Big Buck Contests - Overboard?

[hershy]

...received the latest Deer & Deer Hunting magazine in the mail just this last week and while flipping through it I came across 3 different ads for Big Buck Contests...one was for $50,000 - another for $250,000 and the other for $1 million...now I am not against most big buck contests - and I would love to harvest a world class deer someday (at least I think I would) - but these ads kinda bugged me...has trophy hunting changed into a way to strike it rich?...I am not sure I am looking forward to sharing the woods with players in a "deer-lottery"...it is beginning to feel like there is something that is being lost in the deer woods as we make the change from recreational pursuit to the thrill of the pay-out for the next big deer...what do you think?...are you feeling it too or am I just losing touch?...

 

[KSQ2]

Hershy,
the larger part of me agrees with you, but i don't see a solution to "the madness"

 

[Kat]

I would think that hunting for a prize instead of for the love of it would make for a stressful season, feeling more like work. They say money changes everything, some might try to bend the law for a million dollars. I imagine the entry fees for those big contests would be pretty high. If a person could afford it and kept everything in perspective (like people go to a casino ‘for fun’) I guess more power to them. But I don’t think hunting should be about money. Unfortunately, it’s been heading that way for a while...

 

[Littlefeather]

I like bow hunting because I can sit in the woods and nobody can talk to me. My favorite time is the morning, watching the woods come alive. I have fun whether I see deer or not.

With that said, if a $1,000,000 rack walks by, I am going to shoot it and probably have it sold before I get home. It's not a greed issue, I wouldn't want it in my house anyway. After I sold it, I would wait anxiously for next year season and would look forward to watching the sun come up and the woods come alive.

Some people have such huge ego's that they can't enjoy doing anything unless they win. I feel sorry for those people. I have looked at a couple of these contests and with the area I hunt, I have a decent chance at a big deer. As much as I would love to stick a big deer, I think $250,000 would make it a little more enjoyable.

 

[bowmaker]

I against any of these big bucks contests with huge cash or merchendize payouts. I feel that it is demeaning to both the hunter and the quary and wonderful press for the antihunting groups. There are hundreds of ways to abuse this kind of thing from hand raising bucks to poaching. How many deer will be shot and left because the hand held electric scorer says it doesn't quite measure up. It is really hard to judge in second with a spot light. How much tresspassing or destruction of another's food plot, or large leased tracts of land will it take before enough is enough. If a person wants to cash in then buy a powerball ticket and stay out of the deer woods. I say again we need to shift our deer hunting attitudes away from horn harvesting and go back to just plain deer hunting and enjoy it for what it is and not what we can gain financialy from it.

 

[BW]

 

[Pupster]

I agree I think it's gone overboard, it will bring out the worst in someone. $1 million is a lot of money!!!

This is a little off topic but I thought I'd share.

I was talking with one of my game warden friends the other day and he had just busted a guy for poaching. The man had shot a 150 class buck and was crying about he didn't have any money, no food etc...He didn't have an answer when he was asked why he wasn't shooting squirrels???

Pupster

 

[FurDog]

Why wasn't he shooting squirrells - ha.

Some good points on this topic, my biggest fear with the high payouts is the potential to increase poaching.

That aside, I could never understand why any individual would purchase a rack to display as their own.

The trophy for me is the fact I harvested a beautiful animal using fair chase methods. ANY deer I take is always a trophy to me.

 

[avidhunter]

Historically speaking, hunting used to be reserved for the "landed class", or wealthy-noblemen...sport for Kings etc... unfortunately it seems like it's slowly been heading down that road again. Land is a fixed resource, and humans are an ever populating species

Maybe I'm ...

?

 

[1arrow]

I don't know about the rest of you, but just to harvest ANY deer with a bow is a trophy. It is out of hand! Just my 2 cents...

 

[REM]

to quote someone who has taken a big trophy buck " If we had it to do again, no one would know,we'd mount it, put it in the family room and forget about it"

Hunting for the "money" is not huntin' to me.