***Did you even think about what you wrote when you made your post? I said IN TEXAS that 8000 acres is not a big ranch. I certainly DID NOT SAY that it wasn't big enough to grow big bucks and ESPECIALLY if it is high fenced. I've hunted down in south Texas, as well as the hill country north and west of San Antonio, since the early 70s so I think I know a little bit about raising big deer down there. My Mom still lives down there and Dad and I hunted down there until a couple years before he died in San Antonio on 9/11/11, just five days shy of his 89th birthday. How many times have you been down there? Also, the county I live in over here is one of the biggest at 1833 square miles (1,173,120 acres)! Heck, our State Game Area right outside of town covers 45,000 acres just by itself. It also amazes me to read the other post about David Morris shooting more deer than allowed down in Texas as if the guy is a convicted poacher or something. I'd bet the poster doesn't even know how many deer a person can legally shoot on a license down there! David Morris is a dang nice guy that is originally an Alabama native and didn't even move down to Texas until well into his career to do what he loves to do and that is to see and shoot big deer. That's sort of like every one of us on this Forum I would imagine.

He is. I grew up there. His sister was my art teacher in high school. They're good people.

My hats off to the Tecomate Ranch and their production. I respect the path they have taken to get what they have. I don't think I would do anything different if I had the opportunity. Years ago, I judged other members of this forum for killing any deer that had some semblance of horns sticking out their heads. Subsequently, I learned that was a rather narrow-minded view and now subscribe to "if it is a trophy in the hunters eyes", then that is all that matters.

However, my hunting partners and I do practice QDM and refrain from shooting bucks who show potential to grow to trophy potential meeting our standard. This isn't for everybody.

If the Tecomate stakeholders are able to not only do the same, but reap the benefits of shooting huge bucks and make $$$ doing so then more power to them.

After living in Texas my entire life and hunting the last 46 years out of 53 ..I will say this - High Fence hunting is no more than Zoo hunting..actually ,theres no " hunting" involved.As far as " TV" goes - The minute I hear someone call a deer by "name" or If I see a ear tag - I change the channel.

Deer hunting has really gotten out of hand in Texas - Its all about the dollar now.Use to be we could lease 500 acres and pay 150.00 per gun to do so - The owner was just looking to pay his land taxes back in the 70's - now its a total mess.Outsiders coming in ,big companies doing write offs and Tv has now made "hunting" as "cool" to all the yuppies.

The Texas Hill Country is/was the prettiest part of the state and now its just one high fence after another.In my eyes the only people that should have ANY kind of high fence is the Tx Parks & Wildlife - FOR RESEARCH ONLY.

As for "deer feeders" ...there is no difference using a "feeder" and killing a deer in the same area as the feeder as there is some guy hunting next to a really large corn field in Iowa..There deer are there because of the corn and that why the hunter is there.

Parts of these pages read like something from a group of High Schoolers - words like jealous and envy ....LOLL how stupid is that .

If you have to be behind a " highfence " in order to be able to kill something - shame on you ...But if you own 8000 acres and all the deer are free range and you manage them right - David Morris etc etc....GOOD FOR YOU SIR.

Ps...I went the so called - QDMA website- nothing but Zoo Hunters...how pathetic, of course Im sure there is 10 percent real landowners and actual hunters on the site - but from what I read in a few hours..didnt seem that way.I would rather kill a nice a nice 8 pt than a 170 B&C behind a high fence,

Just look at all the Texas records that have been "jacked up" now because of pen raised deer and then released on a ranch and killed and then entered into the
" record books " ....even our record books are now out of whack.Really piss' me off - can ya tell..LOL

FYI a ranch that is 8000 acres or more is about as free range as you can get when a deer normally lives within a one or two square mile area it's whole life even when it can go wherever and whenever it wants to. Granted the hill country is littered with high fence places and a lot of them are small enough where I also wouldn't call it hunting, but please don't include those huge ranches in with them as you wouldn't know you were hunting within one if you didn't have to go through a gate to get in there! You are certainly correct though that the lease fees are crazy compared to back in the 70s, but that's the hunter's own fault. If they didn't pay them, they might come down to a reasonable amount.

No Sir..

I was NOT comparing a 8000 acre ranch to any high fence.

***Question for you---How big does a high fenced place down in Texas have to be in your mind before you have no problem with it? Let's stick to just whitetail deer that are not propagated, but are basicly just self sustaining on the property with just some added minerals and feeders like all the low fence ranches use. The reason I ask is become some folks say the acreage doesn't matter and yet they would turn right around and hunt an island where game can't escape that may be a lot smaller than that high fence ranch!

Natural territory is one thing ....a high fence something totally different ..

Erect a high fence on that island then I have a problem with it..

Im old school...I will never be convinced that shooting a animal in a cage is ok..

Unless its a wild hog in a trap..but that's a whole nother situation.

As for the buck only roaming so far...

Example A: Buck was caught on trail camera in Harper tx....same buck was later killed 16 miles down the road....just saying.

LOL! You ought to hunt with skinnnner! You'd hunt that island regardless of size because it has water around it keeping the animals in a restricted area. Change that water to a fence or put a fence on the beach all the way around it and it's a whole different story. Now you also say it's not okay with deer, but it's okay for hogs! That's a real gem Sir!!! They both have four legs and hogs are smarter than deer. Think about it a little :busted: