All you guys want to do is argue. I've been studying this particular topic for almost a decade. To those of you who are opposed to food plots, that is ludacris. You are opposed to creating a healthier more stable deer environment. Goes against everything you should be for. Supplements and high fences yes have some major issues to deal with at hand. But just because there are high fenced hunting operations that are unethical does not mean they all are nor does it mean they don't have a purpose in the sport. Steve deer in a totaly natural environment with little interference with man, due to the lack of natural predators, kill themselves in large numbers. Unregulated deer over populate an area rapidly. The deer end up eating all of the vegetation and eventually end up starving to death. But they don't have one or two the starve to death for the good of the herd the whole herd starves to death. This is especially true in northern states that have harsh winters. The use of sustained harvest deer management to keep the deer herd in a suitable level. Do you know where that level typically falls? 10-15 deer per square mile. I'm assuming you've been hunting long enough to understand the quality of hunting 10-15 deer per square mile provide. Great if you don't mind only seeing deer once in a while. So how do you increase your pleasure of hunting? Simple increase the carrying capacity of the environment. Only way to do that is increase the nutritional value of the food available. Plant food plots. Don't get me wrong there are some areas of the country that sustain many more deer per mile and some that sustain less. But on average 10-15 deer per mile is pretty much normal. Assuming your deer population has a pefect buck to doe ratio of 1 buck to every 1.5 does that will provide you with roughly 5 bucks to 8 does average. Not alot to see or hunt.

I can appreciate where you are coming from though Steve. You feel as if the management has been taken too far on this particular ranch. I've never been there so I can't say for sure it has or has not but from what I have read about this place he has created essentially a paradise for deer and hunters as far as habitat is concerned. There are no high fences on the ranch however. The deer are free to come and go as they please. Also a Wildlife biologists main purpose is to ensure that the herd is in the best condition possible. I'd say his herd is in pretty good condition.

Charlie P, you don't like where the sport is headed I presume. I'd love to hear your opinion on that. That is not me saying I don't care I'd honestly like to hear what you have to say. By the number of posts you have you are quite active in the community. This topic is split in an interesting manner as far as hunters and non hunters are concerned. You have 20% hunters 60% neutral and 20% anti-hunters. Your suggestion of asking 100 non hunters I've done previously. A unique thing arises every time "How does it affect me?" People don't seem to care about a topic until it affects them which is why the breakdown is 20 60 20. And the answers very from location to location. Acceptable hunting practices are not the same around the country or the globe. I grew up hunting whitetail deer in northern minnesota. We didnt' bait, I didn't hunt fenced areas, We hunted large unbroken tracts of timber. With rifles. Where I live now in indiana hunting large tracts of timber is not possible its not here. We hunt fence rows and edges. Hunting with a rifle is illegal and even if it was legal many consider it cheating or unethical because you are able to shoot deer at several hundred yards and beyond. To answer your point about the family tradition and deer hunting going away. Sadly our world has become a place of monetary value. Deer hunting the way you know it and believe it or not the way I grew up is fading fast. Deer hunting has become a source of revenue for the state and private companies. The bad part is those are the only reasons you and I still have the right/priveledge to hunt. Take away the money and the people in charge don't care and the Anti Hunters get their way. But there is a fine line between reasonable and excessive. I'd say we're on the excessive side of it. We are losing hunters every year because it is becoming to expensive and they don't have enough time to hunt due to having to work to pay other bills. Combined with lack of suitable land and public lands being over hunted in many states. So those hunters that do have the time and the money are becoming ever more dependant on ranches to hunt at. Because they can't afford the time to hunt every weekend or take two weeks off to hunt deer in the state. People become discouraged and leave the sport if they go season after season with out harvesting anything. Ranch's fill that void that has been created. And you are absolutely right many of those hunters don't have the woodsmanship to hunt else where anymore. But at least they are hunting and supporting the sport. That hunting equipment they buy helps pay for new hunting areas the money they spend on license helps reinforce the states stance that hunting is good for the state and good for the people. Each of us have our reasons for hunting other then the chess game that deer provide. But we're still all in this together. If hunters don't stick together we will lose hunting all together.

A quick note to finish this up. You're probably wondering how high fenced hunting ranches fit into this, what purpose does it have to the sport. The answer is simple. Hunting ranches provide outlet and revenues for animal species that are not native game. Such as the Oryx. The Oryx species is nearly extinct in its native environment. But due to the ability to hunt them in high fenced operations farms found a reason to raise them and have actually helped increase the awareness of the species and could have potentially saved the species from extinction. The bad news that has all changed. The Anti-Hunters got a bill through that is now banning the hunting of those animals. So now what happens to all those animals on the farms? good question they can't be sold. So the farmers will stop raising them. All the benefits are lost. The Anti-Hunters signed the death notice of a species.