Thread: What or who defines a "trophy buck"?

What criteria has to be met before a buck can be classified a "trophy"?

I'm waiting to hear from the Texas Parks and Wildlife legal department for an answer.

I live in a two buck county, but only one buck can be a trophy and I don't know
what defines a trophy. In the Texas Parks and Wildlife Annual, under definitions,
there is no such definition.

What is your understanding? This might become educational.

In my area of Florida a trophy is defined as any deer with horns! Haha. My guess is they will let Boone and crocket (firearm) or pope and young (bow) decide. Both of those organizations have a trophy classification based on score

Originally Posted by try'n hard

In my area of Florida a trophy is defined as any deer with horns! Haha. My guess is they will let Boone and crocket (firearm) or pope and young (bow) decide. Both of those organizations have a trophy classification based on score

Expected Pope & Young and Boone & Crockett to get into the discussion, but are they a branch of the Parks & Wildlife Department?
If the Legal Department of the Texas Parks & Wildlife invoke either organization, that will be my next question. Would they be called into the conversation as expert
witnesses in the event the question should arise? I'm just looking for a legal leg to stand on if the question ever comes up, if I ever shoot two bucks on my property
and they happen to fall in the same county. Half my property is in one county and the other half is in another county. I can handle the technical aspects of tagging
one buck in one county and another buck in the other county, but I have found that there are those that cannot handle such technicalities. The results are very
expensive for the individuals that cannot remember where they were when they pulled the trigger. One mans trophy does not always equal "trophy" status in the eyes
of the other man. In a court of law, there has to be something or a criteria for establishing a buck to be of "trophy" status, so fines can be levied against the hunter,
should he drop more than one buck in a season in the same county.

Originally Posted by RetiredRR

Expected Pope & Young and Boone & Crockett to get into the discussion, but are they a branch of the Parks & Wildlife Department?
If the Legal Department of the Texas Parks & Wildlife invoke either organization, that will be my next question. Would they be called into the conversation as expert
witnesses in the event the question should arise? I'm just looking for a legal leg to stand on if the question ever comes up, if I ever shoot two bucks on my property
and they happen to fall in the same county. Half my property is in one county and the other half is in another county. I can handle the technical aspects of tagging
one buck in one county and another buck in the other county, but I have found that there are those that cannot handle such technicalities. The results are very
expensive for the individuals that cannot remember where they were when they pulled the trigger. One mans trophy does not always equal "trophy" status in the eyes
of the other man. In a court of law, there has to be something or a criteria for establishing a buck to be of "trophy" status, so fines can be levied against the hunter,
should he drop more than one buck in a season in the same county.

Pope & Young and Boone & Crockett Club are not a group or extension of TPWD, they are their own organization, not a state agency.

If you look at my previous reply to your question, there is nothing that a judge/JP or an Attorney could throw the case or citation out since the word 'trophy' does not or is not associated with the Antler Restriction in any way nor is it written as such. Hate to say this, but you either have listened to someone or heard someone say that the 13" or greater between the main beams is a 'trophy' buck.

My guess is that with a good lawyer - it can be beat. Lawyer will cost just a little more than the total fine amount plus the aggravation. They got ya no matter what. Good luck - I'm in your nephews side!

Finally got a response from Texas Parks & Wildlife. They beat around the bush so much it was funny. Never addressed my question directly. All I got out of their response was,
one has to have an inside spread over 13" and one has to have an inside spread less than 13" with one forked horn and one spike. I offered a photo like this and got zero
response. This one has an inside spread less than 13". Is it a trophy or cull buck? If I shot it, I would do a skull mount only. And it would never show up on facebook. lol
Just my opinion. Just a conversation topic. In Texas, the antlers need to extend beyond the ends of each ear to be anything other than a cull buck. One of the reasons
I've questioned Texas Parks & Wildlife. Still don't know what or who defines a "trophy buck".

That sounds crazy. I've never seen a reg quite like that where such an unscientific and subjective term was used. In almost every reg from every state in the country, the definition of which animals can be shot is spelled out very clearly. It HAS to be to be enforceable.

It's been a long time ago that I lived and hunted in TX but seems like any deer with a horn was a "buck" and in multi-buck counties only one buck with a 13" + spread was allowed. Don't remember the term "trophy" being in the regs.

a trophy is in the eyes of the beholder(or shooter in this case) the govmt. may institute size restrictions but outa leave the word trophy out of it- just my opion

13" spread sure isn't a very big. I too would think it would be very explicitly stated in the regs.