What's a trophy to you?

[TAM]

For me there are lots of variables like rifle vs. archery, rut vs. summer, how well I know the area, what kind of bucks I've seen in the area, how long I have to hunt. I take all those things into consideration but the bottom line is that I want a nice rack for the wall. Usually that means around 90 inches with a bow and 100 inches with a rifle.

[Arizona Griz]

I agree with TAM, a trophy Coues with a bow of 90" and with a rifle 100". I have yet to get either but some day.

[Noel Arnold]

A trophy is in eye of the beholder. I would say that most people who have hunted them a while would say that 100 gross is the start. I have lots of bucks that go between 90 and 99. But only a few that go over 100. My problem is I love to eat them so much that usually the first I see in the mid 90s I shoot.

Noel

[Red Rabbit]

What decides a trophy has varied and changed. On my first coues hunt, I was told that if you can see antlers, it's a good one. I thought that if it was similar to a small Texas 6 point, it would be good, but a 97" buck in Skeleton Canyon on the first morning of my first coues hunt reappeared long enough for me to shoot. This was much larger than I anticipated, and back at camp my friend informed what I nice buck I had taken.

 

A couple of subsequent hunts in the Chiracahuas lit the desire for a book buck.

So, I scoured the record books to find the best unit and noticed most bucks needed to be 4 points. That next year in the best unit, a friend and I spotted a buck, and noticed that he was a four-point. I was off on the stalk, and he ended up having 13 points total and grossing 110. The next year, we spotted his younger sibling and my friend elected to pass.

 

Now it seems that the circumstances of the hunt, the effort involved and the overall experience help define what a trophy is. I recall a hunt where I took a 16 year-old on his first hunt, and we shot two bedded forked horns simultaneously. His was a "trophy" buck that I plaqued and presented to him.

 

I still look for the largest buck out there, and hope that I may sometime cross paths with a booner, but have passed on lesser and shot lesser, but every buck or bull taken has been a trophy for one reason or another.

 

Doug~Red Rabbit

[JVS]

I like anything with Character. Like the corkscrew drop tine shed someone posted recently. If a buck went 70 inches with that corkscrew drop, that is a trophy rack just for the uniqueness. I would shoot a cactus buck, regardless of size. Typicals need to be 90+ in my book. That's my 2 cents.

[coues addict]

JVS

Opening day has never meant much to me as far as actually shooting a deer.It takes me two or three days just to unwind from the stress of my job. I would personally hold out for a really nice buck on opening day(Over 100").I also don`t always kill a deer every year because I don`t really hunt for meat. I love venison, but my family really doesn`t care for it all that much! A trophy to me all amounts to how much work I had to put into the hunt and how excited I get at the time. Think about it for a minute. If you get way back in the boonies and spot a nice buck and it gets you really excited, you stalk and ultimately kill the deer. Then you measure it and find out it is only a 75" buck, does that mean you did not have an awesome hunt! I don`t think so! Record books are for people that are always keeping score and I really don`t care that much about them.Some of the best hunters I know have shot huge bucks that did not score all that well or bucks that did score well and they still never entered them in the books.I also take into account the overall time that I have to hunt.Sometimes I shoot for the best animal I can get within the timeframe that I know that I can hunt. I did not mean to get so long winded on this post but I just don`t think it all adds up to total inches!

Good luck on this years draw Coues Addict

[coueshunter]

I personally look for a buck 100" or over and would shoot a 100" buck at first light on opening day.........of course I have a dream buck, 120"..........I may depending on how I feel, shoot something smaller or with "character" later in the hunt but pretty much want to hold out for or go home empty if the buck isnt over 100"......just my outlook.........Allen....

[Guest Ernesto C]

I take anything the Lord wants to give me,as long it has antlers is a trophy for me. I go out for the hunt,for the fun and enjoy of the outdoors and its wildlife;I dont go out for the killing. However there is being ocassions when I come home empty handed because I was lloking for that "special buck" like last year for example,I let go several 80 to 90 inch bucks just because I was after the 114 inch buck we saw;I never took him but it was one of my most memorable hunts to my for all the sitautions we had during this hunt.Boy I can't wait to be there again!!

 

Any way,just make sure you enjoy your hunt and are happy with the results,your own persosnal trophy will come sun or later but to me you already took one and the good news is that there are more out there. Blessings.

 

Ernesto C

[oldboy]

Man, I'd just say have fun. My best is a 92", but heck! I've shot much less. I have buddy's who hold out for big bucks and sometimes they get one. I like to fill my tag, and have for quite a few years now. Last year I shot a low 80's buck two hours into the hunt. I was a little disapointed. I shot the first the first bolting buck out of the thicket. The 100 class buck I saw the rack on, but not the body was running close behind. I glassed the rest of the 4 days I had to hunt. I saw nothing better. One year I shot a spike that took me four days to find a set of antlers. I'd just say.. " you're young! Have fun and just hunt for what you want!"

 

oldboy