Thread: Trophy heads and the value placed on them

I must admit to being somewhat non fazed when it comes to hunting stags or other antlered/horned game and have the trophies to prove it, but, I had been thinking why do we place so much emphasis on a bit of bone on an animals head? I certainly would not turn down a shot at a great stag but some guys I know live for the roar and hunting stags, and judge the quality of their hunts in 1/8ths of an inch and DS measurement.
My own thoughts would imagine this harks back to the hunters of old, where securing a trophy stag would be a true measure of a hunters skill. An older, wiser animal should always be a harder, and therefore more challenging animal to hunt. A pair of antlers would prove this to be true and that the hunter certainly was a master hunter. (Un)fortunately the majority of females game animals don't have any "proof" on top of their melons and have been let off the hook.
Now days with cameras, pay per point hunting safaris and other modern day trappings, to measure a hunters prowess by the amount of bone hanging on the wall can often have less merit. Im certainly not wanting to knock those who have some great trophies but Im just putting the question out there.
Where does your desire to secure a decent head come from?

Now that is a question that I am really interested to see the answers to. I have bred and sold a lot of animals into the trophy trade and I guess that a lot of yanks have paid a lot of money to take them home as a trophy. I hunt because I love being in the bush, I hunt because I love to eat the meat but I have never hunted to take a trophy.

For me it how unpredictable a trophy animal can be as far as deer are concerned. I have been put to the sword plenty of times by deer sharper than me.
Thar are just dumb friggin goats, the bigger the dumber in my experience. I like the age you get on most thar trophies. It would be the easiest trophy to get IMO.
Chamois trophies take a bit of work to find. Their curiosity and antics get them shot.
To get a red trophy over say 320 is a personal goal. I have left oodles alone over the years in pursuit of one.
The longer and harder I try the more it means to me.
I am also fully prepared never too get a stag of that quality.
To be fair, I see and learn a lot more about the animal I am pursuing by setting myself a goal.
I have taken my fair share of animals thru meat shooting and recovery. It used to be all about numbers to me. Now its about just one.
I also believe shooting a trophy of any animal is 90% luck. Very little skill.
It is used to be a measure of a hunters skill. Thats shit. I know tons of people that have done fuck all with wall hangers.
In my case if I am successfull it will be a measure of perserverance that is all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. So please forgive my sausage fingers!!!

Originally Posted by kiwijames

I must admit to being somewhat non fazed when it comes to hunting stags or other antlered/horned game and have the trophies to prove it, but, I had been thinking why do we place so much emphasis on a bit of bone on an animals head? I certainly would not turn down a shot at a great stag but some guys I know live for the roar and hunting stags, and judge the quality of their hunts in 1/8ths of an inch and DS measurement.
My own thoughts would imagine this harks back to the hunters of old, where securing a trophy stag would be a true measure of a hunters skill. An older, wiser animal should always be a harder, and therefore more challenging animal to hunt. A pair of antlers would prove this to be true and that the hunter certainly was a master hunter. (Un)fortunately the majority of females game animals don't have any "proof" on top of their melons and have been let off the hook.
Now days with cameras, pay per point hunting safaris and other modern day trappings, to measure a hunters prowess by the amount of bone hanging on the wall can often have less merit. Im certainly not wanting to knock those who have some great trophies but Im just putting the question out there.
Where does your desire to secure a decent head come from?

Always a good discussion topic......................................

One point that kiwijames mentions about mates he knows living for chasing stags and chasing that D/S and 1/8th of an inch. I think there is no difference to a athletic sprinter trying to get better by a 1/10th of a second.

That's not me though. Although I do consider myself a trophy hunter. I never set out to be one, it just happened. Mainly because our family don't need the meat due to having access to a farm with plenty of fallow. So when I went hunting I found myself more and more looking for that big stag. It was an excuse to get out.

This year I got my biggest ever red stag and its getting mounted. Now the D/S is unimportant, but what that trophy is to me is the "memory jogger" of a time and a place and of all the hunts that have led up to that point. I mean the littler ones hanging in the shed are still trophies as they are still reminders of a time and place. The latest one though has the added features that because he was a big stag and was in a helicopter hunted area he was obviously old and smart. And because I was able to get him it makes it more memorable than some others. Which is why it is a trophy to me.

I do acknowledge to though that a trophy does not necessarily equal a good head. You may have been chasing the same big stag for years and years and when you finally get him his head has gone backwards. Now he has grown more cunning with time so when you finally get him his head may be crap, but he is what i would call a true trophy. remember that in places like Austria and the chamois a trophy is defined by how old the animal is and not the length of the horn.

My trophy is the meat that I see on the dinner plate and a photo of the animal I shot if I ever do get a successful hunt. As for the antlers I would be just happy to whack em off the skull with a saw and sell them for knife handles.

+1 to Kudu's comments

Originally Posted by Kudu

but what that trophy is to me is the "memory jogger" of a time and a place and of all the hunts that have led up to that point.

Yip same here
When I was overseas, I could have shot a bigger Axis that would have scored deep into gold, but the one I took was only just gold, I took because it had an extra wee point - something that is almost never seen.
Going to be pretty hard to top something that rare/odd to jog the memory of that hunt - it goes on further as the hunt was part of a 4 week Rd trip across the US...
And it was the 1st time I'd had chicken fried back steak... OMG YUM!