Can Someone Please Explain The Attraction Of Hunting Fenced Animals?

[Mike6158]

If someone says, "hey, do you want to go to <insert name> here ranch por nada. Lodging and food supplied. Exotics, etc... I'm not going to say nah, I don't think so, it's not really hunting. I'm going to sleep well, eat well, be kind of bored sitting in the box waiting for an affordable buck to walk by, and then I'll shoot it. Or maybe a tasty Axis deer will come to the feeder. Is it going to be fun or a challenge? Nope. Would someone else shoot it if I didn't? Of course. Will I have it mounted and eat it. Yup. In TX, sometimes hunting is just business. No apologies necessary or forthcoming. I miss the days of using a climbing deer stand and my bow to hunt deer in the woods of NW Louisiana or walking down the road, carrying a rifle, to a pasture to see if any deer were around, then trying to get a shot. Can't do that anymore. Even draw hunts in TX are hard to come by.

If I hunt my little place, there's a fence a few hundred yards from the barn. If I hunt the son-in-laws place, there's a fence. In both cases I have to watch out for cows. If the deer is out in my pasture, I don't have a feeder, and I'm sitting in my barn trying to decide if I need the meat and if I want to hassle with cleaning it, is that hunting? Nope.

Speaking of cows. A number of years back my oldest son, still in High School asked if he could take some rifle of mine hog hunting with his buddy. I said sure. It was a night hunt. When he wasn't home by 11:00 I locked up and figured they had twisted off and gone to a party instead. The next morning he showed up as I was drinking my coffee. He was tired, had a little blood on him from cleaning the kill, and wasn't feeling too chatty. After he took a shower he came to tell me that he was going to bed and that it had been a long night. I said tell me about it. The short version is, he and his buddy were riding around their pasture looking for hogs with a spotlight. The eyes of a "hog" lit up. His buddy got ready to shoot, my son held the light, boom... the two eyes went out. They drove over to the "hog" and found his buddy's Dad's Black Angus bull. Dead. Shot between the eyes. His buddy had to tell his dad. I asked how that went and all my son said was not very good. They spent the entire night cleaning, skinning, butchering, and wrapping the meat from the bull.

 

[Turkeytider]

I've hunted a 100k plus acre fenced ranch in South Africa, only reason I knew it was fenced was cause we drove in the gate. Ironically the fence was more about keeping people out then animals in. I see the argument, but it's not just about fences.

" ...not just about fences. " I`m sure that`s true quite often.

 

[Laelkhunter]

The attraction might be that the animals don't come under Dept G & F, so you can hunt them year round, and no license is required. I used to hunt on the Quinlan Ranch in Chama, NM and they installed a high fence on about 8,000 acres (IIRC), and it was some of the roughest terrain on the Ranch. I hunted the main ranch for about 20 years, but didn't hunt the "fenced area" (couldn't afford it). It contained Mountain tops, heavy scrub oak, etc. It was not the easiest part of the ranch to hunt. Nice Bulls were taken, and of course it cost $$$ to hunt it due to the expense of maintaining the fence, artificially inseminating the cow elk with super-duper bloodlines, etc. They allowed year round hunting so you could take a bull in velvet with a rifle if you wanted. They were not penned in but free roaming (within the 8,000 acres), and it was not an easy hunt.

 

[Muddyboots]

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.

Well said! I have swapped my opinion 180° as I have gotten older and now have physical limitations. Just be honest with the results.

The speed of Life has significantly affected how much time we have for our own personal hunts, DIY or guided. Family obligations have grown 10X with all the new opportunities for your children. Job obligations same boat.

Enjoy "whatever" time you can parse out even for a moment of enjoyment. Whatever floats your boat, float it but don't sink someone else's.

 

[Turkeytider]

Just wondering the appeal of hunting an animal that, in the final analysis, and if you`re persistent enough, can`t escape. Or at least it seems that way to me. Then again, in the interest of honesty, I`ve never done it. Closest thing to that I`ve done is " hunting" put, pen raised quail. Did it only once. Felt like shooting chickens. One guy actually beat one to death with his cap!

It was indeed sad. I grew up hunting wild quail in Alabama and later in life in Missouri. Completely different for sure. At least for my one experience, the birds flew maybe 10 yards. You could see them sitting on the ground. I love watching dogs work, so it wasn`t a total waste as far as a "hunting " experience was concerned.

Certainly can`t and won`t speak for everyone. I know for me that pulling a trigger and killing an animal doesn`t mean the same for me at 76 as it did when I was 25, 35, 45, etc. A successful day in the field for me has different elements than it once did. I know one thing...if "success " meant filling a limit of doves or bringing home a gobbler every time I go out, LOL, I would have quit loooooong ago!

 

[338 dude]

My wife and I

hunt my low fenced 50 acre property every year!

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Food for thought - An acquaintance of mine had a serious heart condition. He always was a once/yr whitetail hunter. He really, really wanted one last good hunt before the end. My suggestion was for his buddies to take him to a managed facility (HF) and give him the best chance of taking an animal that would make him happy. They decided to take him to NC where deer seem plentiful, and you get six tags on a license. It was a 5-day hunt and everyone thought it would be easy. After the 4th day without any activity, they asked the outfitter if he could just get their friend on a location where he could shoot something, even a doe on the last day. Unfortunately, day 5 was like all the rest and they saw nothing.

I felt bad for the guy as he passed away shortly thereafter, not realizing his final wish. It seemed to me that the perfect solution would have been to make the best of a HF hunt and enjoy his last hurrah. Lots of guys hunt HF and are happy with their experience. There is something different for everyone.

I'd bet that they're a lot more hunters who have taken a game animal in a HF operation than those who talk about it.

 

[captainemil]

It's a lot harder than you think. Now if you have a 50 acre trap that's one thing, but dealing with 100's or thousands of acres the deer learn to avoid you very quick. Personally, I think big deer can be harder to hunt in a high fence area verses a low fence. We managed 4 property's with high fences and taking out certain deer was not an easy task.

 

[ducky]

Am I a big fan of HF not really, and I've done it once. I bought a Auodad and pig hunt at auction around 2006. My BIL and I went down to deep south TX for a 3 day 2 night hunt 2X1 "guided hunt".

We enjoyed ourselves, had fun with the other guests. It was an all inclusive place with lodging, meals, and drinks included. It was an experience that was ultimately a fun time.

I finally got the guide to admit, that he wasn't going to put us where the Aoudad were. I was the only bidder on the hunt and had bought it for $550 for both of us, so the guide said we hadn't paid enough to see Aoudad. I hadn't planned on killing a sheep anyway, I bought it for the opportunity to kill feral pigs.

Our hunt was for 2 pigs each, but we were in the blind with price list in hand and a cooler full of adult beverages. I think they were hoping that our drinking would loosen our wallets. I shot two and my BIL one, after two pigs it was $90 each regardless of size. Together my BIL and I, we were probably making 90K total a year time. So paying by the inch or shooting what wasn't included just wasn't in the budget.

I'll be honest, when I bought the hunt it didn't cross my mind it was HF. It was the first time I shot from a blind with a corn feeder as well. I was pretty critical of the style of hunting it was when I came back. My views have changed some over the year

I've softened a bit on my stance in 20+ years. I still dislike HF hunting on small parcels. There are some HF locations that cover hundreds of acres to thousands in TX. I know there are much larger places in South Africa, but I have no experience there. These I see similar to ranching cattle, where by fences help you to control the genetics of your herd.

I also see HF game hunting saving some species of exotic animals. Would some of these animals even be huntable without HF operations, or would they be basically extinct to the world? I prefer that the exotics stay behind a high fence, than being an invasive species that pushes out native game that I like to hunt as well.

I've learned that not all HF operations are managed the same. Not all HF properties are the same and you could have a more difficult hunt on 100 acres than on 1000. Some are as fair chase as hunting the West. The only difference is you don't have to watch that animal you've dreamed about sitting behind that invisible fence called private property or GMU boundaries.

I haven't hunted behind a HF since that hunt with my BIL. That doesn't mean I won't in the future. I just have other places I'd rather hunt right now.

 

[levers4life]

The Texotics

As Texas landowners breed exotic animals like kudu and nilgai, they’re running a massive unplanned and unregulated natural experiment.

www.texasobserver.org

A pretty good article on the beginnings, conservation & business of HF or exotics hunting in Texas. We have several HF operations around us. I will say that because of them I can harvest Axis meat does year-round from my back porch or any blind on my place (we are low fenced). There were 8 of them 50 yards from where I was drinking coffee this morning. I have even seen blackbuck crossing the pasture. We document taking several Axis and pigs a year as part of our wildlife / ag exemptions.
Invasive species? Yes. Tasty? Yes. Price? Perfect!
This year I plan on taking a nice Axis buck. I will show respect and actually hunt / stalk this animal. I won't shoot a big mature buck from a feeder. That's just me.
I have some good friends south of me that have switched from cattle and goats to raising and selling exotics, mostly fallow. No hunting on his place, he is simply supplying game ranches with breeding stock and turnkey trophies. He says it's easier and more profitable than the stock they were running before.
As stated, several times above, hunt and harvest how you wish. Just keep it legal and safe.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

same reason someone sees prostitutes... easy pickins...

 

[asd9055]

same reason someone sees prostitutes... easy pickins...

Now thats funny! Not the same, but funny

 

[bigngreen]

My view have changed a lot over the years, I have been in the past critical of people who didn't "earn" their hunt but being in a situation where I help people go on their last hunt and kill their last elk changed me a lot.
I never will forget helping and little kid who was wheel chair bound, he wanted to take a bull elk and his dad wanted to make that happen for his son.
Or an 82 year old guy who had hunted hard core his whole life but his body gave up on him and seeing his appreciation and joy when he shot a young cow during a little push we put together. He passed away later that year but he had one last hunt that for me and my buddies was just killing some elk.
Hunting is not a universal metric we can apply, I've spot and stalked bull elk way into the back country and killed them with a bow and all it was was killing another elk to me, might as well have shot him tied to a fence.
iIn the end all we are doing is killing something, plain and simple, what we do before that is what makes it a hunt for us and really that's all that matters.

Now days in the current political climate no one group can stand alone, bird hunters can't be voting against lion hunters, bow against rifle, traditional against modern, fishing against big game, flat bill hat against cowboy hat, high fence or low fence, we all need to work together on some fronts, look at Colorado, the wording of some of these state statutes to eliminate lion or bear hunting is directly setting up the process to close all hunting.

 

[stazmania]

Can Someone Please Explain The Attraction Of Hunting, over bait, with a mechanical bow instead of a cross bow, with cameras, with electronic, with high power optics, with $$ rifles, with guides/outfitters, private property/lease, ATV/utv/e bikes, You can always point your finger at the other guy and feel superior and someone can always point their finger at you and do the same. Years ago here in AZ I use to apply for buffalo, we have a free range herd and a pen raise/captive herd. Our G&F dept declared open season on the free range herd. I had no interest in the captive hunt so I stopped applying. Now that I've lost my bonus points, I think I'd like to put a nice AZ buff in my freezer, even from the captive herd, with a game official pointing out the animal to harvest, How pure of a purest are you to cast stone? and what if anything does it do to protect what we love?