what if a place was about 6000 acres and the ppl actually turned their breeder bucks loose w/ ear tags and a "off-limits" stipulation to hunters?

Thats not the majority of high fences. I have no problem shooting a good deer on a large HF place and look at it as no different then a low fence place. Now if out side / non native genetics where brought in thats not my cup of tea. I have hunted and been on HF places ranging from 3oo to 21k, The largest deer(s) I have ever seen where actually on LF places. I think the HF and LF are virtually the same... Whats the differance in shooting a 190in deer in Amos' place verus the King Ranch? Which one is harder? Probley Amos's place he has more pressure.

I have never hunted HF, never have been very interested and assume i can not afford it.

I think its crazy to say there is no diff between HF and free range. A HF place can be managed so that NO bucks younger than 3.5 are harvested, on LF you ahve to hope everyone has the same views on management, but you can't control anything. and when you bring in foreign deer, breeder bucks ect... of course there will be more bigger bucks. What makes a trophy a trophy? the fact that it is limited supply!! I want to shoot the biggest buck in an area, whether thats a 125 or a 200, (both trophies to me) But if you are on a south texas HF ranch under extreme management and you are passing on 170 class bucks, is a 170 class buck no longer a trophy?

if you catch an 9 pound bass in a 1 acre stock tank, do you mount it? I would not, but if i caught it on Ray Hubbard or Lavon i would.

I think High Fence hunting has made it too easy for shooters to put monster bucks on thier walls, without earning them. There are litterally places you can view photos of deer, price tags and select what you want to Shoot (no hunt).

In a perfect world the best or the luckiest hunter would get the biggest buck, not the hunter with the fattest wallet.

One more point while i'm offering my opinion... how come on the exotic hunts where the animals have ear tags to make it easier for the "hunter" to identify the trophy fee on the animal they are about to kill.... you never see the ear tags in thier trophy photos!! do what you do, but be proud of it. leave the ear tags in your trophy photos, and use the high fence as the back drop for your pictures. If you are ok with it, then why try to remove these factors from the photos and memories?

1 acre!!!

There are several low fence ranches in TX that can offer you a 170 plus deer. 170 inch deer is a huge deer period.

Again don't confuse HF places most don't import genetics

You mean Low fences places like
King Ranch
Cochina Ranch
Chittim Ranch
McAllen
Winniship
Brisco Catarina
Shiner

ect.

Don't discount big deer or the credit of those working thier tails off to produce and hold huge WT's. You can produce and grow them in HF or LF.

No thanks. I don't want to see deer with tags punched through their ears. I'm not interested in High Fence.

Hummm. I know someone that is border line poverty. What money he does have goes to child support(wife left him becuase he hunts his but off year round(scouting, watching, patterning, in the off season)... He has taken 9 bucks that will make P&Y. Three are over 150 and two over 190.

I am neither against or for HF. I have hunted them with mixed results and feelings. My preference is LF. Also, dont think all deer with tags in their ears are from HFs. There are/have been several studies on LFs which capture bucks to take data from them and while they are on the ground tags are put in their ears for future ID. These deer are held down about 5 minutes max after capture and then released on the spot. Still as wild as they ever were but with some earrings. I have hunted a friends ranch that is 3000 acres HF. It is every bit as hard hunting as any ranch I have ever been on. In fact I have never found a deer I wanted to shoot on his place. He sees deer ever year from the helicopter that he never sees during hunting season. I am talking about some really big deer. Regarding the pig hunt. Back in the early 90's before I even know what a high fence really meant I went on a day hog hunt with my bow. My buddy and I arrived at the ranch well before daylight. We left the lodge on foot which I thought was odd. As it began to get daylight we encountered a group of pigs and I thought wow what great luck. I missed so my buddy is up next. Not long afterward we run into another group, we are really lucky, right. My buddy gets his. It is now very daylight I am beginning to realize we are hunting in a zoo/farm whatever. I ask the guy how big the place was and he said about 100 acres. After viewing hogs running around everywhere I asked that we return to the lodge as I had no desire to take one of his animals. Long story short, It is hard to define what fairchase is but I sure know it when I see it. I fully agree with whoever said there is a difference in hunting and shooting and it is going home empty handed a lot of the time that makes us appreciated the time we dont.

Not fenced, except to keep them from playing in oncoming traffic.

the guy you speak of is not spending 10K - 20k to hunt, or that he owns his own high fence operation, so he is probably one of the better hunters out there, he does the work and has access to areas that produce that quality of deer. And those are the guys who should be bragging about thier accomplishments. Not the rich guys that can buy the 190 class buck and be home in time for dinner.

I have become friends with the family that operates the deer barn (processing) in Brady Texas and the stories they can tell about the "hunters" who fly into the brady airport, travel 10 minutes to the high fence ranch and before dinner all have thier trophy bucks on the ground before Hard 8 runs out of bacon wrapped shrimp on a saturday evening, to me is ridiculous. (to each thier own)

At least for now, we all have the rights to make our own decisions in regards to hunting!!

My point is both his deer over 190 he watched and put a lot of time into for many years. Bucks that get that big and then get taken means someone(rancher, manager, hunter, even Guide) put a lot of time into those deer. People drop a lot of cash on bucks that are LF ranches also, look at the ranches I posted. I love big deer, and love even more that someone put a lot of time into watching, patterning ect. Regardless of the shooter give the deer and the work put into them a little credit. Not all HF are the same.




I love their pepper loft!!!! They processed a bunch of deer for us last year. Lots of jap cheese sausage. But I know what your talking about. I walked into the cooler last year and two huge bucks(breeder deer turned loose) with bleach white racks and holes in thier ears,(thats not me or my kind of hunting) but thats not all HF places either.

There are some huge bucks killed that no one will post, every year even on this forum a REALLY GOOD LF buck is shot and posted and immediatley people start yelling must be nice to have that much $$$$$, or breeder buck... and thats not the case.

I'm not trying to be an asre or even mad sounding.. just wish more people will forget about the $$$ or even the HF part of it and give credit to the animal and the work behind it.

HF or Not someone worked the asre off for that deer to be killed.

Case in point the two benson deer killed in Grayson. Two bucks killed on the same ranch by father/son combo both bucks where over 200in. Small LF ranch I think 300 acres.. Point is those bucks didn't just show up one day. They where passed up for many years and patterned until the where mature. They put a lot of work into those deer before they where shot and to get them. Amos on here shot the largest deer ever in TX. He didn't HF his Ranch his niebhors did. He didn't have a choice. All his deer are native not imported and not DMP pens or anything. He put a lot of time into that deer scouting, maintaining herd numbers, finding him (4000 acres) keeping him found... ect I think that deer was over 7 years old. Those three deer are all native TX with a lot of blood sweat and tears.. why discount them

My nomination for post of the year!

I don't care what anyone else does. I choose to hunt low fence. I am blessed and can afford to hunt on the high dollar, big name ranches (low or high fence) but I don't. I couldn't care less about shooting a 200" deer on a high fence place and wouldn't do it if it were free. I would feel like I cheated every time I walked into my trophy room and saw the mount.

I can appreciate the size of a big deer off of a high fence place. I can appreciate the hard work of the ranch owner/manager and the size of a big deer off of a low fence ranch such as the King Ranch. I don't disrespect the guy who shoots a deer off of either place. Just don't act like he/she is some great hunter and has accomplished some great feat. That just isn't the case.

its not a sin to hunt in a game fence. too much variation on ranches, terrain, brush, etc to be discussed about every ranch. but, if your buddy kills a 160 low fence, and you kill a 165 high fence, he's gonna have the better trophy in most peoples book. on the other hand, the buying and selling of exotics, whitetail, or any animal solely for the use of harvest should be outlawed. another thing about game fences people forget is on well managed places the fence is not to keep deer in, but to keep the neighbors unmanaged deer out. if you spent ten years gettin doe to buck ratio correct, and killing the undesirables out of the herd, ya might not want all ur neighbors spikes eatin ur protein!!!

I do not like high fences. They are management intentive and high maintenance.
That said, I have a high fence operation (over 1000 acres with dense cover and lots of canyons).
I tried for too many years to manage a low fence ranch but lease hunting pressure on all sides was unbearable. I am originally a south Texan and lease hunter but conditions were nowhere near what they are within 2 hours of DFW.
If your fence is lined with blinds and fresh tags coming in daily it is impossible to have quality deer that will be able to mature.
High fencing comes with the price of having to intensely manage the herd so that age, nutrition and genetics are in balance. New genetics have to be introduced periodically to keep diversity in your herd. And if you are bringing them in it would be foolish not to bring in the best.
I think that you would have to experience the hunt on a well managed large HF operation to be able to knowledgable comment on this thead.
It is all about the hunting experience and not about the fence.

I wouldn't have either of them mounted, but there would be fried fish for dinner.

High feence is = deer breeding. If deer has been handled, in a pen or enclosure then not wild imo. Enclosing a natural resource that doesnt belong to the landowner and making it his by "capture".

However, to each his own and I certainly understand the arguments on both sides of the fence.

It doesn't seem to me like deer breeding if you don't do any of those things. Some people high fence just to keep the small landowners around them from killing so many of "their" deer.

this

Did I read this right. You say the buying of any animal for the sole purpose of harvest should be outlawed. What country do people like yourself grow up in. Not the same USA I did. Cattle are bought for the sole purpose of harvest are you a veggie.

It would help if you put the details in your question -
you failed to mention 35 Acreshighfence, Bowhunting, and Hogs, all of which are pretty important for a reasonable answer.

BTW, I found these 'details' by looking at your other post:

My opinion? - it is what it is, as long as you state the facts upfront.
For hogs with a bow, sounds like fun and price on your website is very reasonable. Not too far from DFW either.

.

I've got a friend that has a very similar type operation.

Is it a super challenging hunt? NO
Would I consider anything shot there a "Trophy"? NO
Is it a lot of fun? YEP
Is it a great deal to fill up your freezer with pork? YEP

I agree with oldoak, as long as everyone knows up front what's going on and you don't try to pass yourself off as a highly skilled hunter because you shot something there.

I took several other very experienced hunters with me to my friend's place and was a little concerned they would not like the set up. When the weekend was finished, all of them told me that it was one of the most fun weekends that they had ever had, and all of them went home with some tasty pork.

oh we're talking hogs... hi-fence, low fence, no fence.... fun, not fun experience..... they need to die. Many thanks to those that keep them behind a fence.

Who are we to tell the landowners what to do with their land?