I tried replying to you earlier but guess this new configuration has some bugs!!!

It was a combination of getting the seasonings just right, having a really good Mesquite fire, and the anus relaxation quotient all of you that rode up The Hill and back down had, just knowing you had survived that trip. I will pm you with the list of seasonings I used.

Not really wishing to start anything with you, but Thompson Temple does not give a bad name to high fence hunting operations, no more than the Y.O. does. When they have a hunter come on that 50,000 acres that wants a certain size Eland, Greater Kudu, you name it, the word is put out and all the hands working on the ranch are on the lookout for that animal. When they spot it, they radio the guide with the animals location and the hunter is taken to that pasture. I am looking at doing a Nilgai hunt on the King, that is a One Day hunt, and the only way I won't kill a Nilgai, is if I can't hit my A$$ with both hands.

I have been on one of those hunts on a high fence operation that give those hunts a bad name, it was supposed to be a feral hog hunt, and you could make oput the place where the auction tag had been on the animals back.

Thompson Temple has been doing this for years, and from going over all of the information he puts out, I find no place where he makes any claims that these are wild animals, and that your chances of success are really low.

As 7mag and Hwy-man said, this was something that they did, and would probably never do again, or at least not at Thompsons place.

Lora and I raise the same types of sheep that Thompson sells on his hunts. Will we sell to him, even though ours are pets, YES. Simply because we are in the business of raising sheep and the Trophy market is the place we can realize the most return on our investment. Thompson is in the business of selling a product, in his case it is a form of hunting.

For any guide/outfitter, whether fishing or hunting, the only way you stay in busines ids for your clients to catch or kill something on a fairly regular basis. Thompson has had people, including some folks that participate on here, hunt with him several times over several years, there is nothing wrong with that. Conversely, for those that have hunted his place and keep going back, some folks just don't like that type set-up.

All though we all had a different in opions, with the Ram hunt, one thing we arn't divided on is FRIENDSHIP. I may not agree with what any of these guys think or do, I would still hunt with them in a heart beat. If you haven't been around this group, your missing out. These are by far the best guys and a lady a hunter could ask to spend some time with. The only bad thing is that we are so far from each other, so I tend to value these GTG a little more. I don't care what you may think of us on this forum and behind the computer, but in person we all share the same passion, hunting. It has been brought up before about how we can't get along in here, but given a chance more so in person can work wonders for a person, with any sense. As I age I really tend to like the campfire more and more. CHC stated the same thing. It is about spending time and sharing stories and just getting to know people. Anytime these guys want to make a trip, not necassarily to TT, I would jump in a minute. I look forward to hunting and meeting a few more Forum guys and gals in the near future. We may not all agree on the subject of hunting, but this is what it is called, and I like that we have the freedom to do as we wish and hunt as we like. Like I stated I never have been a stout suppourter of these types of hunts, but if they are legal, and your paying for em, so be it. It's not for me or anyone to tell you what you can and can't enjoy. JMO, Roy

It's been about 10 years since I went on one of his "hunts". Beautiful, rugged country that I will never forget. I saw a couple of golden rattlesnakes that scared the pee out of me. I would almost pay to go back just for the scenery.

But, none of us elected to kill the barnyard sheep. That ain't hunting and I will have nothing to do with that kind of deal.

Ok, now that I have got Randall to do some chores and get off the confuser... I will give you my 2c.

Accomodations - All I can say is that the rooms where I am Camp Manager HAVE NO BUNKBEDS!!! And I clean the kitchen and bathroom. And I don't think the kitchen is an electrical fire just waiting to happen.

That trailer should have slept no more than 8 to 10 people at one time, not the 12 that it had. 3 in the back room, 3 in the front bedroom, 2 in the little room where Randall and I were. Add a fold-out couch in the livingroom. Some seating so that you can relax and not be outside. More light. I could probably fix up that trailer for less than $2000.

That may sound like a lot, but remember, Thompson made between $1200 and $2000 on just the folks put up in the trailer - and there were 8 in the A-frame. Personally I would not have liked the A-Frame, simply because half of the group would have had to climb up that dang fireman's pole, and the others would have had to be in those darn bunkbeds!

Once you get to a certain age, weight, and size, bunkbeda are not a good thing. And if you have to have them, attach them to a wall, add rails to the top bed, and provide a way up there!

I am glad that I bring a full kitchen with me when I go camping. If I had not, we would not have had an enjoyable time.

And it was enjoyable, I just think that I would have been able to do it a bit better.

I have been a member here for a few years. I don't post much usually just read the topics while I am bored at work, but this issue seems to be a reoccuring theme here. I am tired of listing to the holier than thou hunters so I am going to add my 2 cents. I grew up with grandparents that raised Holstein cattle. For those that do not know what these anmials are used for they are milk cows. My grandparents ran a small farm of maybe 50 head at a time raising babies till breading age, breading them, keeping the babies and selling the adults to dairy. Then the process would start new. Here and there you would get a "bad" cow that maybe did not give alot of milk or had a bad tit, ect. When this would happen the dairy would not want to buy it so as my grandfather would put it " she is going to feed us one way or the other, if she won't give milk she will be hamburger" or something to that extent. So we would lure this wary animal into a pen useing bait, sneek up behind her and shoot her in the head. Meaning we would harvest the resource to use for food for the family. My uncle worked in a commericial meat packing plant and when I was very young my grandfather thought it a good idea for the kids to know where food comes from so we took a trip down to the slaughter house and watched the whole process of a live animal becomming packaged meats like you would see in any local store. This is the ultimate " penned hunt" and these guys are good at what they do. In minutes they can take a live cow and reduce it to a side of beef even Rocky would be proud of. My point here is animals, just like crops are resources that need to be managed, nurtured, and harvested in humane manner period. If someone wants to go to a ranch where harvesting a resource is guaranteed as long as the animal is treated humanely then more power to them. Pick a side of the fence and stand on it, you can't straddle it and claim both sides.

Next time I have an idea would you or Hunterted just shoot me

Don't really know if you are directing the fence straddling at me, but if you are, I am going to tell you right now, that you can straddle the fence on any issue you choose.

Do I support Thompson Temple and the way he has decided to make a living, yes I do. He provides a service that a lot of people over the years have taken advantage of and evidently enjoy, considering the amount of repeat customers he has.

Would I be interested in going back down there and doing another hunt, probably not. Would I recommend his place, Yes I would, simply because a person is free to choose how they spend their money. I have found over the years, that people will either continue to spend money doing things they enjoy, or will never spend another dime on an activity they don't enjoy.

Too many people want everything to be black and white, and the last time I looked this world and life in general, is a technicolor feature.

If I am taking the intent of your post wrong, than I apologise, if not, then as I say, it is my choice how I look at this issue and I am not under any obligation to anyone, as to how I live my life, or think or feel about an issue other than the way I want to.

Glad you bunch of misfits and degenerates are home. Wish I coulda been there. maybe next time.

I have been on a few hunts like this and they are not for me. If someone wants to hunt this way, that's their right. I like to hunt and enjoy the bsing more than anything. The problem is these places have such a high volume of customers, the animals have to be raised in pens in order to keep up with demands. I saw some rams get turned loose on a place around mason about 3 hours before the "hunters" showed up!!! Not for me, I will stick to my wild ducks.

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I am tired of listing to the holier than thou hunters

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If you direct this at the individual in question them maybe they can explain their position.

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Pick a side of the fence and stand on it, you can't straddle it and claim both sides.

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Once again, I'm not to sure who or what your talking about, but no one I've seen here has made a comment i would consider straddling. Could you please be more direct and concise with your comments.

Off topic question...I have heard mixed reviews on eating the meat from rams. Some say that it is good, others say they would not touch it with a 10' pole.

Which do I beleive? Can you clean and eat these Rams or is it just a horn hunt and the rest goes to waste?

My point is not to single out any individual or blast someone for their opinion. More to point out that there are lots of groups out there trying to make hunting look unethical or unjust. We need not do it to ourselves. I will stand behind anyones legal rights to harvest a natural resorce no matter if it is my prefered way to do it or not. No need to make others feel bad about how they choose to participate in this sport.

Ok, here goes another opinion..... First of all I want to say that I had a fantastic time with the group that we had. I would do it again in a heart beat (somewhere else). Thompson Temple is great guy and he has a great piece of property and that was a memorable experience. No, I chose not to shoot anything but I also will not badmouth the man for his operation. Yes, I do think he needs to make repairs to accomodations and move his graveyard form next to the camp. Whether we take an animal or not, it is still about hunting, campfires, sharing time with friends and the outdoors. For that, our weekend was a total success. I would recommend Thompsons place to other hunters with my opinion of the operation for understanding of what was to be expected before getting there. He is a very nice guy and he does try to please his hunters. It is not for me and I will not book another hunt there, but everyone is different. This would be a great place to possibly take a youngster to get a first animal. The food was great, the friends were the best you could ask for and the food was first class. What more could you ask for.

I see more and more high fenced places every time I head toward my little postage-stamp-sized hunting spot, and my heart hurts. I understand the business side of Texas hunting and a many-thousand-acres place in a fence is still hunting, but these small spots with "wild" game that are more like pets is simply not hunting.

Great photos! I love the bear claws, CHC, or at least that's what I think they are. Reminds me of the Jeremiah Johnson movie! Griz!

I went back through the threads, and i didn't really see anything derogatory about hi-fences, they had more to do with Thompson's overall operation and practices.

Not bear claws, those are the tusks from the first Javelina I ever killed. I shot it down at the Chaparral WMA back in 1991. The other teeth on there are the canines from the last bobcat I shot, and the 7 sets of whistler teeth from the elk I have shot in Colorado.

Lora and I raise these type sheep, and the young ones are delicious. The older ones are going to be tougher, and a little stronger in flavor, but, any adult male animal is going to not be the most prime eating. It depends on a lot of things, including how it is cooked, as to how it tastes. With a lot of stuff, it is just the thoughts of the animal and how it smelled before it was skinned.

To me it is sort of like people that only like to eat crappie, walleye, and flounder, they want to eat fish, but don't want it to taste like fish. That is why a lot of folks will swear that sand bass and striper aren't fit to eat, because they taste like a fish.

As everyone on here has seen before, Lora and I are both pretty eclectic about what we will eat, and there are somethings that we will not eat. From our experience however, with a lot of people, it is just the thoughts of the animal or it stems from being told by other people that it is no good.

Worst case scenario when dealing with game meat of any kind, is trying to cook it like you would a quality steak. Game meat has to be cleaned better and all the blood has to be rinsed out of the meat, and all of the fat has to be removed, as on most game animals, the fat on them goes bad really fast. A lot of folks say Javelina aren't fit to eat, Lora and I can guarantee that we can cook where that except for being a little dryer, a person couldn't tell it apart from feral hog.

I still am not sure if you are directing your comments at me or just at the topic in general, but nearly all of us that went on the trip, have stated that while we would not go back there again, we would recommend it to other folks if asked.

No one is blasting high fences, and some of us might modify our opinions if we went to a different operation with different animals and different conditions. In fact, I clearly stated that this was my 3rd. trip to a high fence operation, and while I felt there were things that could be changed, it was still better than my first experience on one, but not as good as the axis deer hunt Lora and I did with txbobcat.

As for not having these types of conversations because it gives all the non hunter/anti-hunter groups ammunition, it only hurts us when people call for clearly drawn battle lines, "Either you support such operations or you don't, and if you don't, then people that do go to them should not call themselves hunters."

This type operation is not for everyone, but if a person likes it, and as long as it is legal, I say more power to them, but the jury on such places is still out in my court.

As I said earlier, if I am mistaking the intent of your posts, then I apologise, but I think that all of us that made that hunt and are on The Forum have made our thoughts on the whole weekend quite clear, and I don't see where any of us trashed Thompson Temple, we just related how we felt about the operation and about things we felt needed to be done differently. Just My Opinion.