TXhighrack

I'm assuming Mexhunter is talking about a 1,000 acres of the South Texas brush country.Which by the way makes the woods of illinois look like an open savanah.....

mexhuntr

You're right TXhighrack, NO WATER HOLE LOST IN THE DESERT

GregH

You obviously haven't ever been to or seen the woods of Illinois. The oaks, maples and other trees we have up here makes your brush country look like our lawn!

Pa Trophy Man

Until fences start naturally growing out of the ground, they aren't a part of nature or a part of hunting. Its harvesting, JMO.

aeroslinger

I'm sure its not all like this, but a pretty common practice on South Texas hunting property is to take bulldozers and scrape crossing senderos out of the thick brush, place a stand in the middle of the crosspaths and corn the four lanes. Lots of cactus, cedar and mesquite, few large trees.
It seems some people are confusing fenced property with high fenced. 1000 acres of normal fencing is free range and is a pretty good size property to hunt. 300 acres of free range land is pretty good hunting as you basically are benefiting from the surrounding land, as they are from you. 1000 acres of high fence is still a big place to hunt but without artificial help it will not be a perpetual haven for animals. Obviously, 10,000 acres and up would certainly be more capable. However, there are more and more small-acreage tracts being high fenced every day as landowners see a way to extract revenue from land that is basically scrub land. I've seen video of deer on a 300 acre high-fence that basically ran to the truck as they were fed. Great looking racks and a bunch of them. Two guys on our lease a few years ago took their sons there and 'harvested' some cull deer, 5 total if I remember correctly, and filmed the deer. I hunted in December on a free range 1500 acre tract. The owner drove me past 2 tracts some guys had bought and was high-fencing in, one 600 acres and one 800. The 800 acre tract was divided 300/500 with the 300 reserved for breeding. Besides these tracts being too small, any deer on that land at the time the last section of fence goes up was just taken out of the natural bloodlines. There's still a lot more free range but you see more and more high fences going up every year.

Talondale

In my state, and several others I've read about, if you are going to high fence in your property and take possession of wild deer contained therein the local game department comes out and does a herd number assessment and you are billed by the State for those deer. So you do have to buy them. Personally I'd love to have the resources to own a 1,000 acre high fence ranch. Yes it would be hunting, I wouldn't be hunting the corner with the deer trapped against the fence, I wouldn't be hand feeding them in the off season, they would be wild and free to roam. 1,000 acres of heavy forest/cutover/fields is a lot of land. The fence serves two purposes though, to keep deer in that I've allowed to reach a good age, and to keep other hunters out! All you QDM proponents are basically fantasizing about a giant fenced area, but your fences would be age restrictions. Be honest, the reason you want QDM (and Hey, I want it too) is so that the deer will get older and there will be more of them. That is basically what you are achieving with a High Fence except you're the only one that benifits not the whole county.

Just another thought for you anti-fence people. How many of you hunt funnels? Aren't they a form of restricting the deers movement, just like a fence? "But they're free to not use the funnel." you say. But the deers natural instincts and geographical features are a fence that forces it to use the funnel, eventually. Why else do we use them? Again, I'm talking about a lot of mixed cover in that fenced area and not a cowchute. The deer has just as much ability to avoid me as he does in the wild THE WAY I'D DO IT. The only thing I'm guaranteeing is that he won't be shot by my neighbor (unless my neighbor climbs the fence).

Of course it's all a moot point for me because I'll never own that much land and money. But it's fun to imagine.

davidmil

It's neither. First off, I agree, if the critter can't leave the county when the pressure is too much ..... it's not hunting. Secondly, I don't use harvesting so I'm not calling it that. I'll just call it target practice or killing or something other than hunting or harvesting. Sorry, but that's the way I feel and you ask the question. Take a walk into the Adirondacks or some place like that and you'll see what hunting is. There won't be over stocked herds, large varieties to shoot if you get the urge(like exotics). It's native critters who won't stand around to be shot. And you can stalk for a week and not get a glimpse of what you want to shoot. Not like driving them around in a pen knowing they're there and can't get out. NOPE.... it's neither hunting or [:'(][:'(]"Harvesting"[:'(][:'(][:'(]

Charlie P

My problem with any fence is simple, the deer can't decide where to go. If it's ten thousand acres and the deer would perfer to bed on the other side of the fence it can't.

You can talk aboutthe natural range of a deer all you want, if there is a fence it's not a natural range.

HAZCON7

Another main difference between high fenced and free range is this... in a high fence enclosure, be it 1 acre or 10,000, you KNOW there are certain and specific deer on that property and they cannot leave.

On open free range land you may think you know there are certain and specific deer on the property but nothing is KEEPING them there.

Example: I started scouting and tracking a mature double drop tine 3 years ago on public land. I first saw sign of him in mid August and scouted him all throughout the off season and in to mid October - when he disappeared. In mid November I saw him for the last time - On the front page of the local newspaper. A guy shot him on private property over 5 miles away from the bucks core area.

My friends - THAT IS HUNTING... Trying to outwit a creature on his turf in open elements, trying to stay one step ahead of him, with the greatest possibility of going home empty handed. And when it pays off you can share your story with great pride of accomplishment. THAT IS HUNTING

bawanajim

[quote]ORIGINAL: Talondale

Please tell us you were smokin dope when you posted this. "just like a fence" if you truly believe that a free ranging deer will force its self to go down a funnel when it senses danger just like a deer that is trapped in a cage? Watch the Jimmy Houston video and tell me that was the same as a funnel.
If its in a pen you are there to KILL it not to HUNT it.Most people would call it Butchering just like beef cows or pigs.And you done need a licence to shoot them either!!!!!!![:'(]