbit, etc) and it’s been a blast getting close to them for a shot…

[Greg Ragan]

#15345

DK wrote: I talked to a guy last year who didn’t recover his high country mule deer until two days later. He said “but at least I got my buck”. What a butthole.

DK

This is what I am talking about…. The guys that think looking for buzzards and crows a few days later is a tracking skill…..

Hold your nose and take the hero pic….give me a break. To me that is “failure”

[arthurw]

#51652

I’m with tuxdad. When I get within spitting distance of game animals without them spooking, I count it as a success. That said, I haven’t killed my buck this year, and I can’t wait to see him next season!

[Lydell Newell]

#52823

yea i agree if you kill it you should eat it my boys first deer i said u got to gut it ill help and show you how and how to skin it to its good to teach the younger ones how to at first its part of it to

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