aesthetically pleasing

UKHunter

AH fanatic
Joined
May 28, 2013
Messages
732
Reaction score
1,065
Deals & offers
1
Media
87
Articles
1
Hunting reports
Africa
3
USA/Canada
1
Europe
4
Hunted
England, Scotland, Wales, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Germany, USA (Wyoming) and Hungary.
Merry Christmas everyone!

I just wanted to explore some of the thoughts of people on here, about when a trophy is too big! I know this may sound strange to some, and it is not a rant against trophy hunting.

I often see pictures of monster animials that have been shot, and im sure the memories for the beholder are great, however i cannot help feel that when an animals horns/ antlers get this big they no longer look attractive. This is not just true of African animals, massice red stags in New Zealand, Giant roe bucks in Europe can also come under this.

You see pictures of giant cape buffs with huge span on them, or massive impalas and i cannot help but feel they look a bit silly and "over the top". That being said i think with animals such as kudu or Eland this rule does not apply and they tend to keep their elegance.

The massive reds in New zealand i think are the uggliest animals on the plannet, i would much rather shoot a nice representative 12 pointer and then the same with roe bucks where these monsters bucks have all mass but no character.

As i said this is not me having a go at the biggest trophy hunters can find (This is a different rant all together...) or even the opportunist who happens to come accross one. I just believe that with some animals there is such a thing and too big, and they become unaesthetically pleasing.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Tom
 
Usually genetic manipulation is involved in those cases and there is a point where it does become too much.
At least for my taste.
 
I tend to agree with Brickburn on this one. There are operations here in the states that grow what I call mutant whitetail bucks with hideously large sets of horns. I have a seen photos of deer that have more brow tine points than any "Natural" buck I have ever seen in the wild. These animals are obviously pen raised and are on special diets to promote such antler growth. Nothing natural about them at all.
 
I agree with Brick that when genetic manipulation is involved as is the case with some of these ridiculously mutant whitetails being bred these days, it's over the top. I've seen photos of 1 1/2 year old whitetail bucks with nearly 200" of antler. They can't even hold their heads up...Nothing against those who like that... To each his own....But not for me either.
 
Usually genetic manipulation is involved in those cases and there is a point where it does become too much.
At least for my taste.

Fully agree.
 
I agree that genetically altered animals don't look natural. And with a price tag that scares the sh#t out of me, they can happily graze in someone else's pasture.

There some big animals taken in Africa, but they are natural for the most part.
 
I certainly agree that the behind the high fence freak show holds zero appeal to me. However, I do strongly believe in hunting animals on the far side of their breeding potential. Often these are very unusual trophies as antlers regress or horns are broomed. I also spent enough time in Germany to believe that free range herd genetics can be improved by taking as trophies those animals which show non-typical characteristics. I have just returned from British Columbia where I took a lovely typical mulie. On day three, however, I saw an ancient three-point (western count) with bases as big as my wrists, mass throughout, and stickers up a third of the length. What a trophy - but in BC an illegal one where a buck must have 4 points on at least one side to be a legal deer. I would much rather have taken that old non-typical.
 
......... I have just returned from British Columbia where I took a lovely typical mulie. On day three, however, I saw an ancient three-point (western count) with bases as big as my wrists, mass throughout, and stickers up a third of the length. What a trophy - but in BC an illegal one where a buck must have 4 points on at least one side to be a legal deer. I would much rather have taken that old non-typical.

That old guy would be an incredible trophy.

The same type of problem happens with regulations regarding while hunting Big Horn Sheep. Old rams with huge bases, obviously ancient, can not be taken if he is "broomed off", behind the "legal" line.
 
I agree.
I love to look at great looking antlers and horns, but I am far from being a trophy hunter that care about how much a trophy scores.
To me a great trophy is an old animal and if it happens to have good looking horns or antlers I consider it as icing on the cake.

The pen raised red stags in New Zealand and manipulated White tails and Roe deer are just hideous in my eyes and personally I would feel ashamed to have something like that on the wall in my house.

I much more want to shoot an old 12-14 pointer Norwegian Red stag than a farmed gold medal NZ freak.
I also much more prefer the natural and not high scoring Roe bucks I have in my house than the high scoring manipulated polish freaks that a Danish trophy "hunter" shot some years ago.
 
I must be out of the loop, because I have never to my mind seen pictures of manipulated roe deer. Or maybe I have and didn't realize it, they weren't natural. Can anyone post pictures of "un-natural" roe deer, I'd be curious to see what they look like.
 
i do scoring on deer and moose, and love the challenge of a messed up non typical and have seen some absolute monsters. I have also been lucky enough not to have seen any from game farms, all the deer I have scored have been fair chase wild animals. The guy that taught me how to score did one that is called the Barnacle Buck, check out the pics of this thing. The Story of the Barnacle Buck
 
I love big natural critters, even the gnarly ones. I also am turned off by manipulated freaks, with the exception of huge gnarly Red Stags. I would probably have a different opinion of that if I hunted them at home, such as I do with Elk and whitetails where I have no interest at all with the manipulated freaks. Personally I think they detract from the awe of a natural trophy and cast doubt on the legitimacy of any world class trophies taken.
 
I must be out of the loop, because I have never to my mind seen pictures of manipulated roe deer. Or maybe I have and didn't realize it, they weren't natural. Can anyone post pictures of "un-natural" roe deer, I'd be curious to see what they look like.

I am not able to find the pics on the net of the Roe bucks that the Danish hunter I talked about earlier shot in 2010.
I must have been mistaken about the country he shot them as it says Hungary on the net.
It is a bit talked about in this article: Watch Out for Scam Hunting Operators in Hungary, by www.**NOT**PERMITTED**.com

I have seen the pictures of all the medal bucks he shot on that "hunt" and I have seen thousands of other Roe buck trophies and I am 100% sure that many of his medal bucks would never be like that without being bred in pens and got their antlers manipulated during the growth period.
Sadly I didn't get the pictures copied to my cellphone. I wish I had them to show people how some people pervert the hunting industry to earn big money or to hang huge trophies on their wall.
 
I am not able to find the pics on the net of the Roe bucks that the Danish hunter I talked about earlier shot in 2010.
I must have been mistaken about the country he shot them as it says Hungary on the net.
It is a bit talked about in this article: Watch Out for Scam Hunting Operators in Hungary, by www.**NOT**PERMITTED**.com

I have seen the pictures of all the medal bucks he shot on that "hunt" and I have seen thousands of other Roe buck trophies and I am 100% sure that many of his medal bucks would never be like that without being bred in pens and got their antlers manipulated during the growth period.
Sadly I didn't get the pictures copied to my cellphone. I wish I had them to show people how some people pervert the hunting industry to earn big money or to hang huge trophies on their wall.

gday norewegiasnwoods
what do they do to a little roe deer ?
they would look weird with extra points or length
 
gday norewegiasnwoods
what do they do to a little roe deer ?
they would look weird with extra points or length

Sometimes they castrate the bucks. This often results in abnormal antler growth and often the buck also continue to grow their antlers for a much longer time than normal.
Sometimes resulting in so called perücke bucks that also very seldom can happen naturally too.
Also carefully damaging the antlers while they still are growing often results in more points.
Hormones and supplements given to the bucks before and during the growth period when they are in captivity is also used.

And many of these bucks do look weird to us that are used to hunt real wild and natural Roe bucks.
 
For me bigger is better in most, if not all, naturally occurring game species. Some animals grow 'typical' headgear and a few are 'non typical'. Myself I am a fan of big typicals (but wouldn't turn my nose up at a big NT either!). I do have a problem with some of the farmed animals that are literally freaks of science, not nature. Those animals are so freakishly large they look almost cartoonish.
Nothing drives me crazier than seeing some old, rich, fat American (sorry if I offend anyone) at somewhere like Whitetails of Iowa or another high fence property that is crawling with 300"+ Whitetails. They talk about how hard the hunt was and how they 'deserve' the animal etc... Makes me sick. I can smell the Ben Gay through the photo!
Sorry, rant over.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
53,613
Messages
1,131,111
Members
92,664
Latest member
Leonslab
 

 

 

Latest profile posts

Early morning Impala hunt, previous link was wrong video

Headshot on jackal this morning

Mature Eland Bull taken in Tanzania, at 100 yards, with 375 H&H, 300gr, Federal Premium Expanding bullet.

20231012_145809~2.jpg
Living life like a lion for 1 day is better than living life like a jackal for 100 years.
 
Top