Trophy in the Eye of the Beholder

[gunner72]

Me and my buddy Shane had been goin to sask together for more years than I can remember. Old Jerry likely had something to do with that! The last few years we've changed our area and things are getting a little better each year we go. Every year we have found better places, more permision, and found more and more good guys to hunt with. This is my whitey from 2 years ago and I think he's likely the most unique buck i'll ever get. He was also one of the few bucks i've ever heard grunt that close.
I was walking down a two track in some very thick brush on the edge of a 1/4 of serm land. Shane and I had split up earlier and I decided to find a place to sit and watch as the deer were in the rut hard and were moving quite a bit. Waiting got the best of me after a couple hours and I decided to find a different spot. I started walking down a two track in some really dense brush. The road had small humps in it so i wanted to find the highest one so I could see the farthest. As I was goin up to where I decided I would sit I heard some crashing in the brush that seemed like it was coming toward the trail. Then I heard a couple grunts!
Not knowing where Shane was and remembering he had a call that he's quite good with, I thought it was him at first. Then two does jumped out on the trail. I stopped and they never noticed me watching them. Both of them jerked their heads back and looked strait behind them. I noticed another deer coming down the same trail but the bush was too thick to see what it was. I had a pretty good idea what it was. Just then the does disappired in the brush and I could see a nice frame on the deer that was following. I brought my little 243 up just when he stepped out. When I first saw him in the scope he was looking stait at me at about 100yrds broad side, head turned. I saw the huge brows and the dark heavy horns and I thought there he is! Boom! The shot felt great and when he turned and bolted I thought I noticed something odd. I remember thinking to myself "fork horn?". He went about 50ydrs and piled up in some nasty ass tangles. Shane had heard the shot and found me just in time to help drag it out to the trail. Turns out he's 22" wide and his brow tines are over ten inches! He scores 142 and change. Not the biggest buck I ever shot but pretty good for a "Fork Horn"lol!

[Plummerbutt]

This is my trophy of a lifetime. It took 6 years to get this old dude. Had his teeth cross-sectioned at a lab, he was 11 1/2 years lod. NW Ontario 2008. First picked up on the deer while on a shed hunt during spring if 2003.

[BigRackLover]

A trophy is "any memorable animal".

My spike buck with a bow (first one) is a trophy in my mind, along with many others.

What's makes the experience memorable differs from person to person.

Frankly, I wish the hunting community we live in didn't emphasize so much the amount of inches on the racks.

[Ryry4]

Originally Posted by huntin

Ryry who did you hunt with those are awesome animals

Nahanni Butte outfitters in the N.W.T.

Originally Posted by BigRackLover

A trophy is "any memorable animal".

My spike buck with a bow (first one) is a trophy in my mind, along with many others.

What's makes the experience memorable differs from person to person.

Frankly, I wish the hunting community we live in didn't emphasize so much the amount of inches on the racks.

Ya, that's why I started this thread BRL and so far it seems there are many other things that play into it for most....it's good to see.

[North of Owlseye]

Well I think its pretty clear why this thread was started - so it can mine the forum for ideas to write another article. Is the OP willing to admit that. Is the op going to give credit to the people whose ideas will be used to go into the article? Share the procedes mabe?

LOL...I have written about it in the past and I might write about it one day in the future but quite honestly the conversation I had the other day just got me thinking that it might be nice to see what people on AO see as trophies and why. Always interesting to hear another person's thoughts and see their photos on subjects like this. So far, there have been some great pics and stories why animals mean so much to people. I've enjoyed them. Let's not ruin a good thread .....k owlseye?

[Double Shovel]

This bull I shot in Quebec. It was the second last day the migration had slowed to almost nothing and I hiked a couple miles back from the boat and sat on a ridge behind a huge rock out of the blowing with rain and snow. A couple hours later I seen three bulls and five cows come over another ridge on the move about a mile away. There was one bull in the group that looked white and I knew I wanted him for his cape. I knew it was a bull but didn't know exactly what he had for antlers. I waivered on wether I should try or not because the time it takes me to cover a mile they will be long gone. So I finally made the decision and went. When I got up over the ridge they were gone,figures. Then a float plane came over just off the ground because they were searching for some guys that didn't make it back to camp the night before and the plane must have spooked them out of the only little bush out in the middle of nowhere and they were coming my way. I knew it was them because of the white hide. I had to run to get into position and try and make the shot in the hard blowing wind. I missed the first two because I misjudged the distance and then coneccted on the third which dropped him on the spot while he was running. He is not a very big bull but of my seven caribou he would top the list
A friend of mine who was also hunting in the area seen it all happen from his high ridge and came over to help pack him out the three miles to the boat.

Originally Posted by hal53

BTW who's the young guy in the pic with the sheep???? LOL.....

LOL.....Ya, even 15 years of clean living will add a few grey hairs....

[brewski]

this bull elk is my best trophy to date, shot him with my bow in 2009, second archery elk, i had to take a 60 yard shot across and opening, with the first shot, he went down in about 50 yards, i did have to make a second shot which was not my best shot ever,(hit a small shrub on the way in) ,we didnt know it at the time but the first shot was all we needed,as his fate was sealed, he jumped up, and went down again to never get up 30 yards away,i was hunting with my dad at the time and he was able to video the hunt, not great video lol but added memory nontheless, he's a great bull, it will be very hard to best him with archery tackle, this bull had the deepest bugle ive ever heard, just his presence in the bush was intimidating, he was very old bull, and to date was the most exciting hunt ive been, we sure had alot of work on him too!

cheers to a great thread!

keep it going guys more stories and more pics!

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...i1810/elk8.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...i1810/elk1.jpg

[Pudelpointer]

Originally Posted by silver lab

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.

I took a really good P&Y mule deer buck 2 seasons ago, and it took me as many years of trying to get one as it took to take an elk, and I must say that I was 10x more jacked up about this elk.

As much as I love hunting (and eating) deer, mule, whitetail and blacktail, hunting elk with the bow during the rut is just about as intense as it gets for me.

[gonefishin]

My first elk. The wife woke up one morning and asked me to take her hunting, so we dropped our daughter off at my dad's and went out. We ended up still hunting our way into the middle of a small herd and I took this guy at 50 yards.



... and my first deer with the bow. I found his sheds that spring, spent all summer scouting and setting up for him and my second night in the stand, he showed up at 17 yards.

[outdoors forever]

Don't let this thread die, guys.

I've been flat out at work this past week, this is the first time I've been on here for a few days.

I wanna see more animals! I'll post a few pictures when I have time.

[TreeGuy]

This will be hands down the greatest 'trophy' I've ever taken. 2010 was dedicated to getting an animal with archery gear with my now 9 year old at my side. It would be his 'first kill'.

It was a 28 yard shot, the 'Shrub' spotted this massive buck first, then had to quietly open the side flap of the ground blind in order for my shot to by possible. I could not have accomplished this without his dilligent actions. To top it off, I let him be the lead tracker and he is the one who discovered the deer 45 minutes later.

It was a good day.

[cougarhunter]

Good thread guys and gals.
My two most memorable hunts that I can think of right now would have to be getting my first wolf while out deer hunting with my girlfriend...hahaha now fiance this fall (see my girl and I got a wolf. POST) and going to he NWT with my mom a couple years before she passed and watched her kill a great Mt cariboo.

[New Hunter Okotoks]

For me the trophy is all about the quality of the trip and the experience of the trip. If I was to go out for a week deer hunting and the guys were drunk,arguing,fighting; Stuff breaking down etc. and took a 170 Whitetail, I really wouldn't care about the rack on the deer. I would never want that deer mounted, just so that I would not be reminded of that particular trip.

Go for a week and everyone gets along great,lots of fun etc,etc. That's a trophy (experience) in my books. (Just My Opinion)

To be absolutely honest, I would rather see a pic of a 15 year old kid with a chit-eating grin holding up a Doe than a 50 year old guy with a B&C animal. For me,the best pic so far in this thread is TreeGuy's young lad with that button buck.

BTW. This post may have come across wrong and I am in no way bashing trophy hunters and love seeing the crankers just as much as the next guy.

[C Taylor]

I would have to say that the 130" mulie my dad got last fall was the proudest I was of all. He had spent all summer with chemo/rad been put on a bag in sept then his heart put him on a oxygen tank. We seen the deer at 600m and he would come a 100 m and turn broadside the come closer again at 300m dad was too cold to wait anymore.
unfortunatly he was too cold and played out to get his picture. just wish I had it on vidio.