davidmil

I agree completely. If we go over the top in our critique we simply come across as a "Nut Case" jealous whacko who probably likes ballet.[&:] The letter gets sent to the recycle bin with the intended recipient never seeing it.

mrfishy34

After what i heard, sounds like it.

zrexpilot

Those guys are idiots, I cant stand them either.. Here in texas I'm sorry to say that's the way things are going. Every year it gets harder and harder for me to hunt. Its so comercialized now days and the people here are just making it worse. You have these people with a lot of money and are willing to buy a deer, these ranches around here get more for a 1 head of venison than they do for 10 head of cattle. It's got me sick. Then these shows come on TV and keep saying take a kid hunting. Ya I wish i could but your damn shows are just making it harder. I dont have the $$$ to pay. I'm so sick of it I have almost gave up a time or two. You know around here they are getting 50 to 100 dollars a day just to hunt dove, thats sick I can barely afford to take my kid dove hunting, maybe we get to go once or twice, sad very sad.

TXhighrack

"I dont fence deer in, I fence bad neighbors out"


This is a statement made by the ranch foreman of one of the Briscoe ranches in south Texas. The Briscoe family is the largest private land owners in the state, they own well over 1 million acres in Texas alone. The reason why I posted this is because I wanted to show you that high fencing a ranch is done for several different reasons. I have a friend who owns 5,000 acres. He high fenced the west side of his ranch, about 2 miles, because the ranch on that side sold off about 200 acres of land. The people who bought it put up 12 deer stands, 10 deer feeders, and started selling day hunts. As soon as a deer would jump the fence from my friends ranch onto this other place, it was shot. My friends family has owned their ranch for a long time, and they had a management program for years. But after that neighbor shot over 20 bucks after one season, my friend got tired of it and had an 8 foot fence erected. Which solved that problem.

Another reason why high fences are put up is because the rancher does not want other deer coming onto there ranch. If a rancher wants a 1:1 buck to doe ratio then a high fence should be put up. You dont always have to put up a high fence to keep a 1:1 ratio, but if you dont then you better be ready to kill a high percentage of does each and every year. Which after a while starts to turn into a pain in the butt.

But by far the #1 reason why high fences are erected is because of game management reasons. Deer management is huge, especially down here in s. Texas. But around here most high fenced ranches are 5,000+ acres, so when your talking about an area as big as this, the high fence dosent come into play when your hunting.

TXhighrack

zrexpilot:

I've been getting $50 per day for dove hunting for years. I only lease out my place for opening weekend, each year anywhere from 50-70 guys from east Texas come down and hunt friday, saturday, and sunday. The way they look at it, is there weekend of fun only cost $150 which is alot cheaper then most of there "vacations". $150 is a small price to pay when you want to get out of the big city, do some hunting, drink a few beers and have fun with your friends.

But hunting down here is bigger, better, and more popular then ever before. The only way hunting will survive is if it is bringing in alot of money to the local, state, and federal economy.

zrexpilot

I'm not one that believes that hunting in an enclosure is any easier, thats for sure. But I do believe that it should be against the law to keep whitail deer inside of it. The whitail deer is owned by no one but by everyone that resides in that state. So your keeping my deer from me and making money from selling it which I believe should be against the law as well.

TXhighrack

Sure since your a citizen you might own that deer just like everybody else in this country, but if that deer lives on private land then you have NO right to it. On large pieces of private land, a whitetail deer will spend his entire live on that land. Now, you have never had and will never have any right to hunt that land, which means your never going to get to hunt that deer. So what does it matter if that landowner desides to erect an 8 foot fence around his property? Your never going to hunt those deer, so what difference does it make?

zrexpilot

It just seems wrong that your allowed to keep whitail deer enclosed even though the law alows it now, they are not your deer to keep enclosed, they belong to the public of that state. High fencing and selling of record class deer or any deer (except exotic)should be outlawed and until that happens which I doubt ever will, deer hunting in texas will only be for the rich and fortunate.
Sorry but high fencing is just another comercialization of a sport I love. If selling of deer were outlawed and high fences brought down the price of leases would drop and those with smaller pocket books could hunt and I could take a kid hunting.

Mike from Texas

There's plenty of public hunting land out there. You are right, it's expensive, but like most things you gotta pay to play.

TXhighrack

Sorry but that is just false. Most ranches are not high fenced, actually when you consider the amount of land that is privately owned, very little of it is high fenced. There are so few high fenced ranches that they have little to no effect on the average price of a lease. Deer leases are expensive because there are people that line up for miles trying to get on one. People are willing to pay what ever price is asked, so if the rancher can get it, why not? Deer leases are expensive because well, they can be, it has nothing to do with high fences.