If a person is a trophy hunter, than they want a trophy. The standardized way to determine if a buck is considered a trophy is to score the buck. So, scoring has become a way for people to justify a certain buck as a "trophy". I'm not saying this is a good thing, it just is what it is. To me, the score isn't the most important part, but I am a trophy hunter. I will pass up lesser bucks, hoping for a bigger buck to put on my wall. If I want meat, I shoot a doe. That way I still have more potential for trophy bucks running around.
Trophy hunting is becoming more and more popular in my county. The ones that practice it take no shame in ridiculing the regular hunter for shooting "young" and "small" bucks. They are under the impression that NE Ohio will surely turn into Kansas in the future, even though we have a way higher % of hunters per sq mile and way less available property.
We're a one buck state with plenty of deer and a good amount of trophy class bucks. I'm not against trophy hunting by any means, but I am against pressing your views on others to that extant. This is America after all.
I don't disagree with what you are saying. To each there own, but educating people on QDM is not a bad thing either. There are plenty of hunters, especially gun hunters, that have no clue how QDM could improve their hunting experience.
I don't care so much about the score, I just want to shoot a good mature buck. The main reason I would have any interest about a score at all is because of curiosity and it's a good reference when asking about how big a buck is. Without a picture of a buck, there really is no other way to convey the size of the rack other than a score.
The problem here is so many people confuse QDM with Trophy Deer Management. QDM isn't all about huge racks, its about a quality diverse age structure within your herd.
Hey if people want to only classify trophy deer objectively w/ a scoring system, then that's fine w/ me. Hopefully it reduces the # of immature bucks taken. I use a more subjective assessment of the buck to determine if the antlers are worth mounting on the wall.
No doubt. With good QDM, there will be mature bucks to hunt. Without it, there will be far less because 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old bucks are really pretty dumb and offer up plenty of shot opportunities. If you shoot them, then in two years, their not there anymore.
Scoring racks is a good way to educate yourself on quality. In my twenties I was more free and tagged just about any rack available. Before I settled down to just one rack a year I wanted to make sure I was well versed in all rack sizes. There is nothing wrong with scoring racks and becoming familiar with quality before you tag out.
