(Submitted by Rick Kratzke,  Whitetail Woods)

Time and time again I have heard about deer hunting being related to trophy hunting and when you see a picture it is this buck with a massive rack. It is true that I have a fondness for antlers and have been collecting them for years but you can’t eat them.

I consider every deer a trophy from a small doe or a button buck (which was my first deer) to a huge multi pointed adult king of the woods. People and I say people because men and women hunt put to much into bone. We as human beings and hunters and huntresses and stewards of the land should be putting more into what God and nature has provided us no matter the size.

Like I said before I have no problem shooting a huge buck but if it is a doe that happens along first than so be, I need to put meat in the freezer to feed my family. I am not trying to start some kind of argument orcontroversy I just want us to sit back for a moment and realize why we are out there. It is different for everyone, I realize that but we all share a common denominator and that is a animal will fall to what we do. Is it going to be wasted for a set of antlers or cut up and packaged to be placed in a freezer for later consumption.

We all have to remember the non hunting community has their eyes on us and it is not a good site when all they see is a carcass on the side of the road with no head. I have seen that twice already and it really is sad to see that some people are like that.

I am proud to say that for 19 years now and numerous deer later I have not wasted anything. I know a lot of people feel the same way but there is a certain amount that don’t care and this post is directed to them. I ask that they take a minute to think before the waste another animal over nothing but a set of antlers.