Free Range Hunts Vs. High Fence

[Oscare66]

In my opinion, a hunter getting a 180" whitetail buck is quite a rare achievement that I respect and admire because all of the time and effort I have put into hunting and have never yet achieved in my pursuit. Not many can do it. The reason I admire and respect it is because these animals are so rare in the wild. When I see someone bragging about a 200" deer they harvested on a high fence hunt, I don't have the same respect and admiration for the trophy because anyone can attain it, just by paying for it. It is obtained by financial ability. I don't care if people do it, to each there own. I just don't view the achievement in the same light. It's like purchasing and wearing Super Bowl Ring from a team that you weren't part of.

I think that achievement is in the eye of the beholder. If you reach the point in your life that you can afford to shoot a 200" white tail cudos to you like wise if reach the point in your life that you managed a heard of deer in your property for over "x" amount of years and you harvest a 180" low fence trophy the. Cudos to you as well. Different strokes for different folks. I hunt and guide in both low and high fence and let me tell you the excitement on the hunters face is no different than any other achievements he or she has accomplished. All I'm saying is keep the sport alive by doing what ur doing.

 

[KyCarl]

"It is obtained by financial ability" And pray tell what isn't? Homes Autos Schools for your kids Time off work to hunt...Everything is based on weather you can pay for it or not.. it's the American way! And if I could afford it I would go shoot the biggest darn deer in Texas!

 

[Barrelnut]

I'm ok with high fence. But I disagree that you can equate hunting skill with financial success.

 

[KyCarl]

Sure I can..Pay for tags..Transportation..equipment (rifles ammo boots scope pack tent
Ect,) Now answer this..How can you learn if you can't afford to go? And you have to go to acquire skills ..don't you? And the more you can afford to go the better you should get? Sure you can skip your house payment to go hunting but I wouldn't..

 

[Barrelnut]

There is a big difference between a deer tag, Pops 30-06, and a 1/2 tank of gas vs a $15,000 trophy hunt on a TX ranch.

 

[Oscare66]

I think where we are getting off subject with the trophy deal. That again is in the eye of the beholder. One persons might harvest 120" trophy in his eyes where as another might look at 190" as a trophy. Honestly Iv had the privilege of hunting high fence ranches most of my life. But I also manage 10k acres low fence as well. Point is there is different skill sets for both scenarios And just caused Iv hunted all my life doesnt mean I can suit up and go track elk in Colorado or Probghorn in Montana. You can't compare apples to oranges

 

[Barrelnut]

Don't mean to say that I wouldn't do a TX trophy if I could easily afford it. Heck I'd take my brother too. Nothing like a long weekend in big boys camp!

 

[willtim]

I think it's disgusting and ammunition for the anti-hunters. No different than kick and shoot quail, releasing mallards, etc...

 

[Oscare66]

I think it's disgusting and ammunition for the anti-hunters. No different than kick and shoot quail, releasing mallards, etc...

Have you ever hunted in a high fence or experience it?

 

[Yotekiller]

I have known a few people who participate in expensive high fence hunts every year. They are the type who are not willing to do the work required for wild game hunting. They wanted to shoot something with large horns in less than 4 hours. The people I know that I would consider avid hunters have put in the work and learned the skills needed to be successful hunting wild game. They do not participate in canned hunts. It feels like purchasing a beef from a local farmer and shooting it for meat. The wild 150" deer with a good story about how difficult the hunt was is worth far more than a 300" deer raised like livestock. In a lot of ways I feel similar about guided hunts. The guy with the most money pays the best hunter to hunt for him so he can pull the trigger and hang it on his own wall. I have no problem with anyone choosing to do it but I could not look at that mount on my wall with any pride.

 

[willtim]

Have you ever hunted in a high fence or experience it?

No and never will.

 

[Oscare66]

Fair enough just don't knock it until you have Hunting is just as hard if not harder

 

[KyCarl]

I would Love to go on a high fence hunt! At 65 with 45 years of standing on concrete
machine shop floors my ankles and knees just won't handle hill and dale hunting.
But I sure can hang out in a box blind and watch a corn pile!

 

[Caveman0101]

What the hell are you guys talking about "support all hunting for the good of hunting". You just tell me how it promotes good will toward hunters to have some rich ***** pay thousands of dollars to go out and shoot some animal that has been genetically altered to grow some antlers that could never occur in the wild. A person who probably at any other time in history would not have had a snowball's chance in hell of ever taking a trophy animal in fair chase scenario. Many of the guys have no knowledge of the game they seek, no appreciation for them or the country in which they live. I see these type all the time as I live and work in one of the richest areas in the country (Vail, CO). I for sure don't want to be judged by what a person like that does or says, but that is exactly what happens. Nearly every hunting show anymore is canned hunts and it only gives anti-hunters more ammunition to question the ethics of hunting for the rest of us. If it was all good, why aren't, cattle, I mean deer raised on these ranches allowed to qualify for record books? Because we all know it's bullsh*t. There is no merit or skill involved or values passed on when you go to a big zoo and shoot a "trophy". So please stop calling it hunting, because every time someone does it makes what the rest of us do feel a little degraded and cheapened somehow.