I hunted the Wildlife Ranch in Mason......will never do high fence again unless for a meat kill (not meat hunt). Hunted Kerr Ranch also. It was 10,000 acres but the same non the less. Makes me love my East,tx no fence lease even more.

High Fence= future of hunting.
Low Fence =enjoy real hunting while you still can.

Don't think you will find to many people that like Wildlife Ranch in Mason its a petting zone designed for shooting lots of exotics not what I would call the typical HF ranch

yeah the wildlife ranch or thompson temple is a put and take operation. Not what i was talking about. I don't know many people who enjoy those types of places.

I was meaning a real, honest high fence ranch

Now that is what I'm talkin about!

I'm lost here. High fencers spend 10's of thousands or more dollars to put up high fences which high fencers claim have no impact. I don't have a problem with a person putting up a fence, I just don't understand how a person would spend that much cash on something that has no impact. Is there a place to go for a synopsis of the two sides of this HF / LF debate?

There are LF ranches that produce the same kind of buck but they cost even more

I would say...a 5K acre buffer around the LF places cost a purdy penny.

Huh? All I'm saying is if a $100K fence produces no difference, why spend it?

high fences are $15k-$20k a mile.


all this to have a little control over there herd, and not having their patience, time and effort pissed away because the neighbor wants to reap the benefits

So, High fenced is different than low fenced. Thanks.

No one says it does nothing. It clearly keeps deer inside the fence. Therefore, your neighbors cannot affect the deer inside. You control any management that occurs.

A lot of people think that it doesn't affect the deer's day to day activity, as far as making it easier to kill. Some people seem to think that high fenced large ranches are some sort of zoo where you can walk in and select your deer from a menu.

it doesn't if your niebhor are on the same plan as you or you have a very large track of land

So, On a large tract of land the $15K to $20K / mile makes no difference?

Where did anyone say it made no difference in any way?

it will overall b/c it allows you to protect your entire herd instead of just your core group.

been known to dabble a little in high fence areas... does this make me a bad man... i will let God decide......

repent now, or forever be damned!!!

personally I don't think so. to prove my point
all LF ranches below are capable of 200 plus inch deer, I'm sure I missing a bunch

Nunley Chittim Ranch
King Ranch
Mclean bowman ranch
MCALLEN RANCH
CHAPARROSA
MALTSBERGER

If i had a big ranch and with lots of land and had the money I would HF it....lot less problems not just talking about deer, talking about gathering cattle, keeping idiots off..ect. All Ag fence are depreciatable

HF 3000 acres Broken Rim Ranch in Telegraph since 2005

I've hunted a handful. All have been 6k acres plus.

Haven't yet, just because I can't afford it

well of course the king ranch can produce them deer..........

King Ranch, located in south Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville, is one of the world's largest ranches.[citation needed] The 825,000 acres (3,340 km2; 1,289 sq mi)[3] ranch, founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King and Gideon K. Lewis, includes portions of six Texas counties, including most of Kleberg County and much of Kenedy County, with portions extending into Brooks, Jim Wells, Nueces, and Willacy counties. The ranch does not consist of one single contiguous plot of land, but rather four large sections called divisions. Only two of the four divisions border each other, and that border is relatively short.[4] The ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

I've hunted on 2 different ones. 18000 acres around Carizo Springs and 24000 acres in Old Mexico. Both of those places are so big that the deer may have never seen a fence in their life.

I recently read a TPWD report that (based on post kill surveys) the vast majority of bucks killed in Texas are 2.5 years old.

High fence almost guarantees (with proper management) that the age structure of the herd on your ranch will be much greater and therefore, all things equal (like range condition), will produce much larger antlers on the older bucks.

If you add supplemental feed and water then they'll most likely get even larger.

Also, it's easier to keep out poachers.

On larger places I don't think the high fence affects deer behavior. On smaller places I believe it does.

Justin - Precisely - It is a given that is makes a difference. That is the reason for the astrick on the animals taken.