matthewquigley

Theres fair chase and then there is High Fence. you make the call

BarnesX.308

How about raising a pheasant in a pen, spinning it in a pillow case to get it dizzy, putting it under a bush with its head tucked under its wing and then going bird hunting

Robert L E

[quote=SWThomas;3506468]I totally agree with you gentlemen. My response was to the comment that they feed them special things and breed them a specific way. Anyone who practices QDM does the same thing. Planting specific types of food plots to promote antler growth and an overall increase in health. And culling out genetically inferior bucks so only the ones with "good" antlers can breed and pass on their "good" genetics. [quote]

Native Americans and Africans too, for that matter, burned areas to promote vegitation that would attract game. Was that "natural"?

If people only take large bucks would that not put genetic pressure on a population of deer to grow small, or even NO, antlers.

A couple thousand years ago Asian elephants usually had tusks, both male and female. Due to ivory hunting, almost all female, and most male elephants no longer carry ivory. The same process is at work in Africa now. Female elephants are often tuskless and there is pressure on the males to lose tusks too.

None of this is natural. Culling "inferior" deer to some degree mitigates the pressure towards bucks with small or no antlers.

I am opposed to importing genetics, but selecting from the local genetics by culling is OK by me.

minnesotadeer

With all due respect, I'm not sure handicapped, disabled or older hunters really benefit from these operations. Regardless of their handicap, disability or age, they're still just shooting the animal, not hunting. I've seen some of these hunting shows where they have a person who seems non-responsive for all intensive purposes, push a button or pull a cord to fire a mechanized rifle contraption into an exotic game farm animal chomping away underneath a feeder. Then the host goes on about what a great opportunity it is for this person, how they can still hunt, etc., etc. The stiff reality of life is that many people can no longer do many things, including hunting, because of a terrible disability or circumstance. Pretending they can just worsens the situation for everyone in my mind. In fact, I personally consider it demeaning to the disabled person when you do that.

Conversely, there are many special hunts in the wild, with free-ranging animals, that provide handicapped, disabled and older hunters the ability to still have that hunting experience. Many of these put hunters in wheelchairs with severe physical disabilities in custom built blinds where they may or may not get a shot at a wild animal. The goal in these situations is to still be able to hunt a wild animal, not shoot or kill a domestic animal. Many of the disabled hunters on these hunts are happy just to be out hunting again with their friends and neighbors. Killing a wild animal is icing on the cake. They don't need to shoot something to be happy.

bandgod

No they do not allow these deer into the record books.

As for the QDM comments and food plots. The deer in a QDM situation are fee ranging animals that can go across property lines and pick and choose what they feed on. In the high fence operations the deer are offered more in terms of quantity of food and quality (in terms of mineral supplements that far exceed what you can typically do in free range deer). Also in these high fence areas what they major producers do is keep track of the doe's offspring. There is a common misconception that it is the buck that produces trophy bucks, but it's actually the doe's genetic make-up that leads to trophy bucks. Check out this website
http://farmingforwildlife.com/index....=114&Itemid=64

Ol'Mongo

"...The stiff reality of life is that many people can no longer do many things, including hunting, because of a terrible disability or circumstance. Pretending they can just worsens the situation for everyone in my mind. In fact, I personally consider it demeaning to the disabled person when you do that."

With the above quote I think you presume to speak for a group of people who have a pretty large range of opinion. Further, following this logic we exclude kids from the mix too because they can't hunt without an adult. I've been on high fenced operations in Africa that are hundreds of thousands of acres and you'll never even see the fence after entering the gate. Those animals are "free ranging" in the truest sense. Be that as it may, if you don't like high fenced operations, don't hunt on them. Like you I choose not to but I'll never say I wouldn't, because there might come a time or circumstance when I would. I've killed a lot of things hunting and been pretty lucky but I'm not going to berate someone else for their choice. We hunters are all we've got for support.

okeechobeefishing

I would proably never hunt high fence but to each his own. While sitting here reading everyone comments it got me to thinking. Down here in South Florida I do alot of hog hunting. 95 percent of the time I hunt at 1 of our blinds that are set up 20 yards from a feeder. We have 267 free range acres that we hunt on. These pigs are going to come to that feeder regardless free range or not really what's the difference. Someone said they have a choice free range to go to any food source.What do you think, they are going to come to your feeder, food plot,mock scrape or whatever you put out to lure them in. I don't really see the difference the more I think about it. So if you've got 10,000 acres and put a 1 arce food plot in the middle of it aren't we really hunting that 1 acre piece. I don't know just thinking.

pats102862

I had one of those farm raised pheasants follow me around once. I think he wanted me to feed him.

BarnesX.308

That's funny

NC Buck Slayer

how much does it cost to fence in thousands of acres?