A lot can create obstacles for a low fence game management program. Size of property and adjacent land situations. Personally I would shoot a 4-5 year old 130 class 8 point. Unless the property is covered with a lot of big boys. I would consider it a cull buck at that age and amount of points.

I'm a huge fan of shooting mature deer. There's nothing more exciting than shooting a 7 year old deer that looks like a cow with antlers. I believe the biggest factor in management is time. If they're shooting 150" 4-5 year olds then you've got to give those deer a couple more years and some good protein, or pray for record rainfall to push them to the 160-170 mark. I'm happy to shoot 130" eight points, but when I have about 3 of those then I will want to start moving to 140's.

management takes time. your not gunna see results overnight. but yes sometimes it does seem like it never really significantly improves on low fence properties. thats why they call it hunting.

We have tried different methods of management over the years in Mills county but in reality if you are not high fenced it is pretty all for naught. The buck to doe ratio is important high fence but on open range like our country most of the exceptional bucks are the ones that come around during the rut and are bucks that haven't been seen prior to that day. It seems in situations such as this your best chance of seeing these monster bucks from other ranches is to have more females for them to pursue. Of course we all no feeding year round and lots of browse during the summer improve horn growth for so called home grown bucks.

management takes time. your not gunna see results overnight. but yes sometimes it does seem like it never really significantly improves on low fence properties. thats why they call it hunting.

Exactly..im on 600 acres with 400 lowfenced to the east a 1200 highfenced to south and 600 and 1200 to the north and west and for he hillcountry the highfenced highly managed 1200 has monsters i mean monsters roaming it like cattle now it could be they brought in south texas genes or the fact theyre not hunted and feed like dogs. On my place ive seen the benefits of protein feed in every feeder and lots of water and saltlicks. I dont use all my tags every year either over the past 6yrs ive hunted it ive shot 3 8s all about 2-3yrs old and a doe. Before that the land wasnt hunted for 15yrs and deer werent feed they looked like big goats with atlers. This summer i spotted scarface a 5yrold that had the side of his mouth ripped open when he was 2yrsold and a 8 point (i almost shot him for fear he wasnt able to eat) but here we are 3yrs later and hes a 10point and the biggest deer me or my family has ever seen on the property in the 56yrs weve owned it. SO does managing deer on low fence work YES ive noticed my deer dont ever really leave the acreage b/c i see them year round occasionally. This 10 i spoke of earlier i didnt see all last yr. PLus deer arent dumb the big ones are big for a reason they go nocturnal mid sept it seems. If you cant get all the guys on your lease to practice what they preach your spinning your wheels i have no management agreement with my neighbors they shoot what they want, now there not idiots either so they dont kill there limit every year. This is truly a marathon and quite a expensive one to run but IT WORKS. Its just easier to do it behind a 7' fence. just my .02
.......Oh and if you have a 5yrold 8pt 130 that deer is by definition A CULL if not then hes trophy b/c you havent seen a better younger deer am i right? Id shoot him but only if your "certain" hes 5yrsold once again just my .02

I've read all of the comments and though I understand both sides of the HF vs LF argument, my observation was based more on the year to year, different lease holders with different ideas about management techniques all dwelling in the same general area situation. When Billy Bob brings his brother-in-law as a guest, and BIL shoots a 3 year old big 8 with great potential, that's a buck that, at least according to one poster above, would have made all of the years of managing worthwhile. Meanwhile, the other however many hunters on the lease are letting this creature feed for free as they plink does and management bucks (I don't like the term "cull" since it implies a low quality animal, and many aren't). So, now you have people other than the those who were indoctrinated into the ideal of raising big deer out there taking game, the same game everyone else let walk.

It's not a far fetched scenario, it happens all the time and not only on the same lease. Billy Bob could be your neighbor and his BIL doesn't give a rat's [censored] about your management idea, he sees a deer and wants to kill it, or he wants his kid to kill it. How can you ever manage that? It's not your land, but your feeders and your lease holders have raised these deer yet your neighbors who haven't done so much as put out a salt lick are taking the rewards.

Sorry, but in all of my years being on and around leases like I mention, I have yet to see the "big one" step out, and I don't know anyone else who has either. Like someone else says, they come by during the rut, but the management you do doesn't bring or keep them, and if you happen to be there when they show, maybe you get him, but if Billy Bob sees him first, well...

I am not suggesting that management is futile, only that I have never seen any evidence to suggest free roaming herds can be managed from one property. Perhaps it's out there, or if the property is 50K acres, I can see deer never straying far, but on the 5K spreads, surely deer exist on the fringes that pop in and out regularly, they feed and they leave. They don't see the boundaries.

However, I still practice the management since it's pretty much ingrained into my psyche by now. So, instead of approaching a hunt with a target in mind, it's a mood game and a game of compromises. Last day of the hunt? Ok, now the deer that wasn't good enough yesterday is good enough. I see it that way too, I don't know how not to.

I also question many people's ability to score an animal on the hoof, but that's another topic altogether.

That is just a chance we have to take managing a low fence place. We have to hope the deer either stays on our property, or hope he is weary enough the typical hunter isn't going to get a shot at him.

The one thing I can be certain of is, if you shoot him when he is young, he won't ever get any bigger.

Donnie, if I were you I'd quit managing for the really big one and spend some bucks to go to an operation where they can almost guarantee you a 180" buck.

Personally, when the day comes that a 130" buck doesn't get me excited, I'll quit deer hunting.