okietreedude

So whats the name of the place? Is it a 'hunting ranch' that sells hunts or what? How do I sign up or can I?

JIMRABY

well this isnt my place.
its the ranch my dad hunts every year with several other people.
i dont go every weekend.
its all low, barbed wire fencing, sure they can leave whenever they want.
they are 100% wild deer, not tame in any way.
not pets, not "bredder bucks"
and no New deer have been introduced.
it just happens to be Large Amount of acres that has been Hunted and Managed over at LEAST the past 30 - 40 years.
and yes, there is deer feeders.
and yes, MOST Ranches w/ feeders.... the Learn the Sound of the feeder means food.
but more than often, they become acustomed to Knowing around what time in the morning and evening the feeders will spit food.
as is with ANY DEER and ANY RANCH w/ Feeders running. Deer arent stupid.

Steve... almost ALL property has "fences" wether it be High Game Fence, or simple Barbed wire.
also known as a "PROPERTY BOUNDRY"
and MOST large acreage ranches have at least some cattle.. as this Ranch has several hundred Cows.
this would be the reason for "why have a fence at all"

its not a Ranch that sells hunts, i think he donates some hunts to charity auctions every not and then.
but its mostly open to just the same group of hunters, for every weekend during the season.. every year.
and there guests.

But YES.. Bucks like this, DO EXIST on Low Fence, Free Range, Large Rances in South Texas.
if managed properly to secure the Majority of "large deer Genetics"
like i said, this place has been managed Strictly for over 30 years.
ill have to ask... but its probubly more like 50 years.

JIMRABY

whats with the "skeptics" here??
you see bucks like this, and just have to belive they are "tame.. Breeding.. High Fence Deer" ????
i do understand, alot of people have never even seen deer like this.. and the average buck in alot of areas will not even score 100 b/c.
i understand this, ive hunted alot of areas like this.
the 1st few times i went to this ranch... i was seeing what i thought were monster 8 pointers.
come to find out.. those were the 2 1/2 year olds that were bigger than alot of Bucks in certain areas will Never get, even at 5 yrs

jkelly

You folks that don't hunt in Texas have to remember one very important difference from most of the other states ... we do not have public land that is assessible to any and all hunters. We do have a National Forest in East Texas, but you are just as likely to get shot yourself or run up on a meth lab as you are to kill a decent deer. Yes Texas hunters use feeders, how is that any different than sitting around a corn or bean field in any other state? People in Texas do actually hunt, we scout, we set up stands, we try to do more than just sit by a pile of corn and wait for the same buck we see everyday to come out and bust him. Granted there are lots of high fence ranches that will sell you the hunt of a lifetime ,but maybe (and this is an estimate from the hunters I know) maybe 1% of Texas hunters hunt a guided hunt, most of these ranches make there living off of fellows from the other 47 CONUS states. No anger or rant here just seems to be some real misconceptions out there on how things are done by the average Texas hunter. Good Hunting to all.

okietreedude

Jim,

your dam right deer like this exist w/o the use of high fence.

I think anyone on here could get the same result w/ a piece of land 30,000 acres in size (not sure how big your place there is). Even 3000 acres could do this. LIke you said, it is strict managment w/ some supplemental feeding going on.

When there is a cattle operation in place as well, dont think the deer dont infringe on the high protein feed being placed for the cows. they will for sure help themselves.

I think the skeptics are those that are simply jealous because they dont have access. Sure, I dont either (yet), but I am a realist that things like this DO exist. And sure, Im jealous too that I dont have this kind of action, but it its what I wanted, Id put up the $ to buy myself one of those canned 'hunts of a lifetime'.

Keep up the pics. I like dreaming and knowing someone out there will get a biggun.

zrexpilot

My dad's cousins were true cowboys, they lived and worked on big south texas cattle ranches. This was before the big buck money enetered the picture. 1950's to the late 1970's. I use to go as a kid with him and seen deer like this before. My dad killed them by the truck loads. NO management or supplement feeding. Thats just a good south texas buck, they get that way on their own. Something about the minerals in south texas. All they need is age. The northern or central area of texas, ( hill country ) deer seem to be a bit smaller untill you do supplement feeding, then they can get like these pictured here, but not on their own.
South Texas is known for monster whitetails not just the mid west. I have hunted a WMA in south texas recently, it's a high fenced 15000 acre ranch managed by the state of Texas, no feeding, no young bucks and all the spikes. You should see the deer on this ranch. 200" is common, 140" 3 year olds all over the place. Like I said just give them age, no feeding is needed.
Heres one my nephew killed a few years back onan 80 acre lease we had at the time, this was in south texas.

JIMRABY

thats amazing that came from a small 80 place.
now.. the Big managed ranches, usually Hate.. or shall i say "Fear" the Hunting on the SMALL Ranches Surrounding there property... many of them Fence them off.
Some for more reason than other...
some Just get Mad that people on a Tiny Farm are killing the Same BIG BUCKS that are usually on THERE BIG RANCH.
and they get mad because they are bucks they FEEL belong to them.. and her some Little Guy on a little Ranch is killing there deer.
this is the wrong reason to get angry.

I think it would be OK to High Fence the Neighbors to cut them off.. if they are Killing Anything they see with No managment whatsoever.
but NOT OK to fence them off, just because you dont want them killing your Big Bucks.

the buck in your picture.. is a OLD .. MATURE .. TROPHY BUCK !!
and a GOOD KILL on any ranch.
But some people on small acreage farms, have no problem killing SEVERAL 2 year old bucks that have POTENTIAL to get this big by age 4 or 5.
i would estimate the buck in your picture to Score around 135
Now.. just imagine if your neighbors had killed him at age 2 ... when he probubly scored 90
how old do you think that 1 was? 4 1/4 ??

JIMRABY

even 30,000 acres .. a High Fence ... and High protein .. Will not produce ALOT of big Bucks like these..
without Strict Managment on the hunters, it will not happen.

zrexpilot

Couldnt say for sure how old he was but mature none the less, we figure at least 4 1/2.
He had 12 scorable points and netted 153 by one and 149 by another

coolbrze0

You def. got a couple bruisers there!