I have seen many times where hogs have gone under them.

I try to stay away from passing judgement on issues of fair chase. Yes, I think that shooting deer in a 40 acre pen is wrong, but beyond that, I don't know where to draw the line. There are many forms of hunting that we may disagree with. However, you are often dealing with activities that are good for the local economy and do allow people the opportunity to hunt. Again, I may not agree with them, but too some extent its none of my business.

My only concern in this regard is the issue of "ownership" of wild game. If wild game is actually a public resource, then folks do have a right to voice opinions on it.But even that is a moot point since it seems to be legal at least as far as it concerns deer. I just know thathigh fencingwould go over like a lead zeppelin in southern Illinois.

Lanse,
It has about the same effect on locals here too.
I, personally am not a member of such a club. Just understand why a group might want to make that investment. Not to mention the property rights issues. And if given the opportunity, have and will, to hunt on a quality managed property, I really don't care if there is a high fence a mile or so away. I do care about fair chase and ethics.

Where I hunt is "kind of" symtomatic of what I am talking about. We hunt on a military base of about 10,000 acres. No high fence. We are surrounded on three sides by hunting clubs that don't have high fences either. Pressure here is moderate on deer and turkeys is fairly light. We adhere to state rules, 4 points or better, but many of us have more stringent personal guidlines. We realize that the 4 point we don't shoot this year could be the wall hanger we kill two or three years from now. Don't get me wrong, somebody wants to shoot a 1 1/2 year old 4 point, it is legal and while I won't do it, that is thier business. I especially encourage kids to get any opportunity for a legal kill that we can, they get one spike a year and while I wouldn't shoot one. I congratulate and am excited for every kid that kills one, no matter how big or how many points.
That being said, many of the surrounding area hunters are notorious for "it's brown its down" and the good ole "ground check". See, it is doe day every day here. So, what happens is that the first deer that walks into range gets popped over our fence (normal height) line. From friends I know that at least HALF the antlerless (should be doe) deer they kill are spikes. Everyone in this area suffers as a result. Some of these clubs (some are well run w/ good policies and QDM) line up on our line (and the clubs w/ good management) because they have taken every decent sized deer on their leases and know where the quality deer are.
We kill allot of does in the area, we control out of necessity. We just have too many deer. But, we are very strict about young bucks and do our best to curb shooting button bucks and spikes. Our efforts have been changing things in certain areas. But in much of the range, it just stays the same because of the ethics of the hunters over the fence.
Hank

Is it "fair chase" or ethical to have your treestand in the corner of a high fenced property even if the entire area is say 2,000 acres? Would it still be ok to shoot a deer that is standing there facing the fence looking at the other side? Is that considered fair chase?

On the flipside of that. Let's say your stand is somewhere on the property that you far enough away where you can't see a fence. Who's to say a deer wasn't detered by the fence and where it wanted to go. Instead it turned around and eventually made it by your stand in the middle of the property. Is that considered fair chase? Same size property..... same deer.... different stand locations.

ahankster,

I understand your point about the ability to manage a population of deer to get the size bucks you want out of your herd. I also understand the risk involved with those "outside" hunters shooting deer in your area that may compromise your plan. That's all fine and dandy if that is what floats you boat.

IMO Fair chase ends when the herd is manipulated and enclosed in anyway. I guess I see the other hunters and environmental factors as part of the challenge in my pursuit. I'd rather hunt and overcome all the things mentioned that create and adverse environment and be happy with a 4 point than hunt a controlled environment and kill a will hanger.

Hank,

I understand your concerns. I think that some management is obviously necessary. But, I think that sometimes you just have to accept the fact that standard management is not going to operate perfectly and result in a high population of rack bucks. I mean you buy a deer permit to get a chance to shoot a deer. It isn't an automatic ticket for a wall hanger. That's why they call it hunting, isn't it. Obviously, some folks don't want to accept that and may do things like high fencing.But then youcan getinto situations wherefolks start to wonder if it is deer managementor deer farming.

I honestly have mixed feelings about high fences ..and I am sure I will get some flack over this ... on one hand I would never hunt a game animal behind a high fence ...to me thats like a childs game of hide and seek sooner or later your bound to find them and to me hunting is an element of chance ... on the other hand I can understand a land owners reasoning when he has a big parcel of land ...feeds ..manages ..works to make a habitat for the game on his property ..puts in the hours..invest the money ..and raises some nice animals just to have some weekendyokel on a 50 acre piece of property next to his shoot an animal coming off of him ..I think its walking a fine line but I can understand a land owner wanting to keep the animals that feed and bed on his propery from being able to wonder off on an anjoing piece of property by putting up a high fence...now do not take me wrong ..Im not saying I WOULD DO IT ..but I can understand the reasoning of the man that does ... now you guys can start throwing stones at the good Doctor ...but those are my thoughts on the subect and thats all Im going to say about that

dd

DD,

I'm not going to throw any brickbats. I understand perfectly the logic behind wanting to protect one's investment. I just have trouble getting past the whole idea of ownership of stuff that is supposed to be game. I mean the whole point of something being wild game is the fact that it does stufflike wandering off a large ranch onto the adjacent 50 acre tract, then, perhaps over on to some public land. I would think that if folks don'twant that to happen, perhaps theyneed toput more effort into making their land ideal habitat rather than worrying aboutfences.

What do the B&C rules have to say about taking a trophy on high fenced property? If you took an otherwise record book white tail on a high fenced 8000 acre property, would your trophy make the book or would it be excluded from entry because hunting on this high fenced property violated their definition of "fair chase?" Just trying to inject some external standard into a discussion that has been dominated by subjective views thus far. I have already provided my subjective view above -- I won't hunt on high fenced land and I'm not lured by big racks.

A deer can swim off an island.