-Legal to shoot - yes
-If you know it was an escapee from a neighbor - you pass and contact the neighbor & figure out a solution

I was raised old school

Exactly. You don't feel sorry for the old lady who dropped the hundred dollar bill. It's her fault for letting it fall out of her purse by gawd! Finders keepers! "You don't take satisfaction in their loss, but you'd be happy to help them lose it". And are happy for anyone else who helps them lose it. Legally of course...

About 10 pages ago I made a similar statement and lamented the fact that so many here in the hunting community (and our society) feel the opposite.

This goes back to what I said earlier, "That you should treat people how you want to be treated."

What lady? Thought we were talking about a deer. Your analogies suck. But that's been pointed out already. Of course I would feel sorry for someone losing something they owned. I don't however feel sorry for someone who claims to have lost something they never owned in the first place and in reality actually belongs to the citizens of the state.

Section 1.011:


Property Of The State


(a) All wild animals, fur-bearing animals, wild birds, and wild fowl inside the borders of this state are the property of the people of this state.


TP&W CODE

The crying continues.....

What if he made the deer, kinda like a knife-- and he lost it and you found it--and it was worth $20,000 dollars?

This is similar to what happened where I lived last year. Obama used executive action to designate 496,000 acres a national monument here, this forced a bunch of cattle ranchers out of business and off of the land they had grazed for generations. Technically they never owned the land, the state did. SO they lost their livelihood and had to figure out something to do with their cattle. Some had infrastructure they lost too. But they never really owned the land, the state did. So do you not feel like this..."I don't however feel sorry for someone who claims to have lost something they never owned in the first place and in reality actually belongs to the citizens of the state" for the cattle guy too.....or is the feeling only reserved for people who have high fence?

On the whole ownership I think you are missing a few points. You are quoting the Texas law for free ranged animals.... Note it states "wild." This was in Ohio...the Preserve bought the deer it was never free range...so I think there is an "ethical ownership" when the deer got out of the pen. It was not illegal to shoot it under Ohio law (since it's a native species and you cannot distinguish it from a free range deer.)

So regardless of the analogies (good or bad) ...this was never a deer that started out as being owned by the state/people...it was breed as a shooter buck that the preserve purchased....bill of sale and they owned it....it got out....and someone shot it.

Had it been a non native species like an alpaca ...it wouldn't have been shoot.

So to be clear... I am not commenting on the 16 year old kid who shot it.... but there is an ethical ownership....and a value...and the circumstances (deer escaped) and the law (it looks like a native deer) make it legal to shoot the animal.

The native/non native argument doesn't hold up. There are elk native to Texas and yet I can go to an exotic ranch and shoot an elk this weekend.

Passthru, I don't understand your point. I can go to Ohio tomorrow and shoot a deer in a Preserve. How does that relate to ownership?

Elk are considered Exotics in Texas..... this from the TPW website

Exotic Animals and Fowl

Exotic animal refers to grass-eating or plant-eating, single-hoofed or cloven-hoofed mammals that are not indigenous or native to Texas and are known as ungulates, including animals from the deer and antelope families that landowners have introduced into this state. Includes, but is not limited to feral hog, Aoudad sheep, Axis deer, Elk, Sika deer, Fallow deer, Blackbuck antelope, Nilgai antelope, and Russian boar. Exotic fowl refers to any avian species that is not indigenous to this state, including ratites (emu, ostrich, rhea, cassowary, etc.).

There are no state bag or possession limits or closed seasons on exotic animals or fowl on private property. It is against the law to:
•Hunt an exotic without a valid hunting license.
•Hunt an exotic on a public road or right-of-way.
•Hunt an exotic without the landowner's permission.
•Possess an exotic or the carcass of an exotic without the owner's consent.

I think high fence hunting should be illegal.

That should be worth another ten or twelve pages at least.

It's a shame you nor your grandkids will live to see your dream come true.

I thought the same thing about gay marriage and legal pot. Things can change.

That sounds like an intro to a 5th grade book report you are forced to read in front of the class

You know though, someone who shares that same belief as you.....the people who think hunting over feeders should be banned. You are in good company, PETA loves you!

I'm not down with the high fence thing either. When I was a teen in the early 90s I walked into my neighbors living room for the first time and was awed at all his bucks he had hanging on his wall. They were all nice looking east Texas bucks with the biggest maybe having a high score of around 125. They were all killed in counties like Cass, Marion, and Gregg, dated all the way back to the early 1970s and each one having a very interesting story behind the hunt. Now I'm pushing 40 and have my own very hard earned trophy room full of whitetails. A lot of them fell to the knowledge I learned from the old man down the street. The whitetail herd in east Texas has blossomed into something special over the years and the 120s mark can be more of a buck that you might say, "that buck needs to make it to the next season and man he'll be a big one." I've personally seen this happen through a lot of trial and error beating the brush in the pineywoods. I've hunted east Texas whitetails for 23 years and when I see a 170 inch typical killed or a non typical in the 190s and occasionally that freaky bush head that breaks the 200 mark I say dang! That's a good one. But when I see bucks with northern looking genetics with gigantic antler characteristics my brain automatically throws up a red flag. Kind of like hmmm something funny is going on here. I'm proud to say that when I pull down on one I'm fixing to kill a big east Texas buck and I'm going to be one proud sucker. Then I'm going to show it off to all my huntin' buddies and make them jealous, because, lets face it folks, big bucks are awesome creatures that are better left alone to grow big in freedom just like us.

I didn't read all the posts. I would be too ashamed to shoot a deer with a tag in its ear, or any deer in a high fence. I would have figured out a way to trap that deer and collect reward/sell it. I would rather have cash than kill a pen raised deer any day of the week.

I wouldn't pay to shoot a "trophy" in a high fence unless it (the fenced property) were quite large. However I go shoot pigs and exotic doe for meat from a 100 acre high fence place most every year. We have fun and the animals die just like the ones in a low fence area. Do I consider that a real hunt? No. It's grocery shopping with my bow. Although I have been skunked there. However on 5000 acres it would be a different mentality for me. Still though, when I finally get my 150 class buck, I want it to be a low fence kill. That said, our place borders a high fence operation. I see one of their tagged deer in our place I'm going to contact them and see if we can make the situation right.

And if I'm not mistaken aren't there insurance policies kept on these animals in these type of places?

Hey at least you are honest, haha both of your scenarios involves you profiting off of something that the state owns. But yet we like to throw low blows to the rancher who is profiting off of what the state owns? Please explain....

Yes you can, thats what I said earlier....haha the dude probably has a policy and doesnt even care that it ran off - just one less hunt he has to sell.

Unless you are the breeder and can prove that deer is yours I think you'd be breaking several laws. But hey, profits a strong enough motivation to make you justify taking your neighbors lost valuables, it's a short stroll to lawbreaking from there.