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Free Range vs. High Fence

Old 09-05-2018, 04:01 AM
  #51  
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Originally Posted by Berserker
Ok. If you want ,me to say it again. I think you are full of it.

if not what man shoots an animal in a pen.
Maybe you should go back and read my post again. You clearly misunderstood how I felt about that experience afterwards. Who's being the drama queen?
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Old 09-05-2018, 09:24 AM
  #52  
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Originally Posted by elkman30
A farmer raising hogs? A rancher or slaughterer with cattle? I don't think they shoot chickens to slaughter them.
So true. We were preparing to roast a hog. Friend got it from a local farm. Said it was the best 20 square feet of hog hunting he has ever seen !!
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Old 09-07-2018, 07:53 PM
  #53  
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First, I'll have to agree with Old Timer, several thousand acres, with NO FEEDERS, Is pretty much Hunting! Most people don't understand, a 40,000 acre ranch is 62.5 square miles! That’s not exactly a “feeder pen!”

My only experience with “high fence,” was that a friend invited me on a “cheap, bow only, hog hunt.” Only 200 acres, with feeders and several types of game, including Black Buck Antelope, Red Stag and Nilgi!
I think I saw EVERY animal on that 200 acres, except for the Nilgi, as they are very shy and smart! I DO NOT CARE TO EVER HUNT THAT TYPE OF AREA AGAIN! TOTALLY “CANNED HUNTING!”

Again, NOT the same as 40,000 acres of property, WITHOUT feeders!

I had a newspaper outdoors columnist contact me about the above hunt. He argued that many people can’t afford, or have the free time to take their kids on a “real hunt.” This is as close to the “REAL,” hunting experience that they can have with their children! I can understand that!

My “REAL” problem is that some of those same parents that can afford thousands of dollars for they, and/or their children to hunt can brag about 150+ bucks that they or their child killed as their “first buck!”

Now that right there, AIN”T REAL HUNTIN' !!!!!
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Old 09-16-2018, 06:41 AM
  #54  
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This all peeked my interest so I contacted a couple of preserves and asked for references. I tried to keep an open mind about the whole topic. It was interesting talking to these folks. I only contacted two, so the information I got was limited, but here's what I found. I talked to one fellow who was elderly who has hunted one of the preserves 5 times and is going back again this fall. He said he just can't get out and about like he used to so he thought he'd try a preserve hunt. He said he really enjoys them (obviously if he's going back for the 6th time). He said the deer act like deer you'd hunt anywhere....the older bucks do not show themselves until last light, etc. How true this is, I have no idea....I'm just sharing what I was told. He said beforehand he had a lot of reservations about doing one of these "hunts", like most of us, but decided to give it a try. He said the buck he shot last year hadn't been seen since it was released 4 years earlier. Again, I have no idea how true this is....I'm just sharing what I was told. He said he enjoys going every year and while it's not as challenging as a hunt on public land, etc., it's a lot of fun and for him at his age it's challenge enough. On the preserve he goes to the deer are released several months in advance, so they have a chance to reaclimate to the wild. How wild they become is anyone's guess, of course.

Maybe the bottom line is that killing a deer is different for different people. For some it's about the challenge and the satisfaction that they have taken a deer on public land where anyone and everyone can hunt. For others it's about putting in food plots and managing the land to produce large bucks. For some it's about getting into wilderness areas and taking a track and killing a buck. And for a few (probably very few) they find shooting a buck on a preserve enjoyable. I personally think it's about not judging anyone for the way they enjoy the deer. It's all better than sitting around watching TV, playing video games, etc. The one thing I have a problem with is outfits that charge based on the size of the critter you kill. Some preserves charge by the size and some don't. If you hunt in New Zealand for Red Stag, it's all based on the size of the stag you kill (unless you go on a free range hunt...not many people do that). Never been to New Zealand but I've looked into hunting there.. To me that's more like going shopping, but that's standard procedure in New Zealand... There are ranches in Texas that do the same thing....you pay according to the size of the buck you kill...
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Old 09-16-2018, 07:14 AM
  #55  
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Originally Posted by tatonka
This all peeked my interest so I contacted a couple of preserves and asked for references. I tried to keep an open mind about the whole topic. It was interesting talking to these folks. I only contacted two, so the information I got was limited, but here's what I found. I talked to one fellow who was elderly who has hunted one of the preserves 5 times and is going back again this fall. He said he just can't get out and about like he used to so he thought he'd try a preserve hunt. He said he really enjoys them (obviously if he's going back for the 6th time). He said the deer act like deer you'd hunt anywhere....the older bucks do not show themselves until last light, etc. How true this is, I have no idea....I'm just sharing what I was told. He said beforehand he had a lot of reservations about doing one of these "hunts", like most of us, but decided to give it a try. He said the buck he shot last year hadn't been seen since it was released 4 years earlier. Again, I have no idea how true this is....I'm just sharing what I was told. He said he enjoys going every year and while it's not as challenging as a hunt on public land, etc., it's a lot of fun and for him at his age it's challenge enough. On the preserve he goes to the deer are released several months in advance, so they have a chance to reaclimate to the wild. How wild they become is anyone's guess, of course.

Maybe the bottom line is that killing a deer is different for different people. For some it's about the challenge and the satisfaction that they have taken a deer on public land where anyone and everyone can hunt. For others it's about putting in food plots and managing the land to produce large bucks. For some it's about getting into wilderness areas and taking a track and killing a buck. And for a few (probably very few) they find shooting a buck on a preserve enjoyable. I personally think it's about not judging anyone for the way they enjoy the deer. It's all better than sitting around watching TV, playing video games, etc. The one thing I have a problem with is outfits that charge based on the size of the critter you kill. Some preserves charge by the size and some don't. If you hunt in New Zealand for Red Stag, it's all based on the size of the stag you kill (unless you go on a free range hunt...not many people do that). Never been to New Zealand but I've looked into hunting there.. To me that's more like going shopping, but that's standard procedure in New Zealand... There are ranches in Texas that do the same thing....you pay according to the size of the buck you kill...
I generally agree with all of that.
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Old 09-26-2018, 06:38 AM
  #56  
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Originally Posted by tatonka
Yup, a very controversial issue but I've been thinking about it lately (thinking about the difference between the two). For what it's worth, I've never hunted anything behind a high fence and probably never well. I don't have that much money! Having said that, I'm not against it....to each their own. Mention "High Fence" to a whitetail deer hunter and most of the time you are going to be looked down at like you're lower than whale poo... But wait a minute, those same guys who frown on hunting a deer behind a high fence have no problem fishing in a pond stocked with fish. Ditto for hunting birds that are released (many states release pheasants) and many guys hunt shooting preserves for pheasants and other birds. Pretty much all of the hunting you see on tv in New Zealand is behind a high fence and many of the "Safari's" in Africa are on game farms. But mention a high fence hunt for a whitetail deer and suddenly everyone has an opinion. I just watched a show where Jim Shockey was hunting elk in New Zealand... Behind a high fence. I think he made a good point on this show...he said sometimes you hunt for the challenge and sometimes you hunt just because it's fun and this hunt was a lot of fun.

So, what is it about whitetails that people see differently? I suppose (for me anyway) a lot would depend on the size of the area fenced in. Is a deer in a 5,000 acre preserve (just throwing out a number there) less of a challenge than a deer on a 200 acre lease where food plots are used to keep the deer home, no one else can hunt, etc.? Just tossing out some food for thought.

If I had an extra $15,000 burning a hole in my pocket (or whatever it is one of these hunts cost), I'm probably going to go chase a moose or a caribou somewhere! But that's just me....

Personally for me the fun in a hunt is the challenge. My most memorable hunts were because of the challenge that I was presented with. With that said I would never in a million years hunt high fence, I won't even bait or put out food plots for whitetail. I love killing mature deer on their own terms, outwitting them in their unaltered environment. I really feel a connection to the animal when I hunt them naturally. But, to each their own.
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Old 09-27-2018, 11:50 AM
  #57  
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Seems like the older I get, the less judgemental I've become. A few years back if someone had mentioned a high fence hunt I probably would have told them how it wasn't hunting, it was just killing, etc., etc., etc., I still think that way, but have come to the conclusion that no matter what I think people have a right to hunt where and how they choose to as long as it's legal. I might not agree with what others do, but it's their right...that's what makes American the country that it is.

In regards to high fence hunts, I can kind of see how some folks might be drawn to it. In some states a person can hunt their entire life and never take anything remotely close to being something most people would put on the wall. I know guys in Vermont who have hunted all their lives and maybe have only killed a little forkhorn or two. My uncle had two brother-in-laws who two their two week vacation during hunting season every year and hunted 26 years and never killed a buck!!! True story. Hard to believe, but true. My wif'es cousin (from Vermont) went to Saskatchewan 4 times several years back and never did kill anything to get excited about.. Between the cost of the hunts, the travel, etc. I'm guessing he spent over $20,000. I could see someone like that taking a serious look at a high fence hunt, although he never has. Personally, I'm lucky. I've taken far more big bucks than any one man deserves, but Montana isn't Vermont or any of the other states were a big buck is a scarce as hen's teeth.

At any rate, it's interesting how we all look at hunting differently.
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Old 09-27-2018, 12:21 PM
  #58  
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As for challenge, I'd be happy if monster walks in first day first 5 minutes. Ha
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Old 09-28-2018, 10:54 AM
  #59  
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I just got back from a week stalking mule deer in the breaks in Montana and only pulled back my bow once and missed underestimated the distance and I have hunted in Kansas several years and Kentucky and only taken 2 bucks.I guess for the money I could go kill a big trapped buck behind a fence but I still wouldn't even if they paid me !
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Old 09-28-2018, 11:00 AM
  #60  
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Oh and that big boy I missed. I guess a high fence would have eased the pain of knowing I blew my only chance on that big wily buck I had followed all week. He was headed to the next county but would have had to stop at the high fence and not just kept going like mine did LOL !
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