Thread: World Record Red Deer!!!!......according to an American

The other thing is that the guide also offers estate hunts, so what, he's got this little mecca of free range 100's of miles from his farmed stuff and anyone elses? I'd think it'd be more likely he has the deer farm at (X) and bordering it literally on the fence line is (Y) a property with a less high fence (free range apparently!)

Free range or no though the only reason this would be number one is because its scored using a system that (basiccally) only guides taking Americans use, other than that, the Southern Hemisphere is Douglas Score. You want to get a true measurement of the head score it in Douglas and compare it to its cohort, being the other animals taken in the same country.

I realise SCI is international, but its pretty much America's own international scoring system when they go somewhere else because they can't use B&C and P&Y.

What this hunt has done is essentially the same as me going to the USA, shooting a 2 year old 4pt mule deer, scoring it in Douglas and claiming it as a world record.

I do have to agree with the comments here though, true free range hunting should be deer that can be hunted fair and square by anyone. Hunt on private with no fences but where you have exclusive access - there is still a boundary albeit invisible that segregates you from others and who can hunt where. That's why I never used "free range" in my personal life until very recently (in the past year) because I hunt mostly private property where its just me, my brother and my old man that can hunt there pretty much. Not really free range if its us or no one that can shoot them. I call them simply "wild deer", because thats what they are, but then the lines get muddied again, what if you have a huge high fenced area like some properties in NZ with 100s 1000s acres where the deer live and breed essentially wild and free and are fearful of humans? Isn't that wild?

This politics and contradiction crap is why I hunt only for me, I personally wouldnt hunt in small pens, (though I have no issues with people that like to as long as they arent trying to pass it off as anything else) but for the most part I don't care whether its public or private or whatever as long as I'm enjoying it and having fun and that the animals if they outwit me can get away. But as soon as you start putting a label on something, along the lines of "I've taken a world record" then you need to be able to back it up.

That's part of the reason why I don't score my heads, having blokes whinging and arguing over an 1/8" here and 1/6" there, and debating whether to score a tine because iy is a couple of degrees in the wrong direction and crap like that. The measure of a trophy for me is in the blood, sweat and tears that have been put into getting them, the antlers sure are important and I refuse to shoot a stag I know I'll do nothing with just for the sake of shooting him but they're really secondary to the hunt and effort gone into it.

At the end of the day though as much as I love venison I'm first and foremost a trophy hunter and because of that I love big deer and love seeing big deer other people take. (My favourites are big old heads as opposed to high scoring heads, nothing beats an old battler).
But a deer you shoot is what it is and I see people like Phillip who shot his first Sika hind last year and Scouser with his 8pt stag this year and I loved how excited they were and obviously truthful. But if you have to make one lie or exaggeration about your deer to make it seem better than what it is, whether its adding score, claiming it as "free range hundreds of miles from anywhere" or making an easy hunt into something gruelling then you obviously dont respect the animal for what it is and you didnt deserve to have it die at your hands.
For example, my fallow buck I shot with my bow last year will probably be the best I ever shoot but I didnt need to make up any elaborate lie about the hunt, I rocked up Friday after work, sat on a game trail and within an hour or so he walked up to 35m from me and I shot him, the hunt doesn't rank amongst my most grueling or strategical best but it and the animal are what they are and I'm not ashamed of that.

I realise at times I've had strong opinions here, but that's all they are, my opinions, and just like arseholes, we all have em and they're all different so keep pinging off your own.

I will comment to BarnesLady on one thing though - I love Barnes, particularly the TTSX and will never stop reloading them BUT I contacted you guys with a fairly simple question last year and never heard anything back, bit disappointing on the customer service side of things though aside from that, they're the best hunting bullets in the world in my opinion.