Trophy in the Eye of the Beholder

I was sharing a few "trophy" photos with a few friends the other day and the topic of what constitutes a trophy came up. The ensuing criteria where as long as the list of species available in Alberta. It ranged from score, to experience, to difficulty of hunt to who the hunt was shared with. Let's see some pictures of your favourite trophy and an explaination of why they rate so high.

[Ryry4]

When my dad died, I told my wife that I was going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a hunt. I call it my 30th birthday present from my dad.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...6/P9150036.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...6/P9200078.jpg

[Ryry4]

Hard to beat this one too. The pheasant already had its tail shot off by some one else. This the first animal that we hunted together and she was jumping up and down. She wants to go shoot a pheasant all the time now.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ahpheasant.jpg

[Thinlizzy]

Originally Posted by Ryry4

When my dad died, I told my wife that I was going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a hunt. I call it my 30th birthday present from my dad.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...6/P9150036.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...6/P9200078.jpg

Nice Bull and Ram!
WOW!

[Pudelpointer]

This elk rates high on my "trophy" list because it took me 5 years to take one with the bow, it was after the rut, a tricky shot, a clean kill, a kilometre from the truck, and I did all the work myself.

[Tundra Monkey]

Originally Posted by Ryry4

When my dad died, I told my wife that I was going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a hunt. I call it my 30th birthday present from my dad. ]

Ryry that is awesome.....I'm sure he was with you the entire time.

tm

[ChubbS]

A trophy animal is relative to the area/region that it is shot in. 150 B&C whitetail here in alberta is a nice deer, but in 95% of the states thats a PIG of a deer.

so i guess its score that makes a trophy for me...........

[catnthehat]

Not a big dear by any stretch, in fact just a lowly fork horn, but it was the toughest shot I ever made on a deer with a muzzle loader- straight down about 20 yards and moving fast to my offside, through the aspens.
Pretty tough shot that i will never forget.
The antlers got made into pens, and the meat into, well meat!
Cat

[James M]

All of my "trophies" have trophy status from the hard work it took to get them.

My first archery kill. I bow hunted 2 years without getting in range of anything, then my 3rd year I missed a doe, and the 4th year I connected with this one.



Then my 2008 mule buck. This guy took me on a wild goose chase the 2nd last day of season.



Then my 5x5 whitetail from when I was 15 years old. My first buck was a spike, second was a 2x2 forkhorn, third was a 3x3, fourth was a 4x3, so it was meant to be a 5x5 for my fifth buck. Total coincidence.



I hunted 3 years before I even seen a bear in the Rocky area. This one came to my bait on April 27, 2007 and I introduced him to the 25-06.



I also have a 3x2 bull elk that was a fluke encounter. Got no decent pics they all turned out grainy as it was snowing and the batteries in the camera kept dying and coming back to life.

[Grizzly Adams]

The highlight of my hunting career. Not because it's a really exceptional bear, just your average adult Mountain Grizzly, but a lot of waiting and effort took place before I found him, then it turned into a real adventure, when the time came. Some ****ty weather, a close encounter and even getting him out of where I shot him. Doubt I'll ever top that Hunt and I didn't have to go to the ends of the Earth . Just wish we could have preserved that puffed up hair look, in the mount.


Grizz

[Tundra Monkey]

James.......Do you have teeth?????

Keep the pics comin' dude

Love the bear Grizz.....that one's a dream of mine. Just gotta find the right one!!!

tm

[hal53]

Best trophy I ever got, was watching my daughter get her first deer ever , smallish 4X4 white tail...FANTASTIC!!!

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Not a big dear by any stretch, in fact just a lowly fork horn, but it was the toughest shot I ever made on a deer with a muzzle loader- straight down about 20 yards and moving fast to my offside, through the aspens.
Pretty tough shot that i will never forget.
The antlers got made into pens, and the meat into, well meat!
Cat

Crap, ya know, I could have sworn I put a pic in the first post!!
Here it is. I have shot way bigger at far greater distances , but I cannot recall any tougher shot.

Cat

My Stone is likely at the top of the list for me. Took him on day 18 of a 14-day hunt. Hunted with one of the most knowledgeable sheep hunters I've ever spent time with and just pushed my mind and body as far as it would go under some brutal conditions.



This little guy is my most recent though. I need to hunt them again! Maybe in Europe this time. Just the places they call home make them a trophy to me.



Great pics all and cool to see that a trophy is so many different things to so many different people!

[Duk Dog]

There have been many moments over the years on hunts that I would qualify as a "trophy" moment. Some have been captured in a photo, many haven't and are more moments in time that I can think back on and they still put a big old grin on my face. There certainly have been a lot of laughs shared over the years with family and friends and that plays a large role in things for me. No question many of my memorable hunts include my dad. That being said I will try and get around to posting some pictures in a bit. A shame many are not from the digital camera age so I won't be able to post them.

[whitetail Junkie]

I'm sure that i'll never see one,let alone shoot one again in my Life.

My wood duck is My best Trophy Ever.

[Duk Dog]

Originally Posted by whitetail Junkie

I'm sure that i'll never see one,let alone shoot one again in my Life.

My wood duck is My best Trophy Ever.

They sure are a great looking bird. I took it for granted being able to shoot them growing up. A wood duck was the first duck I ever shot.

Originally Posted by whitetail Junkie

I'm sure that i'll never see one,let alone shoot one again in my Life.

My wood duck is My best Trophy Ever.

That is one beautiful bird. Next time you are in Calgary slip down to the Sam Livingston Hatchery. I saw three pairs there a while back. They seem to be occupying a few of the nest boxes there.

[shooter]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

My Stone is likely at the top of the list for me. Took him on day 18 of a 14-day hunt. Hunted with one of the most knowledgeable sheep hunters I've ever spent time with and just pushed my mind and body as far as it would go under some brutal conditions.

That's "The Tapidero Ram" ...... I really enjoyed that read! Great hunt for sure.

[flyguyd]

It would have to be my first turkey, Alberta bird , not big but a mature tom . It was the third year of the hunt i think, i missed about a 10 1/2 bird opening day and then i hunted hard for the next three weeks, just dad and i until everything came together again.

[shootstr8]

To me a trophy animal is all about the experience and if it is the largest you have taken all the better. I have a friend who shot a 120 class whitetail in Alberta on a hunter host tag and he was so stoked, it was the biggest deer he had shot and he got to hunt Canada.

I was able to get a bison this year and the experience was amazing, having my dad and brother out with me was awesome and to harvest a B and C bull was just the icing on the cake.

Great photos and stories so far!! Keep them coming!!

[hal53]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

My Stone is likely at the top of the list for me. Took him on day 18 of a 14-day hunt. Hunted with one of the most knowledgeable sheep hunters I've ever spent time with and just pushed my mind and body as far as it would go under some brutal conditions.



This little guy is my most recent though. I need to hunt them again! Maybe in Europe this time. Just the places they call home make them a trophy to me.



Great pics all and cool to see that a trophy is so many different things to so many different people!

Day 18 of a 14 day hunt...wow!!! that is perseverance!!!... BTW who's the young guy in the pic with the sheep???? LOL.....

[Gypsy'Boy]

All great trophies and wonderful stories!! I can't decide which is more of a trophy to me - my first varying hare (first animal taken and only one so far with my dad with me - 19 years ago) or my first "trophy class" whitetail - a gorgeous, fairly even 5x5, until I hit him and he ran 80 yards further down into the river bottom, into a poplar tree and snapped off a brow tine. Still a very nice looking deer (which I hope to be able to go and pick up in about a month) and the real memory to me is the fact that I caped, quartered and packed him up out of that river bottom on my back - about 3/4s of a mile back to where I could get the truck to. The first for me this way. I have since shot 2 whitetails that were bigger, but this guy means more to me simply because of where I got him and the work involved. Sorry I don't have a digital picture of the rabbit, and I will post a pic of the whitetail when I go get him.

[ishootbambi]

it took me a long time to take a good whitetail. living in the southeast corner of the province just isnt a great place to be for a trophy hunter. i was consistently taking the biggest deer available around here, but it just wasnt what i wanted. finally i wised up and began to roam a little farther from home. it was hunting season number 15 before i brought home a whitey that most guys would consider big. he is likely my favorite because of how long i waited for him.



the one above is my favorite, and 17 days later i got this guy. a lot of guys who see this one feel he wins though. you can make a pretty good argument based on his age. its rare for a whitetail to elude hunters for so many seasons. he lived in a heavily hunted area, and the farm he called home was also the home of a hunter. the landowner figured he shot at this buck at least 20 times over the years. i saw his sheds, and he was once well into B&C but was well on his way downhill when i got him. when we met, he was likely not more than 180 pounds and in poor shape and badly beaten and bruised. i doubt he would have made that winter.




of course i could go on about every animal i have had the pleasure to hunt. some of my favorite hunts are times the animal got away. picking one favorite trophy or memory is tough. someone asked me once how much money i had spent on hunting over my life. i dont know.....or want to. he then asked me if i could have all the cash in my hand right now and trade it for wiping my memory of ever hunting. i didnt even hesitate to say no effin way.

[silver lab]

Originally Posted by Pudelpointer

This elk rates high on my "trophy" list because it took me 5 years to take one with the bow, it was after the rut, a tricky shot, a clean kill, a kilometre from the truck, and I did all the work myself.

Although we have our diferences we share the same best moment. My first bow kill bull with a bow was standing 10 feet from me screeming! (Ill never forget the smell of his breath!) I was shakein so bad I almost missed him. My secend fave was not an animal I shot but both of my sons first deer.

[huntin]

Originally Posted by Ryry4

When my dad died, I told my wife that I was going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a hunt. I call it my 30th birthday present from my dad.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...6/P9150036.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...6/P9200078.jpg

Ryry who did you hunt with those are awesome animals

[bearbuster]

Ten years of priority and got to hunt 4 days with 2 good friends to get the moose. He is not the biggest we saw or hoped for but had an awesome time and would do it again in a second

The bear, my hunting partners say it all. the kids were there to spot it, shoot it, track it ,and drag it out. They still talk about it almost a year later

[summit151]

this is my best trophy so far. this is the very first whitetail i shot and it was with my bow and i was 16 at the time

[Double Shovel]

My two biggest white-tails are a trophy for me.Not because of size but because of how I got them and who was with. This non-typ I spooked while walking and managed to rattle him back and spook him off and then rattle him back in again and shoot him with my own hand made cast bullet.

[Frans]

Pretty typical, but I guess this must be the one:


Not a monster... but did I ever work for that one.

(Edit: figured that wouldn't work. Will repost Friday)