datamax

Bill Yox - canned hunting is killing Hunting - if you contribute you are anti-hunting in my opinion.

Simple as that. Hunting behind a 10,000 fence in texas is one thing, raising penned deer and selling gauranteed "hunt" is another. States are cracking down on game farms ........ you'll not win many friends here by being one IMO

BigJ71

Wow, what a subject. I guess for me, it boils down to this.....if the deer can't get out... and I don't care how many acres you own, if they can't get out then they are no longer property of the state and are no longer "free roaming". Basically you just "seized" all of the wildlife in that area that cannot physically get out due to the fences.

I understand the problem of trespassers but don't piss in my ear and tell me it's raining. You'renot keeping the hunters out, you're keeping the deer in. If someone wants to get on your land and hunt, they will and with 12,000 acres (or whatever it is) you won't know it till it's too late. So that dog won't hunt with me.

And don't give me this sh#t that you have a 12,000 acre ranch and the deercan roam all 12,000 acres. They can't roam 12,001 acres though can they? So they are not "truely" free.

If you want to put up a high fence around your property that's fine, it's your land and apparently it's legal to do so. But if it were up to me NOBODY would have the right to inclose and impede any wild animals ability to roam freely.

That's my problem with high fence ranches.

ricoace

"You" dont own the deer. I woulnt pay the kind of money that they want in Texas to hunt Deer decently. I would pay to lobby to get it regulated and knock every one of these high fencing cowboys right on thier A**.

I loathe high fences. what an attrocity to hunting they are...

LBR

My problem withfences seems to be well illustrated within this thread--how many people here that don't have or hunt behind high fences agree with them? And we are hunters! Just think about what it looks like to the non-hunting public--and I'm not referring to anti's, just folks that for whatever reason don't hunt. These people vote too, and it's not going to be any hide off their backs if hunting is shut down.

Many (all?) of the folks here that disagree withfences don't hunt in TX, haven't hunted in TX, and/or don't care if they ever hunt in TX, so it's not about those who havevs. those who don't. Some folks will never be able to afford to hunt elk, or bear, or moose, or whatever, but you don't see them calling for a halt to the sport. I don't care if you are fortunate enough to own a huge hunk of land, I don't care if you put more emphasis onhow big the rack is ratherthan the hunt. What I do care about is the future of our sport.

Sure, if hunting were outlawed or made into a rich man's game you could still poach on your 10,000 or whatever acres--that's not the point. I know people, and have lived in places myself, where you can literally step out the door and shoot a deer with a rifle, and you wouldn't have to worry about being caught. That, to me, is as much of a hunt as putting deer in a cage or fence and blasting away. No, I never shot at any of them.

We're headed down a slippery slope, and I hope we can somehow reverse it. Just on this thread you can see that for some folks it's not about hunting, it's about killing. It's not about putting your huntingskills to the test and being proud of your accomplishment, it's about putting your QDM skills to the test and being proud of how big a rack you can grow. It 's more like gardening or a dog show than hunting.

One said he doesn't rabbit hunt because rabbits don't have a rack? That is just sad........it's not about the hunt, it's not about enjoying nature (sure don't want to have to sit out in the woods for 3 months and hope to get a shot at a spike), it's not about developing your skills and learning how your quarry thinks and actually working for your prize---just pour the suppliments to them, let them walk until the rack meets "braggin' rights" size, then kill it. What in the world has happened to this sport? Money replaces hard work--I don't see how anyone could take pride in that.

I just don't see the point in the huge enclosures. If you want to grow huge racks, justraise them like cattle--lots easier to keep track of them that way, lots easier to cull the ones that aren't going to make the cut, lots easier to control what buck breeds with the does, etc. etc. etc. Lot's less chance of someone else killing "your" deer that way too. Feed them, groom them, suppliment them, heck you could even medicate them for optimum health and grow the biggest racks ever. Honestly, what's the difference?

I would still like to know if the natural preditors are removed from these enclosures?

No, I don't know just what it's like, because I've never been in one of these places, and don't have any plans to. I am a hunter though, and figure I understand it better than the average non-hunter. Considering the perspective I have on it, how do you think the non-hunters feel about it? Do you think these operations are going to guarantee that our kids and grandkids will have the opportunity to enjoy the sport? Or is that something they will just have to deal with when the time comes?

I'm not trying to be mean, or hateful, or argumentative here--I just want some people to open their eyes to the reality of what is happening to our sport, and what could happen to it if things don't change.

Chad

TXhighrack

LBR:

I said in one of my first post that you can not compare high fences in Texas to high fences in other states, because they are to different creatures. Your quote is the reason why so many out of state hunters have a problem with high fences. I bet if they came down to s. Texas and hunted a high fenced property they would realize that its not nearly as bad as they thought. Right now all those people have to base their opinion on is what they see on T.V and the high fenced places that are located in their areas. Which are generally very small and much more of a "canned hunt" scenerio.

Do you really think all of the natural preditors can even be removed from a 10,000+ ranch? I know ranchers that will fly over the ranch in helicopters and shoot as many preditors as they see, I've done this with hogs before. But I think that even on a ranch like this, the rancher would be doing VERY well if they could remove 25% of the preditors on the property. But those numbers are always replenished the falling year, so its just an endless cycle.

manboy

txhighrack...u talk about texas as if is the only state with ranches that have 10,000 acres! did u look at wyoming, colorado, or montana. they all have 10,000+acre rsanches and u don't see them putting up high fences!
my buddy owns a few acres, maybe we should pen up some rabbits and see if we could get some texans to come pay us to shoot them.

LBR

That may be the case,but that's not the point I'm trying to emphasize. How many non-hunters are going to bother researching this? It doesn't matter what the facts are, it's the public's perspective, which is basically hunting behind fences= canned shoots. I've talked to guys that have been in big enclosures and didn't get a shot, but that won't mean diddley-squat to the non-hunters when they cast their vote.

I'm not hard against fences because it makes it easier, just like I'm not against rifle hunting because I use a longbow.What bothers and worries me because of the impact it's likely to have on the future of our sport.

I appreciate the answer to the preditors--I don't know much at all about cats, but I know it's real hard to get rid of hogs in an area, and dang near impossible to get rid of coyotes--at least by hunting them.

Chad

TXhighrack

LBR:

Well that may be true, but I'm not going to do things a certain way just because some body else isint going to take the time to research something before they make up there mindsabout it. You have to live your life the way you want to, if you try to make everybody happy you'll go insane.

LBR

I can see your point, and my goal isn't to try and make everyone happy. Wehave to try and maintain a positive image if we want this sport to carry on to future generations. I guess you could look at it kind of like the old saying "if momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy". If the public isn't happy with the image they have of hunters, then whenever there is a vote they are going to be against us, which is going to make us very unhappy.

I'm one who could care less about "pollitical correctness" 99.99% of the time, but when it comes to hunting, we basically have two choices--give and maintain a positive publicimage, or risk loosing it completely.

From what I've read, we are slowly but surely loosing numbers--blame that on whatever you want--I'm sure there's more than one reason. If we are going to gain those numbers back, or even maintain what we have, now and then we are going to have to cater to interests other than our own. I don't like it, but I don't see any other solution.

Chad

Rack-attack

My only concern with high fence ranches is there effect on our future, the buying up of land and the cost of what it may be to hunt in the future.

As far as I guy paying 10,000 to shoot a penned 200" - go for it, don't bother me a bit.

As far as guys fencing in there land to QDM it and bring populations up and ratios down and suppliment the hell out of em to grow them huge...............................sounds like fun to me - would be great to do it.......watch em year after year and make em healthy and BIG.

I guess I just don't really have a dog in this fight.........a guy has just as much right to shoot a fenced 200" as he does to shoot a dink..........just don't see a problem in it.