JerseyJim

Well lets see, A trophy to me is a big buck for the area you hunt or maybe it's any racked buck??? Maybe it's even any deer I harvest or maybe it's just the memory of the good day spent with family and friends! I read all these posts about how I/we should pass on the smaller bucks and let them grow to be "trophies" but thats just not me. I think taking any buck is a tough task and something to be proud of! The taking of any deer for that matter. Those of you who get 20, 30, even 50 or more days in the woods might disagree because you have the time to be picky! I don't! I get 6 to 12 days a year and thats it! I am just as proud of my crazy looking spike buck as I am the nice 9 point I took last year! Since I don't take a wall hanger every year when I do come across one it makes it that much more special! I'm not a "trophy hunter" I'm a deer hunter! I take my doe's every year and I hope for a bonus of antlers on one of the grey ghosts I come across! If it has a big rack on it's head well thats just icing on the cake! Any day hunting is a trophy to me! ..... My 2 cents ... Jim

Striper Phil

Coastie put it right!! That makes it a personnel thing. First deer is always a trophy to the taker. In the B&C arena I think trophy starts at around 100 points and improves from there. When ya get into the 140s now your talking bragging in any circle.

buckhunter14

Any deer that you hunt and kill you should be proud of, any deer should be a trophy and if you look at it different you probably shouldn't have shot the animal!

JagMagMan

I'd say that the hunt is the trophy, not the animal! My biggest deer was not the one that was hardest to hunt. I did hunt this buck for two seasons, but on the actual day of the harvest, it was almost a "gimmie!" Sometimes a wise old doe is harder to harvest than a buck! So again, the hunt is my trophy!

kerr73

I think any deer you shoot is a trophy.Just geting away from everything for a few days or a week is the real Trophy

rybohunter

To me there are absolute trophies and conditional trophies. Absolutes are the big bucks you see that are huge regardless of the area they came from. Conditional trophies are deer that have extra special meaning to the hunter that took them. I don't see ALL deer as trophies. I have probably 2 bucks that are extra special to me, my first and my biggest. Neither are absolute trophies, but my biggest adorns my wall. You don't need a deer to be considered a trophy in order to shoot it.

little-d

The big one that got away .We call him the RAKE HORN ,two of my brotherinlaws got a shot at him and missed ,one with a bow at 30 yards and the other a black powder rifle at 4o yards ,my miss was with a 30-30 at a 100 yards i shot 7 times and didn't touch a hair.This buck had a rack that looked 30 inches wide and had at least ten nice points if not 12. That hunt was 15 years ago and i still see him going over that hill waving goodby. So far that was the best hunt of my life and a memory that will aways be with me .

onebullet

anything taken legally and no one got hurt thats a trophy you can live to tell about

James B

It means different things to different people but If its a trophy to you, thats all that matters. I am not a rack hunter and would not shoot a buck unless it was quite a bit bigger than anything I had shot before. To me it the getting out hunting that matters. And thats all that matters in that area.

treehunter

this season.......anything would be a trophy