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Trophy Hunting

With 12 million hunters pursuing them, whitetail deer are the number one big game species in the world. More whitetails inhabit North America today that at any time since Columbus arrived. With so many deer and diverse number of deer hunters, it is natural that a sub-culture has developed in the deer hunting community often referred to as “trophy hunters”.

Before jumping head first into the “trophy hunting” mindset, you should understand and appreciate that the term “trophy” is defined differently by different people. For some hunters any deer harvested is a true trophy. If the hunter makes a decision to harvest an animal and that hunter is happy with the outcome then he or she certainly has collected a “trophy” worthy of praise.

However, there is a sub-culture of hunters who spend many days in the field and countless hours researching, planning and documenting their hunts. They study the animal in depth and read every piece of material they can to learn more about whitetail deer. These hunters typically practice QDM (Quality Deer Management) and have a passion to pursue the older, wiser, bigger animals with a herd. These trophy hunters will pass on shooting opportunities at immature deer, they will harvest a larger number of does to help balance the buck to doe ratios and they will seek out hunting locations that produce the largest antlers. They understand what whitetails eat, when they eat and they understand all forms of visual, verbal and signpost communication.

To hunters in this category, a “trophy” whitetail is generally one that is mature (at least 4.5 years old) and has above average antlers compared to other deer in the region. They may base their “trophy” judgment on a buck’s antler measurements using either the Boone & Crockett or Pope & Young scoring systems.