Trophy Hunting: Good or Bad?

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The Ethics of Trophy Hunting

I’m a trophy hunter. On average I spend around 25 days per year beating myself up in the mountains just for a shot at a giant trophy buck. Most years I come home empty-handed, but what can I say; I just love hunting giant bucks! In this article we’ll explore the pros and cons of trophy hunting.

Trophy hunters sometimes get a bad rap, especially from non-hunters who sometimes refer to us as “head hunters.” Their assumption is that we hunt down and kill these majestic critters in cold blood, and then saw their head off and go home. This might be the case for a misguided few, but the hunters I know value the meat as much as the head.

This negative attitude isn’t just held by ignorant anti-hunters, but by other hunters as well. I was conversing with a fellow hunter once about the decline of big bucks over the years. Knowing that I was a trophy hunter he said, “Well, if people wouldn’t shoot all the big ones, there would be more around.” At first I thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t. I responded, “Isn’t that the point? To take the biggest buck you can?” I don’t remember his ignorant response.

A Case for Trophy Hunting

Aside from the large quantity of meat that trophy bucks provide, I don’t think there is anything more beautiful and majestic as a trophy mule deer buck with a massive rack. And since I only get to hunt one deer each year, why not make it something special?

But the best part of chasing trophy bucks with a bow is the extreme challenge it offers. Nothing tests a hunter’s skills like chasing trophy bucks on public land. The reward is so great that I won’t even think about pulling an arrow until I’ve verified a genuine superbuck. Each year my mantra is “One tag, one year, one superbuck.”

A while back I began pondering the ethics of trophy hunting. What were the pros and cons of trophy hunting? Is it more helpful or harmful to target trophies? As it turns out, trophy hunting is very beneficial, not only to deer herds in general, but to non-trophy hunters as well. Here’s what I discovered.

Trophy hunting does the following:

  • Provides more meat to fill the freezer and feed the family. Trophy heads come with trophy bodies and that means lots of venison. A mature buck weighs twice as much as a yearling.
  • Removes old, declining, and territorial bucks from the herd. This in turn allows more opportunities for young buck to reach maturity.
  • 80% of bucks five years and older will die of old age, not hunter harvest. Since these bucks are essentially unhuntable for the average hunter, then the trophy hunter doesn’t compete directly with non-trophy hunters.
  • Even veteran trophy hunters fail to harvest a trophy buck more often than not. Because trophy hunters aren’t shooting as many deer, it leaves more animals in the field which in turn provides greater opportunities for other hunters.
  • Trophy hunters spend more days afield than the average hunter. This equates to a richer hunting experience, in my opinion. This is probably the best part of being a trophy hunter.
  • Don’t be a “baby killer!” Being a trophy hunter means you’re not killing yearling or two -year-old bucks. Unlike older bucks, young bucks haven’t learned the art of evasion, so killing them isn’t really “fair chase” in my opinion. Several years ago there was a kill-anything mentality around our elk camp. On the last day of the season I had a young elk calf walk by at 20 yards. I drew my bow, but after looking at his cute, fuzzy face I just couldn’t bring myself to release my arrow. I got some razzing back at camp since “calves have better meat,” but shooting babies doesn’t seem fair to me.
  • Let’s not forget the greatest benefit of trophy hunting: A big, beautiful rack displayed on the wall in magnificent glory to serve as a life-long reminder of an unforgettable hunt! Nature really makes the best art.

Conclusion

In the end I can’t think of a single disadvantage to trophy hunting, well, aside from frequent failure. But oft-found failure is easily overshadowed by the occasional harvest of true monster-buck.

Happy trophy hunting this year!

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2 thoughts on “Trophy Hunting: Good or Bad?”

  1. Always good to hear the calm, well-thought side of an argument, as opposed to the screeching of the emotionally charged arguments everywhere else. This happens to be a sensitive topic for both hunters and anti-hunters, alike. A lot of hunters end up in the anti-hunter camp on this one. I think it’s envy and/or despair.

    I certainly don’t consider myself a trophy hunter in the classical definition, at least not a successful trophy hunter. But, I still aspire to one day shoot a trophy. Glad you gave me some good justifications for when that day comes. I think that even hunters that rag on trophy hunters would like to shoot a big one, too. They just have less hope that they could pull it off. It really does take a lot of commitment, unless you resign yourself to just one day getting lucky.

    1. I don’t understand why people get so bent out of shape about trophy hunters, especially other hunters. I’m sure it’s 90% jealousy cuz they can’t get the job done. I mean, how many of the thousands of Utah hunters dream about harvesting two-points? This anti-trophy-hunter hate-mongering is especially prevalent on YouTube. Just read any comments on Melissa Bachman’s videos; mostly threats and hateful comments.
      Regarding hunters against trophy-hunters, I noticed after my harvest of the infamous Drop-Tine buck that people actually treated me worse, not better. I remember talking to another taxidermist and he half-jokingly suggested that I stop shooting all the big bucks so the rest of ‘us’ could have a chance. This attitude was new to me, so I put myself in their shoes; when I see another hunter holding a super-magnificent-trophy-buck, I can’t help but wish it was me, not them. I admit, there is some envy. I guess that’s just natural human response .But that’s no reason to attack them. Whatever; doesn’t matter to me. Everyone has their own reasons for hunting. For some, it’s just the experience of hanging out with their friends and family at deer camp. I think that’s great; I understand. But you can’t eat your friends. For me it’s about the challenge; the chess match of wits and woodscraft. It’s also about experiencing nature and the harvest of precious, sacred meat. People have no right to thrust their own hunting values upon anyone else. As far as I’m concerned, anti-trophy hunters are narrow-minded fools.

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