Ray,

I see your point - I have never had to pay a trophy fee for anything I kill. But, I never do it to show off - in fact I am usually alone and there is nobody to show off to. I do it because I am alone and I don't like going into the briars alone after angry chest shot boars, or even less angry chest shot animals, often as it is quickly getting dark. It is my firm belief that percentage wise, more people are killed and maimed by chest shot animals than by head shot animals, though I admit I have no proof of this. Just MHO. I am the first to admit that I am far from being the next Karamojo Bell - I know many who shoot better than I could ever hope for. I always thought of myself as just your plain old, everyday, garden variety, Texas rifleman. To me it was just always the normal, natural, logical, safe thing to do, and I never knew til I got on the internet that most other people considered it to be "too risky," "too difficult," or "showing off." I didn't know that, and that is the truth. I just thought I was doing the safe and logical thing, and couldn't understand why so few others, (many of whom shoot better than I), did it. I guess now I know why, so my question has been answered.

Let me reiterate that, if the decapitation shot is not there for me, then I WILL NOT try to force it. I will gladly take the chest shot if that is the only thing I am offered. But if I am offered the bang flop, I am not going to pass it up, trophy fee or no trophy fee. I feel like if I am too scared to do what I believe to be safe and right just because I might fail and lose my money, then I need to just go back to shooting aliens on a video game with the children. Heck, how many people would consider a head shot to be "too risky," and then turn around and plop down more money on a Vegas dice table on a single roll than I make in a month? More than a bunch, I am sure. I wouldn't put a dime of my money on a dice table, but I would take a bang flop every day if it was there for me. I could be wrong though, I don't know. Maybe one day I will get dead doing that, and then I won't do it any more.

Please know that I am truly not trying to be combative or make anyone mad - that is just the way I feel and I only hold myself to my own philosophies. I do not begrudge anyone else their philosophies or think badly of anyone who has a different view. I am all too aware that in the end they could prove to be right and I could prove to be wrong. In the meantime I will just keep doing what I do and let everybody else do what they do best. Live and let live, I always say..

Ciao,

Ingwe