.62 smoothbore went on a little hunt

[Bad Karma]

@Sparkitoff I’ve hunted a few such pastures in Texas. Had a wonderful time, bow hunting for hogs with a longbow, I’d do it again in a heartbeat and had no sense at all that it was anything less than fair chase.

 

[brazosland]

As a 6th generation Texan from South Texas I will make two points about big high fence ranches.

First, you should remember the ground ain’t flat. Acres are measured on a flat map, not on the ground. A 2000 acre property might be closer to 4000 acres if you flattened it all out.

Second, and the main point, is that fences are misunderstood. They are not to keep game in, they are to keep game out. Why out? If you properly manage your property and it’s nutritional production to maximize the health of your herd and you don’t have the means to control population by controlling access...every deer in the county will be on your place eating your food.

Population will boom, the resource will be over utilized and then populations will plummet. Starving deer and ruined fields are no fun. It costs a lot of money to improve habitat...the only way to protect that is to fence out additional animals that would overgraze.

Do fences help keep in your preferred genetics? Yep. Additional species? Yep. Allow you to control your genetic diversity? Yep. But all that does you no good when the habitat is destroyed by population growth you cant control.

Are there unscrupulous folks that hunt behind high fences on small properties? I am sure there are. But they are few and far between.

I have taken many young kids to kill a doe on a friends ranch that is a licensed breeder. He has deer he needs to cull. We sit in a blind and they make a 75 to 100 yard shot. It gets them started down the road and it’s great meat. Do I confuse that with fair chase hunting? No.

It’s kind of like a lot of folks that come to Texas to kill hogs and they mount the big one...the taxidermists like to “pull” the teeth out a bit to make the hog more impressive. Looks great. But rub your finger down the backside of the lower teeth, you will feel the spot where the two teeth whet on each other to stay sharp. That spot should be at the gun line...two inches above the gum on the mount? Well...it looks good. Go check your mounts fellas.

 

[FishDFly]

High fenced property in Texas is one of the most hotly debated subjects there is and at times the discussion can become hostile.

"They are not to keep game in, they are to keep game out. Why out?"

Fences are put up to keep animals in and out. Depends on what the fence was put up for and the desired profit margin for the land that the owner wants.

Inside high fence, game breeders breed big bucks and then sell the hunting rights and cost on what the buck will score, the higher the score, the more you pay. A buck in the 200" range will run you about $7,000 to $9,500. Some bucks antlers are so large that at times they have to bring in a Vet. to cut them of since the deer cannot support it's antlers with it's neck muscles.

Those who raise and sell the hunting rights to exotics have a lot of money invested in their animals, thus need to keep a fence up to keep them in and also to keep predators out.

Not all ranches are 1,000 acres with high fence, some are as little as 100 acres.

Fair chase can only be defined by the hunter.

 

[XVIIc Wheelock]

I am also a 4 generation Texan...kiddos 5th generation. Born and raised South Texas and never heard or saw a high fence.....even the King Ranch where I worked summers as a teenager in the Vet clinic....never had high fences and there are many thousands of acres (That was many moons ago). I hate high fences and always thought of destroying some...never did. Land with its creatures should never be prohibited from their natural range. No trespassing signs I do respect but always asked permission. Yes, now high fences are common in Texas.....still hate 'em!