Tony, I don't hunt for the trophy on the wall. But, if a great animal walks by, I won't pass it up. Up here, there are very few pieces of property that are large enough that a deer will stay on it it's whole life, and passing up a 3.5 year old deer on the hopes that it will grow another 2-3 years and become a trophy just isn't realistic. Someone else will shoot it if it's seen.
There is a lot of illegal hunting going on too. That's an assumption tho. I heard a LOT of single shots fired the last hour to 1/2 hour before total darkness on the Friday evening before the firearms opener. Since we have 48 hrs to check in a deer, and electronic check-in is possible, who's to say if the deer was shot Friday evening or early Saturday morning if it's checked in Sunday evening?
