I've been trying to avoid this thread.
But...taking my own advise is a waste of time.
I am a trophy hunter first and foremost. I don't give a damn about meat, or, more accurately...meat is not the primary reason for my hunt. About 20 years ago, as my family grew and my job got busier, I didn't have the time to spend in the woods. I went from 30 or so hunting days a year down to about 5 or 6. Some years less. Also, the quality of the hunting experience got progressively worse for me. The folks I went with spent more time bickering over gas, dish washing, cooking, etc, etc, etc. I basically spent money and froze. In about 1984, I just plain gave up and headed home half way through the season.
Then...the bug came back as it always did in 1985. So...I met new taxidermist and he invited me to go to New Bruswick, Canada for a Fall deer hunt. It was my first, fully outfitted hunt. It was great!!! I even shot a 200LB + whitetail. About the same time, I began to buy Sportsman-on-Film videos. Hunting videos fueled my dreams of hunting in far away lands. I also began to make more money and began to squirrel some away. After a few huge whitetails and some black bear, I was ready for something else. I was also part time in a gun shop and the owner invited me to go boar hunting in a preserve in VT. Again, I had a great time and saw all kinds of animals that I had no clue existed. Just for laughs I called Ken Wilson of Sportsman-on-Film and found he guided hunts for texas exotics on big ranches. I said, big...huh...how big could they be...man was I wrong....these ranches each had thousands of acres of land. As we saw various animals, Ken instructed me on what to look for in game animals (including whitetails) with regards to maturity and trophy size. Because we took the time to evaluate each possible animal I looked at, it really enriched my hunt! I soon joined the SCI and became a certified measurer and that was it. I never looked back and will never harvest an animal unless it I can mentally calculate it's size and whether it's worth shooting TO ME.
What I mean is...as much as I love game meat (I currently have about 50lbs of fallow venison and 300 or so lbs of buffalo in the freezer) it isn't the primary reason for my hunting. YES...it is the experience...though I usually go by myself. For me it's the adventure of hunting animals that I've never hunted before, and I've quite a few. BUT...i always look for the trophy first. Three buddies and I went to Montana hunting Mulie and Pronghorn. There I was evaluating racks of which we saw maybe 70 deer a day (20 or so were bucks). My partners all filled out on the first day....that's a mulie buck and doe and a pronghorn buck and doe...each shot 3x3's or forkies. It took me 4 days to fill my two buck species tags and it was worth the wait (though I took the smallest pronghorn, the horns were really asymetrical and that was the best trophy of all). By the way...trophy venison generally tastes as good as non-trophy.
Today, I'm lucky to get 3 to 5 days in the field...it's a shame but at this point in my life that's that So..I make the most of what I do when I hunt. I don't always get animals though and like most I folks, I generally don't get asked about the one's that get away or when I get skunked. Case in point, I went to Newfi for moose and caribou in 1993. We saw 30 or more woodland caribou per day for six days. Most were does and some were really small stags... I passed and passed and passed on the animals we saw. My trophy became my unfilled, $600, non-resident woodland caribou tag. My buddy shot a fork horn moose and a nice woodland caribou by 11:30am the first morning. I shot a 40" bull three days into the hunt.
To end this rant...does' and sub-adult bucks are safe from me. I save my money and go to where I have the best opportunity to harvest a trophy (of which I mount) in the limited time that I have to hunt.
BUT...there are rules. I Never Shoot (a) any animal that isn't a better than average trophy; (b) any animal that I don't intend to eat (Lord, some of the goats, one of boars, my 1st black bear and my pronghorn really tested this!!!); and, (c) any animal that I can't cleanly take in one or two shots (I'm 59 shots including 5 misses on 32 game animals or 1.8 shots per animal).
OK...I'm a trophy hunter...I don't expect anyone to agree with me. If we ever meet in the field and you shoot the first doe you see for the meat, I'll always offer to help you gut, drag and skin....promise. I'll even good naturedly take your teasing about waiting for the big rack. And I may not get that rack........this time.
Good hunting all!!!