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True definition of a "meat hunter"?


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My father used to describe some of my great uncles as meat hunters meaning they would shoot anything and everything because they wanted to eat what they killed.I think he meant there was a little disregard for the laws.I think of meat hunters as someone (like me sometimes) that is more interested in venison than a trophy or wallhanger but I don't think that is lowly necessarily.

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Just wondering what your definition of a meat hunter is. Obviously we know what a trophy hunter is, but what about the lowly meat hunter?

My father used to describe some of my great uncles as meat hunters meaning they would shoot anything and everything because they wanted to eat what they killed.I think he meant there was a little disregard for the laws.I think of meat hunters as someone (like me sometimes) that is more interested in venison than a trophy or wallhanger but I don't think that is lowly necessarily.

Shouldve used a different word than lowly. Just seems as though guys/gals who hunt for meat always get a bad rap

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Nah, I knew what ya meant. One of my hunting buddies won't shoot doe,he wants a nice buck while I will shoot a doe because I enjoy eating and sharing venison. We get along just fine although I tease him whenever I feel like it. Like I will say to him, here is a box of 5 slugs-should last you the next decade. That kind of stuff.

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I for one I guess am a meat hunter.  I do not hunt for the antlers.  However with the limited tags I get in the northern zone (no dmp in my area in 5 years) I use early muzzleloading season to put meat in the freezer as it is the only chance I get to take a decent doe. I hunt bigger bodies deer hence more meat.  I am not a rack hunter during the regular season.  I again am looking for a bog bodied deer as I only get one tag for the entire regular season, I want to get the most for my buck so to speak..

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I think a lot of it has to do with where people hunt. I have property in the southern tier where you could not see a deer for days and when you finally do and even get a chance at a shot you take it. Now I've hunted niagara county three times this bow season and while I'd still shoot a doe I could be more selective on the doe that I did take if given the opportunity

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wow this should be fun... because a trophy hunter i think often gets misconstrued as well.

 

i think a meat hunter can come in the form of a many facets as does a trophy hunter.  i think most meat hunters do fall into the category of its brown its down, i mean their not hunting mature deer to fill a freezer otherwise they may go hungry. i dont think many deer get passed when it comes to a meat hunter. filling a freezer is whats important and i get that.

 

i think when it comes to a trophy hunter guys often say well this guys just after the antlers. but they tend to over look the bar a trophy hunter may have set for them self, a standard so to speak. it may not be all about harvesting a deer with a big rack but maybe harvesting a mature deer, 3.5/4.5 or better or even a 120" or better. what ever the case, as we continue to hunt we evolve as hunters, some fill a freezer and some take on the challenge and take the path of raising their own bar and pass deer others may not. i got into this discussion with my dad on the way upstate while i was doing an engineer inspection. My dad is a meat hunter, he fills his freezer every chance he gets. which often results in hardly any deer walking away from his stand without an arrow in it unless he does not have a shot. thats just not me, i can fill my freezer very easily and i do every year but i tend to be picky on what goes in it.

 

to each his own i say, the trophy or deer worth going into the freezer is in the eye of the hunter.

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Definitely not lowly!  My buddy Mike is a pure meat hunter, I think he will start to drool before he shoots...   Nothing wrong with hunting for food!  He comes up to the ADK with me and I know he will shoot any legal buck and most here know I am a mature/trophy type hunter but if he gets a legal spike I will be giving him a slap on the back!!!  And get pictures!  To each his own I say as long as its legal it's good in my book.  I only tell people what I do but do not expect this of anyone including my hunting partner...    Trophy hunters are the exception not the norm at least from my experience most are brown and down until they get some experience under their belt then they slow down and tend to go for the mature animal.

Drools is his nickname that's my definition of a meat hunter. 

 

Meat Hunter = One who hunts for the purpose of food

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As many said hunters should always hunt for themselves. I absolutely love venison. Just my wife and I alone went through 2 150+ bucks by the end of July last year. Fortunate to have many doe opportunities. So I like to wait till gun or mz to shoot the doe if needed, however I don't need 4 deer in the freezer because I don't need it. Then it just gets given away, which I suppose is fine but I'm eating the butcher fee. We end up giving away some anyhow. So I will wait on doe... And as a newer bow hunter my standards are lower than gun. The sport is just too hard not to take the shots you get.

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I think "meat hunter" is a phrase coined by elitists, as a way of saying that their particular discipline is a little more superior.

 

All ethical sportsman keep the meat from the animals that they take, even if they don't eat all of it themselves. I'd say 99% of us have nothing but contempt for a guy that doesn't respect the game that he kills.

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This must mean that I am a meat hunter then. Because up till last year it didn't matter if it was a spike or an 8 point buck it was shot and cut up and put in my freezer. That also went for does also. The recent change in my area of 40 (Delaware county) of an antler restriction of 3 point on 1 side put a damper on what bucks I am allowed to shoot. Luckily my father in law owns land in Otsego county so I can still try to fill my freezers. I bow hunt,rifle hunt and muzzleloader hunt and it is NOT brown is down thinking of hunting. A doe with this year's fawns I will let walk because I want her to get those fawns thru the winter so will be more deer next season. A lone doe I'll shoot.

Every animal I shoot doesn't go to waste. Not with a family of 4 kids and 2 adults. I raise 2 hogs every summer and a beef cow/steer. Have 3 freezer to fill, and 1 is just for deer and small game ( turkey, rabbit, grouse, pheasant and fish ). We grow a garden and can and freeze what comes out of it and make jellies and jams from berries we pick. Some people might calls backwoods or hillbilly, If I am so be it, but I was raised that way and am sure some of you were raised the same way. Guess I am saying that there is not a thing wrong being a true meat hunter if you are going to use it.

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Im a deer hunter. When I fill my doe tags, its mostly for meat, and Ill take the doe that gives me the best shot. If I have multiple good shots available, Ill take the biggest one in the group. When Im hunting for bucks, Im selective.

 

I dont look down on anyone for their personal harvest goals. I get frustrated when I see some of the younger bucks on the farm fall to the guys that put zero time in, but what am I really going to do about it? They have permission to hunt there too, and are happy with what they took, so I congratulate them and move on.

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I agree with Four Season Whitetail.  To me, a meat hunter is someone who hunts to fill the freezer. The biggest difference, and it's only my opinion that is the key, was the comment about the 50lb fawn.  A true meat hunter looks to take the most meat possible from thier limited tags.

A mechanic I know "brags" that he has killed a buck every year for the past 10 years. All were button bucks on DMP's, to me, he is not a meat hunter but a "brown is down" member.

 

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