Why Hunt High Fence?

The third reason to hunt high fence is that it is much safer and you don't have to worry where other hunters are hunting. I wish we had some statistics but I'm willing to bet that high fence hunting is several times safer than free range hunting. Unless you have a bunch of land, you never know where another hunter might be. I have heard the sound of a bullet wizzing by and its not a nice sound to hear! In addition, most preserves offer hunts over the entire fall season. That allows much safer hunting than 1,000,000 hunters in the woods all on "opening" day.

It's really ironic that the best place to find a more natural age structure in a whitetail population is inside a high fence. If anything hunting preserves (like the name implies)are preserving a link to the past where people can go to experience the whitetail deer like they should be experienced.

some were around 200-215

I have hunted in a preserve once and filmed in many. That being said each one was diffrent. Some of you argue safer, I have seen some hunters inthere that never shot a gun but the preserve owner sent them in. I can see where you can spend a couple grand and get your animal VS a outfited hunt where you might not see one. It is still not the same as a wild hunt. The deer are no where as spooky as wild game, it can't get away, though some preserves are huge makes it a lot harder. I have been in some wher up to 10 guys are pushing the animal to the hunter, and in a 5 acre pen thats not hunting. In the end do it because you want to make no excuses. My fear is that as land dwendles and hunting oppertunities also. that preserves will be the only way, and there goes the demand and prices will be to high for some to hunt anymore.

I can tell you our deer are as spooky as any in the wild - maybe more so since they are hunted longer. Also, our hunts are guided and we have a rifle range where folks can shoot before they go out. The deer get to know where many of the stands are and won't come near them. The difference between our hunts and the wild is that you see more deer and bigger ones!



Like Sam says, finding any particular deer in a preserve is a lot more challenging than anyone would think.

Midwest your not a deer farmer or preserve owner are you????

Wild Rivers Whitetails said:

I can tell you our deer are as spooky as any in the wild - maybe more so since they are hunted longer. Also, our hunts are guided and we have a rifle range where folks can shoot before they go out. The deer get to know where many of the stands are and won't come near them. The difference between our hunts and the wild is that you see more deer and bigger ones!



Like Sam says, finding any particular deer in a preserve is a lot more challenging than anyone would think.

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I'm not arguing with anyone or trying to start any fights. But like I stated not all preserves are the same. Some just care about the almighty dollar. Your deer might be very spooky, but I have seen deer walk right up to a person. Some places only put the deer in the pen your are hunting.

ddwhitetails said:

Midwest your not a deer farmer or preserve owner are you????

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No I am not, am considering a farmer, but probably wont. I have just filmed alot of hunts in them, and talked to even more. I have probably talked or met some of you.

I would not call 5 acres a preserve. The deer in most preserves down here are as wild as a haint and the preserves are atleast 400 acres with thick cover. A deer can and does evade hunters daily. It is very hard to kill a particular deer. The only difference in preserve and wild hunting here is there are deer in the preserve with the age structure and genetics to make it possible to kill a trophy deer. Here in the Alabama the land is so divided into small parcels that it is impossible to have deer reach age 5 in the wild. If you want to hunt a decent deer you have to go to a preserve.

It is the same hunters that say they would not hunt a preserve that has ruined the wild hunting. They don't want people to put up a high fence because they want to bait them off your land to shoot. I have an ajoining land owner that hunts his 47 acres and kills about 25 deer per year, every thing with a knot on his head and calls himself a hunter. Once my fence is finished he will no longer be able to bait them off my land and must live with what he has not already shot. Guess what he doesn't like me putting up a fence. Guess what, I don't care. He is the main reason I am putting up a high fence. These type of hunters are the reason most private preserves have fenced their property.

I have said before that if we are going to promote high fence hunting then we need to set a criteria for exactly what a hunting preserve should intail and perhaps what a shooting facility would consit of. We can't market both the same. Its not ever going to work like that. There are people that want to go out and spend an hour out in the "wild spaces" and kill a 200 inch deer. Maybe a shooting facility would be perfect for him. The next guy wants to see alot of deer but set up in a tree for three days before he gets a shot. A big hunting perserve would be his ticket. You switch the guys around and neither one would be happy. Different strokes for different folks the way I look at it. The problem will come on who and how we set the industry standards and how do we get everybody on board. Rick

[quote name='Deerchaser']I would not call 5 acres a preserve. The deer in most preserves down here are as wild as a haint and the preserves are atleast 400 acres with thick cover. A deer can and does evade hunters daily. It is very hard to kill a particular deer. The only difference in preserve and wild hunting here is there are deer in the preserve with the age structure and genetics to make it possible to kill a trophy deer. QUOTE]



There are smaller pens out there then 5 acres. The people who hunt or I should say kill in them just want the big head on there wall. You can shoot great deer in the wild, maybe not freak looking 250+ but they are out there. But 99% of the hunters can't afford the cost of those hunts. In esentse your just hunting a form of livestock, where people have put big money into genetics to make the animal bigger, no diffrent then any kind of breeding. I wish some of you could travel to many other states and see how others operate. Some are class acts, and others will break every rule just to get there money. They are the ones hurting the buisness. I will aggree it can be very challenging to hunt in a preserve. I watched a deer that was put into a 50 acre pen learn in two days where the safe spots were and learn how to avoid hunters. There is a fine line for both wild and preserves. Everyone always list the extreams for both. Remember back when a 200" farm raised deer was considered huge? Now it seems the check book is the only limiting factor.

Buckskin said:

I have said before that if we are going to promote high fence hunting then we need to set a criteria for exactly what a hunting preserve should intail and perhaps what a shooting facility would consit of. We can't market both the same. Its not ever going to work like that. There are people that want to go out and spend an hour out in the "wild spaces" and kill a 200 inch deer. Maybe a shooting facility would be perfect for him. The next guy wants to see alot of deer but set up in a tree for three days before he gets a shot. A big hunting perserve would be his ticket. You switch the guys around and neither one would be happy. Different strokes for different folks the way I look at it. The problem will come on who and how we set the industry standards and how do we get everybody on board. Rick

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I completely aggree, but who's going to set the standards? Each state is so diffrent on who is the "man" in charge.

Midwest, have you ever filmed any hunts on some of the larger, well managed low fence ranches in Texas? A hunter can sure see a lot of trophy bucks on some of these low fenced, large acreage ranches.

Somes states have minimum acreage for hunting preserves. Wisconsin's is 80 acres. So the state has already set at least one standard.

Here is one more reason to hunt high fence. Most of the people who hunt with our preserves spend a fortune on hunting. The more money spent the safer all hunters are to the anti's.

In some cases high fence hunting is more challanging than free range. For example, we have a 1600 ac enclosure with an old buck that needs to be taken out of the herd. He has sub-standard genetics based on the enclosure management practices and in 3 years, we have not been able to harvest him in spite of having a guide with each hunter that knows the buck by sight.

I know that Texas has the Chapparal Management Area. This is a 1500 acre high fenced "wildlife study" area. I drew a bow hunt there some 20 years ago. It rained for the entire 3 day hunt and no deer were were harvested from 14 bow hunters. The chances for being drawn for the bow and especially for the rifle hunts fringe on the impossible (going on memory here) 1 in 1400. I believe that 90% of Texas hunters that say they wouldn't hunt behind high fence would jump at the chance to hunt there. Why do I believe so? Several reasons probably. #1. Hunt for the cost of license plus permit fee. #2. it is not private property and therefore is not a can hunt. #3. Because other hunters would neither condemn or criticise you. #4. A trophy taken can be entered in the state big game awards (high fence) and not be scoffed at by those "opposed" to high fence.

I can see one major reason for hunting behind a fence that is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. Lack of suitable hunting areas. Fewer farmers are allowing you to hunt on their property with out leasing it. Lease prices are going through the roof here in Indiana. I can take my wife and I on a fenced hunt for 140-150 whitetail every year for less than leasing out 300-400 acres around here. Yes in will get more hunting time on a lease but I've got other things to hunt besides deer. We can go out hunt whitetail for 3-5 days come home with a deer each then go out and duck hunt, pheasant or quail hunt, or turkey hunt. Stateland to hunt deer here has gotten to the point it is crazy to go out and they've wiped out the herds in a lot of areas on stateland because more and more hunters are being forced to hunt stateland due to farmers leasing the property instead of allowing you to hunt. I can't be mad at the farmers its a way to earn an extra 5-10K a year and the few farmers that I know that extra 5-10K is greatly needed many years. That is just one reason of why to hunt behind a fence though. There are plenty of other reasons.

Scrapelineranch said:

Midwest, have you ever filmed any hunts on some of the larger, well managed low fence ranches in Texas? A hunter can sure see a lot of trophy bucks on some of these low fenced, large acreage ranches.

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Yes I have and as a hunter, I would rather hunt a preserve that doesn't use feeders then hunt in TX. We road a truck out where they started a feeder for 200 yards down the road before we got to blind then another 200 the other way. The truck hadn't even left and deer were coming to the road to feed. Not to mention the other feeders with in 100 yards of stand.