mexhuntr

Thanks for your opinion aeroslinger, by the way the double tine withetail was hunt on a free range part or the ranch I hunted, not on the exotics reserve.

James Vee

I think we should re-post the original pics that were associated with this thread.

hillbillyhunter1

who's we?????????

tangozulu

High fenced 47,000 acres? If there wasn't an advantage, why bother?

TXhighrack

AeroSlinger:

Not to start anargument, but I need to comment on a few things......

1. 1,500 acres is plenty of land to substain a healthy (natural) deer herd. Given that the numbers are kept in check and the natural habitat is up to par, which is the case no matter if the land is high fenced or not. I see that your from Cedar Park. That area of the state is probably one of the worst areas when it comes to quality habitat for whitetail deer. That area has a hard time supporting a quality deer herd as it is, if the numbers are extremely overly high then of course the deer herd is not going to be healthy.

2. There have been several studies done, and I recently read an article in the TTHA magazine that talked about inbreeding and high fences. Every study that I have ever read has shown that it takes MANY generations before inbreeding will occur. On a multi-thousand acre ranch, it would take decades upon decades before any sign of inbreeding could be found. Unless your taking animals that are already relatedand throwing them in a pen the size of a jail cell, inbreeding is out of the question.

3. That is actually a very false statement. I've been on many high fenced ranches, didnt hunt on all of them just visted alot, and I'd say about 5% of them actually imported any type of deer. And the ranches that did import deer generally only brought in 1-12 "breeder" bucks and turned them loose on different areas of the ranch. Most ranchers in south Texas do not like to import deer because they like that "grey bodied" look that only south Texas and northern mexico deer have. Plus most deer from outside of this area can not live down here because of the extreme hot/arid weather that we have and the deer are not drought tolerate, unlike the native south Texas deer. Importing deer cost alot of money and is a real pain in the butt because its a never ending cycle of putting money into the program and the amount of paper work required is insane.

See that kind of attitude just dosent work in a state like Texas. The Texas Parks & Wildlife department knows that is not a road they want to go down, and they dont push that kind of attitude onto the landowners because they dont want to make them POed. Since nearly 100% of the deer in Texas live on private land, and since it is the private land owners in Texas who pay for and manage the deer of this state, they should be the ones who benfit the most from them. If the TP&W department ever adopted the attitude that "these are our deer, not yours, pay up" the the landowners in this state would simply say "well since these are your deer, I completely wash my hands of them, and will no longer manage them, provide water to them, provide food to them, and since the deer tags in Tx are complety unlimited and OTC, I'll let every Tom, Bubba, And Harry onto my ranch to kill as many deer as they have tags for". With out the landowners of this state the whitetail would be in serious trouble. The TP&W know that landowners could run the whitetail in this state if they really wanted to. And this is the main reason why the state leaves the landowners alone and lets them do what they want and gives them want they want. This concept may not work in other states, but it works just fine down here........

TXhighrack

tangozulu:

People high fenceland for all types ofreasons. This47,000 acre ranch was actually high fenced back in the 1960's, waybeforewhitetails where worth money and held ona pedestal.

aeroslinger

TXhighrack, I'm not going to get into an arguement here but I don't know where you get your info. 1500 acres WILL NOT support a healthy deer population when fenced in. I know people who've been in this situation in South Texas and the biologist informed them it would be about 7 years without new bloodlines. Where I live has NOTHING to do with the conversation. And if you don't think breeding and selling is going on and is big business you've got a lot to learn. If you haven't seen it, it's because they don't let you near the pens. Do you know how much they charge for stock? Do you know how much a high fence costs? Not to mention the feed, equipment, etc. Common sense and a little math will tell you they are not supporting their operation by selling hunts. Anyway, think what you like. But there is a reality that sooner or later all of us will have to face and won't be able to kid ourselves.

aeroslinger

What is running them now with high fences? Who's controlling the deer and the breeding? As far as the 'cost' to feed free ranging deer? Would you like to explain how that costs the land owner? If a landowner doesn't put one red cent toward feeding and watering deer, I guess the deer would just die because they couldn't fend for themselves. Most of the private land in Texas is not agricultural and the natural vegetation that the deer have used to become the largest deer population in the US did not cost the land owners anything. But whatever spin they want to use to justify their free use and profit of a Texas state resource.

Importing deer from out of state is what they have curtailed. Not the in-state sale and trade.

You seem to do most of your hunting on fenced land and that's fine. There is another form of hunting that some people actually enjoy and hate to see disappear. There are some large land owners on the TPWD board. If you read the news, you will recall somewhat of a scandal not too long ago where some politicians and connected people were getting deer stocked on their land for free.

turtleshell

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I personally own alittle more then half that many acres. 20,000 acres is a nice place, but considering your hunting an OTC unit in Colorado for elk, your sharing that land with hundreds of other people. Not my idea of fun, and something I would never do....

You are right, I have no desire to hunt either of those places, because I refuse to hunt in Sub-par habitat for sub-par animals. And I'll be damned if I will sit on a bluff and see more hunters then actual animals...Sorry but that just aint for me

That could perhaps me the most idiotic statement I've ever read on this site. And you are right, I'm not an "equal person to you" because of the places thatI hunt. Guys like yourself have to settle for OTC units in Colorado, while guys like me can hunt that 50,000 acre private land in New Mexico or buy an auction tag at a SFW banquet in Utah. So I guess where not on the same level. I guess that is why you have such an idiotic and biased view towards everything that happens off of public lands.....
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I hate to get into this but to me it sounds like TX highrack wants all hunting land to be privately owned and managed and possibly fenced, something that mot hunters DO NOT WANT. I guess that free renging animals in a natural setting are SUB PAR for you. Man get your head out of that texas sandero and wake up. I have no problem with your "Texas stlye" hunting, if that's what you like then go for it. But do not call all other types of hunting in any place that is not privately owned and managed sub par.If all hunting continues in the direction of being fenced and privately ownedthen there will be no place for a normal everydayhunter to go (apparently that's fine with you, too many hunters already in your opinion right?). And if that's alltrue then in my opinion, and that's all it is, you have no right to speak for hunters or the hunting community and no place on this forum. Sorry to sound harsh but your calling everything not high fenced and privately owned "sub-par hunting" has really urked me.....but I'm sure that doesn' matter to you. I do not agree with talking down about Mex hunter's animal's either regardless of where he killed them. That's not why he posted the pics... for those that did not TXhighrack.

Texan1554

MY OPINION: Great deer congrats, sounds like you had afun hunt, and congrats to the land owner, anytime a deer like that is taken off your land there is a definite sense of pride. I am sure he has put in a lot of hard work in managing his deer herd. Great stag and ram too exotics are always an experience.