Thread: What constitutes a trophy???

thought to kick this off HERE for honest discussion.


If I look at the stags heads hanging around my home and garage and tell the how and when then rank them for trophy value to me....well it might give a good place to start.
there is a nice even 10point red on euro shield that would score somewhere around 250ish??? first stag..shot with 30/30 solo hunt on carvers trig,central north island (at that time I held the lease on that bit of paradise)
next is a 15 score 274....mounted for me by parents
a ugly as sin heavy 7 shot with my son in tow and took a marathon effort to retrieve animal the next day.
little spindly 8,would not even make the grade as a sika...shot in north island on public land where my family have been hunting for 50 years,my only animal from there.
a even but small 12 red possibly go 230ish??? shot in a HUGE deer paddock late in roar,this boy had got in early in roar and held ALL the hinds...3-400 of them,the sire stags couldnt win a gun fight with only a knife so they were all sulking at other end of paddock2kms away...that paddock is probably 400ha in size,shot to give sire stags a chance,he had fence wire around its throat,cut through skin,jugular and laranx only days away from being cut,one ear sliced half way through,skinny as a rake,what a price for love.
runty wee fallow...my only fallow head at all
11 point even red shot in southland with great mates for company,I literally shot this stag with my pants down..nature called and I looked up to see him.
a spindly 7 shot on station with mate in tow...first deer hunt for him.easy harvest more than a "hunt"

the 10 first stag means the most
then tiny public land 8
11 from southland
15
the rest follow in no particular order

thinking about guided hunting brings up an interesting question...what about big game FISHING......its a chartered vessel,borrowed gear but does that make a 1000lb stripy any less of a trophy????not on ya nelly
if it was caught in a fish tank....lol...have to be a plurry big tank

for ME a trophy is as much about the how and when ,with whom than the number of points or score on someones system

I havent shot a rusa,samber of wapiti YET.....I will shoot a wap one day,probably wont be in fiordland,just an escapees prodgony but it will tick a box for me so I will be happy....the meat will taste just as good and wont be wasted.

I havent got any gamebirds mounted in my home.a photo in frame means as much to me...my avitar is one of the very very special memories for me...that dog was young,really young.it was his VERY first day in work...the two geese flew over top of us in the fog and dropped in shallow water,neither retrieve was more than 3 mtrs but the birds are bigger than dog...I made sur ehe didnt fail..took birds back to car then carried on shooting the mallards,no retrieve was more than 20 meters swim...the dog did the lot and was hooked.....he 12 now and blind...still my mate,still loves hooning in boat smelling geese n ducks. so that photo is more of a trophy than any stuffed goose could ever be.