what about that high fence?

[cam0063]

Thanks Mark. I enjoy my visits to Texas... I visit on business and to see friends, spending time just north of Ft Worth and down around Kerrville. I have given much thought to selling my ranch here in Australia and moving there. The thought is still there! Have never been Magnolia way, if I do, I will let you know. If you are free for a Beer/coffee a few stories, I rarely need my arm twisted I look forward to the Texas pig hunt. I noticed Russian boar in some areas and a lot of nice pigs comming out of the King Ranch... Your native Javelina is one mean looking little package!!! Our wild pigs in my area are the old Razor-back type. Pigs brought down with early Asian Immigrants and also the domesticated European pig which have escaped or been abandoned. Like your Texas pigs, not overly friendly. Tho I do have a Pet Boar here near the house. He was penned, but hates being confined, so just wanders about now - quiet as a lamb...  The orchard here on the ranch, looks like a Cat D9 went thru part of it, so pigs are back. Will grab a rifle and take a look in the am....

cheers,

Cam....

[markc]

Yes, absolutely, give me a call anytime you make it down 2 this part of Texas.  If the hogs are active on my local lease, we  can head out there and try to find one for ya'.   They are moving a bit now and I saw a large redish colored pig Sat morning in the swamp.  Unfortunately she saw me right before I dropped the hammer.  I have my trap running right now and have begun to see hog sign around it again after not trapping much at all in 2004, so I could have a trap full this afternoon.   Trapped 60 in 2003 in that one trap, but let it alone in 2004.

If you get down this way, try to send me a message ahead of time so I can arrange to meet up with you.

[vernonp]

I am 68 yrs. old and have lived and hunted in Texas all my life. In 1989 my wife and I moved to Kerrville from Irving. Kerr county is the high fence capitol of the world, or so its called. I do not have the money to even think about hunting one of the high fence ranches. I have been on a lot of them and know something about them.----------Our chances of killing a good mature buck would be better on one of these ranches because they only allow mature bucks or inferior cull bucks to be taken.------This means that there are more mature bucks on the ranch. 90% of all bucks killed in this country are 1 1/2 yrs old and 95% of the bucks taken are 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yrs. old. Since a deer has to reach his 5th year to enter maturity they are very scarce probably non existent on heavily hunted land.-------I know now that the trophy bucks I dreamed of killing on most of my hunts only existed in my mind.------------Hunting one of the high fenced ranches does not guarantee us a trophy buck though. ----On the intensely managed ranches in the brush country only 1 out of five MATURE bucks will score 130. Far more hunters come home disappointed from these expensive hunts than not. The magazines make it sound like there is a 160 class buck behind every bush, it's just not so.-------------Now about corn feeders. I asked two friends  a few days ago if they had ever seen a mature buck at a feeder. Their reply was the same as mine, NO. One and two yr. old bucks, yes but thats about it. I do not hunt from box blinds either, a mature buck knows all about these things.-----------I am sorry for the lenghty post, just wanted to share my feelings.

[elmer]

Let me preface this by saying that I only own my 1/4 acre lot in the suburbs. So if I want to hunt anything I must take my chances on public lands (chances of being shot that is) or pay to hunt on someone else's land.

I have a real hard time with more government regulation of private property rights. If anyone here thinks that government regulation would mean more open and less expensive hunting I would have to disagree. The way things are going now I believe more government regulation would eventually lead to no hunting. Look at California. They want to get rid of Axis deer in a state park and intend to spend  a lot of money doing it rather than allowing hunting and raising money for the state.

In some states more government land leads to better hunting conditions, but  those states tend to have better attitudes toward guns rights and hunting in general. In many states more government land would mean less land available to hunt on.

[txbobcat]

Hello,

I did not have time to read all of the replys to this topic but I did read the initial thread and a few of the replys. Now my 0.02...

I am the wildlife manager for 4000 acres high fenced and do consulting work on another 7000 acres high fenced. Both are privately hunted no commercial hunting. In a few of the posts I dont think some of the authors were not giving the whitetails enough credit...I have taken aerial photos of one particular buck out of the helicopter the past three seasons in a row. The buck was a 150 inch 8 point this past year. We have been trying to take the buck the past three years and no one including myself has ever seen the buck on the ground. It is not a cake walk just because there is a fence.

Also, putting up a high fence actually makes some aspects of managing a deer herd much harder. No deer get out and deer actually get in better shape (under the right plan) and have more fawns. This causes a big harvest headache for most high fence ranches. High fences also really make the landowner manage the deer and not just wait for the deer to come over the fence from the neighboring ranch that did all the work.

I am pro landowner rights and less government. So if a landowner wants to put up a brick wall around 20,000 acres so be it. It is their land.

The state is not paying a "lease" fee for the deer being on a private landowners property are they? Do they pay the landowner for the deer grazing? Does the state pay for the damage to my vehicle if one of "their" deer gets out in the middle of the road and I run over it? The deer is property of the State ONLY when it comes to getting the hunting license $$$$ and saying how many we can shoot in each county that is it.

I could go on but tired of writing...this is long enough. Again, I am pro landowner rights and they can do what they want on their property including putting up a high fence or the next "Great Wall Of Texas" if they like.

PS...I personally hunt both low and high fence and enjoy both and am just as challenged on the high fenced ranches. Now if the ranches were really small in size (couple of hundred acres) it may be a different story.

JR

[J.W.Neely]

I have to jump in here, I am a land owner in South Texas, we have 2600 acres, low fenced, the trouble is, without high fence we can no longer manage the game, we have neighbouring property that the hunting is out of control, nothing can move without being shot, as much as I hate high fence the time has come to invest ( $6 K mile in materials ) to high fence, and 11 miles of border , that smarts.

Along the same subject ( I know this will step on some toes )
I also hate feeder-blind hunting, I may be alone on this, but dang it, if you are going to hunt, then hunt.
Unfortunately that is the standard for deer hunting here in South Texas,high fence,camo outfit, sitting in a box and watching a feeder. :?

[williamlayton]

JW-
Good post and I would agree, well, except for the blind thought.
I like blinds, ground, tree or stand. I like them for one reason only-safety.
I have hunted other ways, in the old days, dang it is dangerous.
I like knowing where folks are and I like folks knowing where I am.
I like being able to look on the tag board and see where NOT to roam on foot and for others to know that my shot at a deer is not limited to evaporation after it passes by or through a deer.
Had a couple of friends killed by this type of hunting.
If it is public lands you would be best to scout, find a likeable spot and get a stand UP in the air. Folks cannot see thru brush even though you might be painted up in yellow, red, orange, or florescent colors.
The same goes for leases. We always had a tag board, usually marked on a large aerial view of the property or a survey.
The location of stands would change from year to year but never without the discussion of folks on the lease and the agreement of the rancher.
Otherwise I am in full agreement with your post.
Blessings

[zachsdad]

JW, I could not agree more. I have always wondered about the guys wearing $200 worth of camo riding around in a high rack or climbing into a 6x8 boxblind with windows and ac with thier custom rifle and tactical scope that'll nock of a fly at 300 yards and watch a plie of corn 50 yards away.

I do hunt feeders, but I hate high fences with a passion as well . I had rather kill a 120" 8 pt on a low fenced place that a 200" in a high fence.

I have been in some high fenced ranches and I know that when that buck is on 40,000 acres, that fence dont mean much. I imagine a lot of deer in there never even see the fence if the conditions are right

[williamlayton]

A buck may range 20 miles or so, depending on many factors.
If a man invest upward of  $250,000.00 on one breeding buck I can certainly appreciate the need to protect that investment. The same goes for breeding bulls, dogs, horses, cats most everything--well cept for me. Tha Hen tried to lease me out for breeding once-upon-a-time and well, er, she/I got no offers.  :oops:
Now there are some drawbaacks to this breeding practice, the same as with cows.  
Blessings

[rockbilly]

:roll: I think most of the people that pay big bucks to hunt a high fenced property are on an ego trip.  Bragging rights as to who killed the largest deer cause folks to do strange things.

As for the high fenced ranches, it hasn't been too many years ago when the deer population in Texas was very, very low.  The high fenced ranches are responsible in a large way for bringing the herd back to present size.  Some of these ranchers paid big bucks to import deer to breed with native deer for herd improvement and to increase numbers.

My place is located next to a high fenced ranch, and across the road from another one.  They have not caused any problems for me, but I can't say that about the to my south side, he has about 320 acres and does day lease.  Opening day last year there were six men hunting his place, they shot everything that moved.  I don't blame them, they drove a long ways to hunt, paid $100. a day for each hunter and took what ever they could.  I had to get a  nasty a couple of time to run his hunters off my property, and the owner and myself had a few words about the number of hunters and crossing fences.

To me the owner of that property does more to damage the hunting, and image than all the high fenced areas combined.  At least on the high fenced ranch most of the hunting is selective and the number of kills are limited to balance the herd.  This does more to preserve deer for future hunter than Parks and Wildlife could ever do.

[PEPAW]

I think you are making a fairly rash statement about the people who pay big bucks to hunt big bucks.     As a lifelong Texas hunter, I can assure you if I had the money, I would love to hunt a real well managed place and get to see what a older buck looks like.    I have never killed a deer over age 5.5 on the open range places I have hunted.   I also would love to hunt where the ratio makes rattling more effective.   And the number of deer somewhat matches the available food supply.
Sure, I would brag about my deer.   But I would go after it for the entire experience of seeing more than the usual immature bucks and multiple does I normally see.    Those mature bucks only get that way from limited hunting pressure and the only way to limit hunting pressure on a herd is to manage them with a fence or many, many thousands of acres.   Those places cost losts of money and therefore, lots of money to hunt.

pepaw