I think you’re missing another category and that’s for the guys chasing experiences.
I’ve been a trophy hunter and meat hunter since I killed my first deer at 9 years old. Now days, I only want to shoot deer, elk, antelope for the experiences. I have no problem shooting a small buck or doe if my kids are with me. Or shooting a smaller elk if it came screaming in my face. Kinda hard to explain but I’ve passed up killing decent bucks with my wife and son only to shoot a smaller buck or doe later on. In those instances, it was just a more raw experience with them and I was happy they got to be fully present for it.
Last year, I had a great elk tag with the real potential to shoot a high scoring bull. I actually found a huge bull and was making a play on him when I ran into a way lower scoring freak bull. It was way too sweet of an experience with him bugling in my face to not shoot him. Helped that he was almost 60 inches wide too haha. Regardless, I’m in it for awesome memories.
