I have hunted South Africa, and all those places are high fence, but the concession is so large, you only see the fence when you come into the front gate. Poaching is a huge issue there, and that is one of the main reasons for the fences. At no time did I ever feel we were hunting caged animals, and Africa is an experience I hope all of you get to experience at least once.
Now, on to high fence closer to home. Am I against HF here in the states? Not at all. If that is what someone wants to pay for in a hunting experience, then I support them in that endeavor. What bothers me is when they show pictures, or display the mount, and are not forth coming it was high fence. Why the deception and lies? If it was good enough for you to hunt a HF, then you should be willing to come out with that information when discussing the hunt. I have a good buddy that hunted a HF in Canada. He will say immediately that his 202" deer was from a HF, and then he will tell you how long he hunted, how many he passed, and when this deer stepped out it surprised he and the guide, as the deer had not been seen on camera or in person.
I see HF as a good thing for our hunting world. There are people that are physically not able to hike 30 miles for an opportunity at an elk or other big game animal. Also time. I spend LOTS of time working the land, cutting, tilling, planting food plots, spraying for weeds and insects, building stands and scouting. I do this on 4 farms, and only one is within 15 min of my house. Two are 2 plus hours away, and the other is 16 hours away in Illinois. I invest A LOT of time and money into these properties each year. If I put a dollar amount on my time, and added the actual cost of travel and dollars spent on the land, taxes, equipment, fuel, seed, fertilizer, implements and maintenance, I would many times ahead to just pay for one or two HF hunts a year. Why do I not do that? (wife asks me this a lot). Because I enjoy the build up to the hunt, and the work that goes into it, to have the opportunity to know there is a big deer or bear on my lands. Harvesting that animal is way down my list of importance. I love knowing that my work and vision equated into the hunting paradise I have the honor to sit and watch whenever I want to go. Even better, I know I can take a kid on their first hunt and they will see 50-150 deer, lots of turkeys, maybe a bob cat and certainly a coyote. On my eastern NC farms, they will see deer, turkey and bears. Lots and lots of bears, and in most hunts, have a bear up close and personal walking around the blind or even looking in the shooting window.
My father is getting older, as we all are, and he loves to hunt. He loves the experience of being out there in the woods seeing animals. At this point, he is still mobile, but I do all the heavy listing on the properties for getting them ready to hunt each year. I don't have sons, I have daughters and while I may get a son in law that will have the same love of the outdoors as me, there is no guarantee of that or if he would live close by. So, if at some point I am not able to continue the work to keep my properties how I want them, I am comforted to know that there may be a HF property within an 8 hour drive of NC that could cater to me, and put me in a nice blind where I can watch and possible harvest a nice deer in my later years.
As stated earlier by another member, we as a group need to stay united on the big picture. We support hunting and shooting and ALL 2A rights. If other members are enjoying that activity, and enjoying it in a legal way, support them and keep us united. There is way to much division in this country already without us bickering about the stupid stuff. In the end, we are all just "a peckerwood who lives in the hills with too many guns." Bob Lee Swagger.
