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Trophy Buck
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Who doesn’t dream about shooting a trophy buck? I used to have a hard time falling asleep the night before the opening day of rifle season. Even though I love watching the hunting shows on TV and reading the deer hunting magazines they can leave many of us with false expectations.
Exactly what is a trophy buck?
This is the question that we each have to answer for ourselves. For me it now is to shoot a buck that in some way is a little bigger than the previous that I have shot. This would include a buck with a rack wider than 18 inches, more than 10 points or a buck with sticker points or a drop tine. On the other hand just about any buck is a trophy for my son who has only a spike buck to his credit thus far.
To many, my requirements for trophy status would not measure up. Every hunter has his own trophy requirements.
The bottom line on trophy bucks, no matter what size you are looking for, is that there has to be a trophy buck on the property that you hunt before you can shoot one. When I was younger I thought that those large antlered bucks were everywhere. You just had to be in the right place at the right time. A lot of time in the woods, some common sense and a scouting camera soon convinced me that there were not any trophy bucks on our property.
What do you do if you do not have trophy bucks on your property?
The answer is: everything that is in your power to improve the quality of bucks on your property. Even if you do not have control over the property that you hunt, you do have control over what you do and don’t shoot. If you want to shoot young bucks, keep shooting them. If you want to shoot older mature bucks, stop shooting the young ones.
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