Trophy Hunting and Sportsmanship

[Plains99]

Wow! That was some discussion on wolves. I want to hear other opinions on trophy hunting versus the idea of being a sportsman. My concept of a sportsman in this context was that a "sportsman" hunted game that was legal, in a legal and respectful manner. Respectful not only for the game but other hunters and property owners as well. But I have always felt that hunting for trophy purposes was in many ways a means of honoring an animal. Sorry, don't plan on eating a wolf... but by the same token I don't plan on shooting a wolf out of season or illegally. I get ****** when I see a mounted buck head with a cigar shoved in his mouth, dark glasses and a silly red hat on his head. I consider that unsportsmanlike. I also get aggravated with some of the outdoor programs where a couple of guys laugh like idiots and act like junior high kids over an animal they just took. I consider such behavior immature and "unsportsmanlike." But since when did hunting a trophy become unsportsmanlike?

 

[RC]

aahhhh, jes knew this were comin! agree with ya plains on the sportsman definition..okay now, i think(ah-oh) first you have to define "trophy huntin"...wait!,wait!.. like "sportsman" the definitions of "trophy huntin" vary.. i'd think from your post we're of the same definition.. but there is the "trophy hunter" who shoots,slabs off the horns or head, and leaves the rest..then there's the hunter/sportsman/woodsman/man w/gun/whatever.. that scouts,plans,observes,puts in the time to get a trophy,lettin others go by,,whether it's deer coyote bear wolf turkey, whatever.. until he gets to his idea of his trophy.. i figure(OPINION!)like many,any game taken with ml's is a trophy, to me a coyote is a trophy,a wolf would be a trophy,i try to trophy hunt during deer season,for a big adirondack whitetail.. after that i'm meat huntin,still like a big one but.. a legal animal taken in fair chase is/can be a trophy.. think the bottom line is the hunter has to decide what his trophy is.. ain't nothin worse(probably is but for arguements sake let's say) than a guy who shoots somethin and is mad/sad/disheartened. cause it's too small...and leaves it.. :cursing: worser because he's more worried about what others will think.. that's why i think.. definition is in the eyes of the taker... this is just an opinion of mine... and yes ai already have partner fer the duel! (mabe next round?) hehehe! good post! should be interesting!...RC :thumbsup: )had to throw the wolf in,i'll probably never see one in the wild,let alone get a chance to hunt one.. DANG!)

 

[Slamfire]

When I was younger, and dumber, I hunted in the Yukon with some high school classmates that guided there. I too a bull caribou with a tremendous rack. Then I got my just deserts, the price of shippin' it home. The really hard part was findin' a place to hang it. once I got it there. Now a trophy to me, is an over the hill whitetail buck, with a shrunken rack, nubby teeth, and more smarts than the ones out chasin' does. :thumbsup:

 

[Plains99]

Or the guy who slips a .30-06 behind the seat of his truck during muzzleloader season (a completely illegal act). Or slips across a state border during Missouri hunting season because the "big one" is in Iowa. But by the same token I'm probably going back to Africa to shoot a Cape. I can't and won't eat the whole thing... but there are people there who will as part of their bonus/salary or the local community will get the meat. I will probably at least have a nice Cape Buffalo steak. And my license fees and guide/oufitter expenses will help the local economy.
I fill all four of my deer tags each year although we can barely eat two... but the meat goes to neighbors (or their dogs) and I'm helping to control the deer population on our farm and surrounding farms.
Like it or not, the hunter has become a legitimate means of controlling game numbers in the absense of predators. How are predators any different if their numbers are judges excessive?

 

[bigbore442001]

Hmm. I tend to agree with a lot that has been said here.

I too find it someone asinine to see a mounted head dressed up with a hat,ect. I would like to chime in here and possibly some of our German bretheren would add to what I have to say.

I like some of the things that hunters in central Europe do in honor of the game. There is a list of protocol that hunters follow as part of tradition and custom. As an example, when an animal is shot and found by the hunter, he will sit and look away to give it respect. He will sort of meditate on the life of the animal, how it lived, how grateful he is to have taken it, etc. The hunter will also place a small twig in the animals mouth. This is the Jaegerbruch(SP) which is the animal's last meal. When a group of hunters are successful and line the game up, there is an order to how they are places and people are supposed to walk in front of the fallen game and to the right, I think.

All of these in my opinion enhance the hunting experience and give honor to the game that we have taken. Also, it enhances our image to a non-hunting public that we aren't blood thirsty killers. It has a certain level of honor. I myself have adopted some of these ideas. If I am successful, after taggging, I give thanks to God. I see the game as a gift. I will also add a branch to the animal's mouth. Some people have seen that and found it odd that I should do that.

Anyways, I am getting on a tangent here.

I see nothing wrong with hunting for legal game in a legal manner. As an example,I have taken black bear over bait in Maine.It is legal and culturally acceptable. Here in Massachusetts, baiting is illegal for bear thus I will set a stand at a corn field and hope very much.

I also see nothing wrong with passing up other game for a trophy as well. I just don't like native game in a canned hunt situation.

 

[bob1961]

sportsmanship to me is taking any animal be it a squirrel to a moose by doing so in a legal manner and by legal means in the proper season....a trophy is any animal i take doing so as a sportsman :v .............bob

 

[Plains99]

While I don't necessarily have a ritual, I do try to treat taken game with respect. I don't sit on large animals for photos. Neither do I photograph any animal in a disrespectful or humiliating pose. I remember years ago I went to a theater to watch a film on hunting in Alaska... I'm talking at least 40 years. Toward the end they had a "funny" scene where a guy shot in the air and they obviously pitched a bunch of dead geese on him from off camera. I'm sure the effect was not what they intended because I remember it all these years later. I thought it was crude humor at the expense of a noble animal. I'm sure anti-hunters feel the same way I do but at a different, far more stringent level.

 

[rabbit03]

Bigbore442001, Greetings.

Guess I am a Blood thirsty killer! The only ritual I have is how I chicken fry it when I get the beast home.


:thumbsup:

rabbit03

 

[rabbit03]

Hello White Buffalo

I am with you on this, they are all trophies in my mind. I hunt like the ancestors did I believe, the first one in the sights gets to be the lucky rascal in the frying pan. Buck, doe, whatever and I don't have any trophies on the wall either. Got a stuffed bobcat though!

rabbit03

 

[paulvallandigham]

The only difference between antler hunters and meat hunters is that horn hunters are lousy cooks! Of course, that should be expected. I haven't found a good recipe for horns, either! :rotf:

Seriously, trophy hunters and meat hunters are all hunters, and most of them ar sportsmen who really care about the game they hunt. I can't eat horns, so I don't hunt them. That does not mean I would pass up a shot on a monster buck who was silly enough to walk in front of my gun, however. I just enjoy extending my hunting experience for many days afterwards as I enjoy eathing the venison in many different recipes I have learned over the years. I like to introduce other people, particularly non-hunters to wild game eathing by inviting people over to have dinner with me. When I surprise them with venison that is tender, and great tasting, they take an entirely different look at hunting, and eating wild game than they did before the experience. I may not make a sportsman out of thes folks, but they no longer are quick to join others in condeming hunting. Moving someone from the anti-column to the neutral column is a win in my book.

 

[Hoyt]

I don't really see myself as a Sportsman..I don't get into hunting ethics, I just try to do what's right when it comes to hunting.
Coming up starting with slingshots I pretty much shot anything that I could get a shot at. I loved animals and if I couldn't catch it I'd shoot it, but one way or the other I was going to get my hands on it.
Thankfully I changed as I grew up and nowdays I don't shoot anything unless I'm going to eat it...or make good use of it.
I'm also hunting for trophy animals that taste good.

 

[playfarmers]

I have taken 2 huge bucks with a muzzleloader, but I am not a trophy hunter. They just happened to come along. I am a meat hunter and respect each and every animal that gives it's life so I may eat. I sometimes pass up a lot of deer before I take one, but that is just because I don't want be done yet. I very much enjoy being out in the bush, watching the wildlife.

 

[MercerLake]

:v "Hunters" and "Sportsmen" are hunters with sometimes different goals and rules, and then there are those others that just like to "kill something". Those are the ones that I take issue with. :cursing: Particularly some of the "hunting" shows where the hunter acts like a jerk after killing whatever it was that was the prey. Most of these shows are chasing a buck($$$$$$$) not a deer, and they are not doing any of us any favors.
I hunt for the time afield, the meat, to test my skills and to help "manage" other predators. I have taken a "trophy" blackbear that happened along and we ate it along with other smaller bears from time to time. Cougar are great eating also, they do taste like pork tenderloin. Elk and deer are star guests at out table, regularly.
Another pet peeve of mine is long distance sniping at game animals, it's impossible to gut shoot a paper target, and unethical to take a chance on gut shooting an animal. :cursing:
Just the rules I try to live and hunt by. :v

 

Altho it's a commonly used adjective I really don't like the term "sportsman". In my mind, as I said in another thread, it has different connotations from hunter, outdoorsman or woodsman. Be that as it may, I have no problem with trophy hunting and don't consider a person who hunts the big guys not to be a "sportsman". I hunt to be in the woods, to learn, just watch sometimes and to be challanged. Scoped, centerfire rifles are no longer a challange, nor are in*(^es, (I've never owned or fired one), or compound bows. Hunting is partly about testing yourself. If it's too easy it isn't much of a test. Any deer with a longbow or recurve is a trophy and as others have stated, they're all trophies to me. I have about 60 trophy squirrel tails in my fly tying material inventory and several trophy pheasnt, turkey and grouse tails and capes in the same inventory.

I do not consider most programs on TV that show the shooting of trophy animals to be hunting or very "sportsmanlike". A lot of them make me want to vomit. They advocate using the newest, most modern, highest tech equipment to REMOVE as much challange as possible. I want to do something others can't, won't or believe to be "too hard". As probably all of you know, that doesn't come in one season. It takes a few years of disappointment and most likely failure to "kill somethin'". But it ain't about killin', it's about huntin'.

There....now humor me and call me a hunter, woodsman or outdoorsman....

Vic

 

[RC]

okay sharps (an very well said i may add!) "There....now humor me and call me a hunter, woodsman or outdoorsman....

Vic
okay,, yer a woodsman,who hunts outdoors..man! me i'm stuck,i jes checked my n.y. license..it says "n.y.sportsman license"...if i'm really really lucky...someday it'll say "non resident" :rotf: RC

 

[roundball]

okay sharps (an very well said i may add!) "There....now humor me and call me a hunter, woodsman or outdoorsman....

Vic
okay,, yer a woodsman,who hunts outdoors..man! me i'm stuck,i jes checked my n.y. license..it says "n.y.sportsman license"...if i'm really really lucky...someday it'll say "non resident" :rotf: RC

I buy a NC combination Hunting / Fishing "Sportsman's License" every year too

 

[RC]

Roundball said """I buy a NC combination Hunting / Fishing "Sportsman's License" every year too"""""""
hey RB, think ours is a lil more than yers down there, but fer what ya get,, regular season deer,bear,turkey spring and fall fishing,bow, muzzleloader, small game,plus a chance at a doe permit, fer $68.... can't beat it! now if'n there was jes a few more of dem deers around..! :hmm: RC

 

[Claude Mathis]

My concept of a sportsman in this context was that a "sportsman" hunted game that was legal, in a legal and respectful manner. Respectful not only for the game but other hunters and property owners as well.

I think past generations defined "sportsman" as someone who played by the rules and who was someone to be admired and respected for their integrity. I think the definition has become somewhat clouded today.

When I hear the word "sportsman", I think of "sportsman-like conduct", "sporting-chance", etc. These are all terms used in competition and I don't equate hunting with being a "sport". That is, it's not a competition where you compare your score with, or compete against others.

But, that's just me; someone who's never been into team sports. I also don't like the term "sportsman" because the term doesn't seem to mean what it used to. Today, you can be a woman-beater, use steroids, take drugs, have several drunk-driving arrests, fight with the police, etc. and still be a popular "sports figure".

Having said that, I don't care what other people call themselves. We all know who and what we are regardless of the labels. We label ourselves with our actions.

 

[sparsons]

For the life of me I can't make myself believe in any way shape or form that "sport" or "sportsman" enters in to what we do. Those terms mean a game or or to make light of - to make sport of. Only one of the two parties involved carry a gun. Only one of the two woke up in the morning with the intent to kill the other. Only one of the two have the power to kill the other with out even touching the other. We are hunting wild game for whatever reason we tell ourselves. For meat for a head to put on the wall or for bragging rights. I was reared in WV and can not ever remember going hunting for the sport of it or another hunter being called a sportsman. If one wants to buy into the Hollywood spin of the hunter pitting his hunting skills against the instincts of the animal fine. Just remember the animal did not set out to kill you. In most cases he will flee from you and will not inflict harm. He didn't walk into your world to stalk and kill you. Sportsman, I think not. We all are just hunters with one intent-kill. They on the other hand have just one thing in mind--survive another day. :surrender:

 

[Headhunter]

With over 2000 inches of Boone & Crocket Typical and Non Typical Whitetail points on the walls of my home, not to mention bears and antelope. None of my animals will EVER be placed between the pages of a Record book. And I do have many Whitetails that qualify. It sickens me when someone is standing over a record class Whitetail, they sit their rifle down, and reach for a tape measure.

I hunt trophy whitetails, I do this because I want to HUNT. To me, there is nothing harder to hunt than the Trophy Whitetail.

My username may signify other, but as we all know, it’s more than a head on a wall and we like meat in the freezer. It is the HUNT that is the important thing, and how we do it.

I am very proud to see my boys, 6 and 9, picking up the traits and becoming good sportsmen, woodsmen and hunters themselves. I want them to have theses skills.

Later in their lives when someone asks them “Who taught you how to hunt?”, I will smile from heaven above when they say”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦.. “My Dad.”

And that’s how I see it through the eyes of a Sportsman and a Trophy hunter.


Headhunter