| As with any sport, a competitive streak runs | | | | Deer hunting has been closely regulated by the |
| through deer hunting. Hunters are always | | | | Department of Natural Resources for many |
| swapping stories of how large a buck was, or | | | | decades so hunters will not adversely effect the |
| how many points it had, even to the point of | | | | deer population. Hunting contests, by their very |
| extreme exaggeration. So it makes sense that | | | | nature, encourage the hunter to bag the biggest |
| for as long as hunting has existed for sport, there | | | | trophy, so another concern is that an irresponsible |
| have been hunting contests to award bragging | | | | hunter may try to take a deer by illegal means. If |
| rights to the hunter who bagged the biggest | | | | hunters decide to disregard the laws set in place, |
| trophy. But some fear that the hunting contest | | | | the deer population could plummet. |
| takes a step in the wrong direction; many worry | | | | One suggestion made has been to allow the |
| that hunters are killing deer for bragging rights | | | | hunters to take deer off of only 1,000 square |
| alone, and not to use the meat and carcass of | | | | acres of land, thus the deer population would be |
| the deer as is preferred. Because of this negative | | | | very strictly controlled. Also, other hunters not |
| criticism, many groups have discontinued hunting | | | | participating in the contest who plan to use the |
| contests all together. | | | | meat for food won't be affected by the |
| Those who criticize the practice of hunting | | | | abundance of hunters. But while some contests |
| contests do so under the assumption that hunters | | | | are attempting to find better ways to run their |
| "shoot to kill", instead of shooting to use the meat | | | | competition, just as many more continue to run |
| of the animal. Some contests have tried to offset | | | | their contests in the traditional way. |
| this criticism by changing the rules. For instance, | | | | The best thing a competitive hunter can do is to |
| the World Hunting Association, long known for | | | | stick to deer hunting contests that are strongly |
| their deer hunting contest, proposed the idea of | | | | regulated. This will allow the hunter to compete |
| using tranquilizers to only knock the deer out for | | | | with minimal interruption from outside criticism. |
| a period of time, but that proposal received even | | | | Also, the more regulated a competition is, often |
| more scrutiny; many protesters said it would be | | | | times the more challenging, so when a hunter |
| animal cruelty, so the WHA returned to the | | | | does triumph, the reward will be all the more |
| traditional format. | | | | satisfying. |