I think I was the same as everyone else, out to hunt and it didn't matter to me if I shot a spike or a ten point. Over the years, I have had a change of heart. I still Love to be in the woods as much as I can. I too, like many of us here, have my wall of shame, as I like to call it. However the last few years, I have opted to primarily hunt with my bow. I no longer have the need, not that I ever really did, to kill a buck every year. I do not consider myself a trophy hunter, and never plan to be one. I do, however, like to shoot as many does as I am legal to. In the area I hunt, it is not uncommon to see 45-50 does for every buck. During the summer months, I like to drive the back roads and farm fields with my spotting scope and a pen and paper. I mark down every deer I see and if it was a buck how many points. Many has been the time that I come home and tally up the count to find I seen 250 deer and only 10 or 20 bucks. Out of the bucks I see, 85% are 1.5 year olds.
The thing that gets me the most, is, I try to talk to every hunter I can, in he field or in the gas stations, or where ever we may meet, and I find more times than not, guys will tell me they put in for as many doe tags as possible, just so they know the tags they get are gonna save a does life because the refuse to kill a doe.
I grew up in the heart of one of the U.P.'s deer yards. I have seen many times, an old doe kick the tar out of her own fawns and mature bucks after they drop their antlers, just to keep them off a food source. I just wish more hunters had the time to spend in the deer woods after the season and into the winter. Maybe then they would realize the doe they are saving this year is taking food away from the buck they are wishing to get next year.
Also, maybe they would have the oppertunity to see with their own eyes what happens to a buck, when he tries to breed so many does and runs his fat reserves off. Starvation is a crule way to die.