Trophy hunting

Trophy hunting is the selective hunting of wild game. The trophy is the animal or part of the animal kept, and usually displayed, to represent the success of the hunt. The primary game sought is usually the oldest and most mature animal from a given population. This is typically a male with the largest body size or largest antlers or horns. Parts of the animal may be kept as a hunting trophy or memorial (usually the skin, antlers, horns and/or head), in some circumstances the carcass itself is used as food.

Trophy hunting has both firm supporters and strong opponents. Debates surrounding trophy hunting centrally concern not only the question of the morality of recreational hunting and supposed conservation efforts of big-game and ranch hunting, but also the observed decline in animal species that are targets for trophy hunting.

A hunting trophy is an item prepared from the body of a game animal killed by a hunter and kept as a souvenir. Often, the heads or entire bodies are processed by a taxidermist, although sometimes other body parts such as teeth, tusks, horns or hide are used as the trophies.