High Fence Hunting

- By Rich Miller

At this exact moment I am at my hunting camp letting my can of beef stew settle before I head off to bed. I have been down here hunting this weekend chasing crazy whitetails around the woods. It has been really slow for the few days that I have been here. I have seen a few deer but nothing of size. Not only are we not seeing much deer movement, but we have not heard very many shots either. That is really unusual for the end of October with rifle season in full swing. Most of the time it sounds like a war zone from the start of rifle season to the end of November. In this particular tract of property we only have around 300 acres and it is surrounded mostly by public land and some private on one side. We try to practice quality deer management as much as possible, but the deer are small-bodied to begin with and the average buck taken is one and a half years old; you can imagine how hard it is to see a good buck.

This afternoon while sitting in the stand, my mind was wandering as it usually does when I am not seeing anything. I got to thinking about a conversation that I had not too long ago. It was about the ethics of hunting in a high-fence area. I have never hunted in a high fence, but I have been able to get a tour of one and I am here to tell you that it was impressive to see the fruits of the time, labor, and especially the money that was invested in the place. The fellow I was discussing high-fence hunting with was dead set against it and didn’t agree with it at all. His complaint was that the guys hunting inside the fence were shooting big mature deer and acting like they are hunting the same deer that he was on the outside. It took me a little while to digest it and come up with a reasonable response.

First of all, I somewhat agreed with him; high-fence deer are definitely not the same deer that I have been hunting. A deer in the enclosure is not going to be passed up as a basket rack six point and step across the property line only to get blasted by the neighbor. Also, the managers can keep the doe-to-buck ratio more in line with better camera surveys and stricter management practices. However, most of these enclosures are between 1,000 and 10,000 acres, and it isn’t like you just go out there and chase a monster buck around to you get him tired and shoot him. It is still hunting and after the season opens, the deer are still deer and they know they are being hunted.

I think the property managers and owners know that they are not hunting the same deer that most of us are on public ground and hunting clubs. They know that they have a way better chance of seeing and shooting a monster buck in an enclosure because there are more deer in there, and they aren’t there by accident or luck. The property managers worked extremely hard, spending a lot of time and money to build the enclosure.

I have gotten very frustrated with neighbors and outlaws shooting some great up-and-coming bucks that I know I passed up to so they could reach their potential. At those points, I felt like fencing everything in myself if I had the resources to do it. I understand both sides of the argument and really don’t have an opinion either way. The opinion I have is we are all in the same boat whether we like high fences or not, we all love hunting. There are people and groups in this world that would love to keep us all out of the woods if they had their choice in the matter. So as long as it is legal and everyone is obeying the rules, let’s stop arguing between each other and support hunting of any kind. If we start picking and choosing we might all one day be out of a sport that we love.

What are your thoughts on high fences?

Comments

[Swamp Thing]

I don't feel strongly about it until folks start calling it "a hunt." Sitting in a stand, over a baited, domestic animal who is used to receiving feed & care from humans is a SHOOT, not a HUNT.

I guess "high fences" is a nice way of saying "canned hunt." Out my way, we do participate in "preserve shoots" (another nice way of putting it) for game birds, and again, as long as the participants don't claim that they were "on a hunt," then it is what it is. A deer, or quail, or pheasant, is something that you can buy as a domesticated animal and harvest it for meat. That meat is better for us than beef and pork. So...whatever...just don't call it a "hunt"!

[Terry]

Dont call it a "Hunt"? Ha... I hunt in a high fence facility in the south that is owned by a family member. He is obviously wealthy and just wants mid-west quality whitetails without going around the entire country to do so. As far as not refering to it as a "hunt", I have heard that on many, many, many occasions. However, people have a huge misconception when it comes to this. In 2007 we had 9 hunters out on the opening morning of rifle season. Not one deer was seen that morning. Dispite what people think, there are no rope burns on the deers necks, and you dont see deer on every hunt. Now, I also understand that like everything else in the world, some individuals have given this method a black eye and that is very unfortunate. Let me as you this. Driving dogs is huge down here, is that hunting? Being one of 30 hunters, drawing a number, forming a wall of hunters that wont allow anything to slip through the barrier while the dog does the work and some kid drops the first deer he sees. These people cant understand why the only have spikes and cant get any big deer. I will close with this one question and I want you to answer it honestly. Lets say you have an overwhelming passion for hunting deer. Its all you think about. You spend 4k-6k planting food plots, scouting, spotting, etc. You have also set strict guidelines on how you plan on managing your property. Opening morning you see a young buck with a word of potential. You watch in admiration of whats to come. This same buck ventures across the property line and is taken by a hunter that has benifited from your labor. Now, taking that into consideration, you just came into enough money to do what YOU want to do. You can pass on what you want to pass on, and call your own shots. You plant the proper feed and by the time you add up the bills you have exceeded nearly 100k for the year considering your supplemental year around feeders and food plots and equipment and so on and so on. You get the picture. You have put your heart into it and this place is all yours. 5 years later your seeing the fruits of your labor. The same buck that the other hunter shot is now a full blown B&C monster and throught proper management you made it happen. Now, my question is simple. Would you do it?

[Custom Steel Gates]

The debate over high fence hunting vs. fair chase rages on. Here are a few arguments in favor of high fences.