I'm with the "ghost" here as well. so +1 for him.

I highly doubt that this scenario is what the majority of "hunters" do in Texas. It may seem that way on all of the hunting shows on tv, but I would like to think that this is not as common as some might think. Maybe I am wrong, but I hope not.

I agree with prairieghost, we need to stick together as hunters. I don't bear hunt, but I would never get down on a bear hunter- same goes for this situation. At the same time I still have a hard time calling your situation "hunting" and not just "harvesting". A pen is still a pen even if its 5000acres and you call it an enclosure.

I'm with "ghost" on this one but have no use for people that hunt penned animals either.

I have a ranch here in Texas and we do have high fence. No its not walking and turning on a electric feeder and getting into an air conditiond hunting blind. Its nothing like that. One of the main reasons that we have high fence is for some of the exotic's that we have on our ranch and they can be very expensive, so we dont want them to be going from ranch to ranch and being shot by someone who knows nothing about any exotics, and wasteing the time and money we put into a good heard of animals.

Living in texas, I can say they don't know how to hunt.

Praireghost and Jbird both have valid points. In my opinion High Fence is a legal activity and should be regarded as such. The bad thing about it is that it's legal and some folks think that this is the norm. In no way should these ever be called "hunts" by "hunters". As long as High Fence is legal, it will always be there for those who can't muscle up for a real Fair Chase hunting experience.
I can see the other side of the issue as well, but only under these circumstances. If a person is handicapped or chronologically impaired (either too young or too elderly), but find that this will be their only chance to ever hunt, I can see the interest in keeping this alive. If you're able-bodied and do it just because you have the cash to buy a trophy or aren't energetic enough to endure the rigors of a Fair Chase hunt, you shouldn't do it. At that point you've damaged the image of hunting and paint all hunters in the same light.
I've never hunted High Fence and can't foresee any reason that I would. I wish it had never started.

I too agree with prairieghost. I do however find the question posed by Blackwater is ignorant. To make a sweeping statement about a state that contains the largest number of hunters in the entire United States and stereotyping every hunter in that state is deplorable. This is a time when all outdoorsmen should be banding together. To run down one man’s legal way of hunting does nothing but divide sportsmen. As long as its legal, moral and ethical questions have to be left up to the individual hunter.

Many people across the country turned to high fences after years of attempting to manager their herds, spending thousands of dollars conducting surveys, planting, feeding, and hours in the field only to let their 3.5 year old bucks walk and be shot on a neighboring property. In addition, a lot of hunters who attempt to manage their herd face trouble with maintaining a healthy buck to doe ratio without a high fence. Example: The Big Woods in east Texas has over 10,000 acres of low fence…the first 5 years they shot over 500 does while only killing 10 mature bucks. As fast as they could should the does they would be replaced by does on neighboring properties where a lot of land owners still consider the doe sacred and never shoot them.

Most deer never leave an area bigger than 2-3k acres and many maintain a home range much smaller than that. A few will venture out to an area as big as 4-6k acres. So for everyone on this board to say killing deer behind a high fence is not hunting is uninformed. There are several ranches in Texas well in excess of 10,000 acres under high fence. Even a spokes person for Boone and Crocket admits fair chase can be achieved behind high fence, “Jayar Daily, a club spokesman, allowed that it was possible to have "fair chase" within high fences, depending on a ranch's terrain and size”.

You know come to think of it every time I turn on a hunting show and they are up in Canada, Iowa, or Illinois the are now hunting in tower blinds, most have heaters and they routinely hunt over alfalfa, a cut over corn field or other crop.

Who is anyone on this board to say any legal method is or isn’t hunting?

Walk through the woods, place a 55-gallon drum on the ground full of candy, syrup, and other goodies, climb up a tree or step into a blind and wait. Is this how all bear hunting is done up north? How do other fair chase hunters feel about this?

Don’t answer because obviously it’s not the way all bear hunting is done. Just like its obvious not all hunting is Texas is conducted in the manner questioned by Blackwater.

rbzz, I bet your buddies didn't have a giant cage for the ducks to fly around in though. I think anything built by humans that physically restricts the movement of the animal such as a high fence shouldn't be considered a "hunt". I agree sportsmen should stick together but at the same time we need to police ourselves before animal rights activists do it for us. I still think its like shooting fish in a barrel even if the barrel is 100,000 gallons.

I've always advocated sticking together because I feel that it is our salvation but there are some excellent questions asked in this session. Maybe I'll rethink my position.
I'd like to pass on a story told to me just recently by a man I knew from the gun circles, not a friend, an acquaintance. He bought a canned hunt for a boar and drove to the location. He view the animals in a caged area and was told to choose one to his liking and that he would be priced a trophy fee based on the size of the animal that he chose above the fee that he had already paid. He did chose an animal, that animal was released while he got his handgun and gear. The boar never was out of his sight and the owner told him to take the shot and he did. I listened to every detail and held back the rage as best I could and finally told him the difference between hunting and killing. He smiled and said " you're crazy, there's nothing wrong with hunting this way. I'm a busy man and have to squeeze in whatever I can". I was stunned by his story about the actual setup and killing, but truly upset about his attitude. How do we defeat this type of "hunter" and how in the world do we stick together with those that would not only condone this crap but not see the wrong! I don't know anything about the conditions of high fence hunting in Texas. I'm pretty sure that some of these hunting areas are huge by my standards, but if the big operations are allowed don't you have to allow all, regardless of size or ethical questions?

Reminds me of an experiment someone did several years ago. The put a mature buck in a five acre high fenced area and sent a professional hunter in to see if he could kill him. The hunter hunted for a week and never even saw the buck.
These animals are alot smarter than we give them credit for so I can se how a fair chase would occur in a high fenced area.
I hunt in Texas, but we have either low fences or no fences...the largest area of private land we can hunt on is usually about 100 acres, so learning how to lure a deer to you is almost an essential part of our hunting process. We plant, use feeders and even create deer trails through the thick yaupon bushes. without creating trails the brush can be so thick a rabbit couldn't get through it much less a deer.
I have hunted sitting on the ground with my back to a tree and had deer come within three feet of me, I have sat on a board wedged beteen a fork in a tree, used portabl stands and even have a couple of big box stands we use for kids or beginning hunters.
For me it isn't about shooting the deer, but the journey to get the opportunity to line him up in my sights...pulling the trigger is optional.

No high fences. Not hunting anymore at that point.

As far as game farm operations in general, we hunters should be against them. The spread of Chronic Wasting Disease in the west has been laid at the feet of these artificial animal shooting places for one thing. Too much concentration of the animals.

I agree with what most of the other Texas hunters have said in this post. I have hunted whitetail all over Texas my entire life, mostly South-Central. The truth is that "hunters" are dichotomized between the uber-rich whose ranches are so large they can afford to import exotics or breed in-house (thus, they erect high fences to insulate their investment) and the rest of us, who take what we can get. Conceptually, I sympathize with the self-righteous out-of-staters, but I can't help my jealousy after hearing about 14-pt bucks found on these ranches. With so little public land and such a dense population of deer hunters in Texas, a buck you don't shoot on your 100-acre ranch will get taken by your neighbor, and you can't track it beyond your property line.
No one has discussed the issue of feeders much, but I distinctly remember an article in which it was rightfully condemned. Again, this is only in principle. Their prevalence means that if you don't have at least one on your property, then game will migrate towards your neighbor. In my view, the unfortunate situation in Texas leads to regional competition for animals. I agree with any slippery-slope argument that says, if this, what next? But it's entirely different from Montana or Pennsylvania hunting. At the very least, I just hope that the stereotype that "Texas hunters have high fences" does not pervade.

Being both old (68) and NOT RICH (not quite poor) I can and do understand both sides of this discussion. On the one hand if I could afford it I would consider a "Trophy" hint.

But I can't, so I have an 8 Point and 11 point heads on my wall and am satisfied, also I sat somem walked more and dragged thrm in -20 for both of them. I feel better having done it too.

I really don't see the point of it. I like the feeling knowing that I might get something, I might not... not a guaranteed kill. You might as well just trap something and then kill it. Although I have my thoughts, I guess it is and can be considered hunting but it is a form of hunting that I don't necessarily agree with.

Man, where do I start? Its all for the rich. I have had a small lease for three years surrounded by high fence. How am I suppose to compete without growing my own deer? Wow, big antlers, to bad most of my fellow Texas hunters cant brag about the hunt and just the antlers. The deer belong to the state of Texas. Yeah, right. All the wardens are in the back pocket of the big ranch owners to whom those deer truly "belong" to. They're their personal ranch security. I'm ashamed of the way deer are corraled, grown like plants and then shot from the owners back door. Wheres the sport, the challenge, the hunt? Nearby public lands are a laugh and I'm not going to pay three grand for a deer. I'd rather buy a steer and put horns on it then shoot it with my bow. Whats the difference? Its fattier meat. Maybe when Texans are shooting from their computer I might take a shot. Why not, I can't dance.

This has been an interesting post to read!!!!!!!!!!!