High fence and low fence hunting

[Shane]

I recently got into a few discussions about high fence versus low fence hunting, and it really made me think. I’ve hunted both types of properties and each has its place. High fence hunts can offer controlled management and better animal quality, but they sometimes lose that sense of fair chase. Low fence or open country hunts feel more natural, but success rates drop and effort climbs and both challenge you in different ways. What’s your take, do you think high fence hunting still counts as fair chase?

 

[Landon]

That's the eternal debate, right? The fair chase argument is always where it breaks down. For me, if the property is huge (thousands of acres), I think the challenge can still be there, and the management benefits are undeniable. But if it's a smaller acreage, it feels more like a controlled harvest than hunting. Where do you personally draw the line on acreage before it stops feeling like fair chase?

 

[Michael Lloyd]

The only high fence harvesting I've done was a box stand, 100 yards from a feeder that went off at a legal shooting time. I've literally seen does standing at the feeder and staring at the chute before it went off. Bucks were bred onsite from good stock. I enjoyed the time spent with my buddies when I went. The size of the deer I shot was dictated by the cost of the deer.

Contrast that with walking through the woods of NW Louisiana in the dark, headed for "that tree I found before deer season" bow in one hand, climbing stand in the other.

Both good experiences but a lot different.

 

[TADD]

I think Landon is right on point. I think the size of the acreage is the key, though, terrain and brush cover come into play. I had personally been against high fencing my whole life. Then in 2009 I high fenced a pasture between 400 and 500 acres. We brought in 15 bred does (bred to 8 different bucks) and 4 bucks. One of the does and bucks died within the first 30 days. We have hills, draws and a lot of cover. We have had many large bucks die of natural causes/old age in spite of hunting them hard for 2-3 years. Sometimes our place does feel like a controlled harvest, but often the older bucks get very difficult to find/harvest. These are just my experiences. I think everyone needs to make their own decision without condemning those that have a different opinion regarding low/high fence. I've been on both sides of that "fence".

 

[Drycreek]

What Landon said ! I have hunted both kinds too, but the high fence hunting was grocery shopping for axis does. In my mind, shooting a monster buck in a high fenced property is fine if you want to spend that money. Just don’t brag about your buck like it was free range.

 

[KHawk66]

I hunted one high fence ranch in SE Texas. 5k+ in size, never saw it all in the 4 days I was there. There was a 300 acre "pen" in the middle of it where A&M was doing some genetic research. Once you got there and started hunting you didn't see the fences or feel like you were in a "canned" hunt, until the feed truck came by and threw out corn. Then they came out of the woodwork! Until that time, all of my Deer hunting was in the piney woods and hardwood bottoms of NW Louisiana.

 

[Michael Lloyd]

Deer hunting was in the piney woods and hardwood bottoms of NW Louisiana.

Man, I miss those places. I haven't anything like it since. I lived in Minden in the late 80's / early 90's. My youngest daughter was born there in 1990 (my Louisiana anchor baby).

 

[KHawk66]

Man, I miss those places. I haven't anything like it since. I lived in Minden in the late 80's / early 90's. My youngest daughter was born there in 1990 (my Louisiana anchor baby).

Yep, nothing like $400 year round leases. Hunt all year and if your lucky a creek big enough to fish in. Desoto, Caddo Parish, Ruston and Gibsland, Caddo Lake, Bistineau, Grand Bayou... all great memories. Live there from '85 until 2010.

 

[Michael Lloyd]

A good friend's family has a place north of Minden. At the end of a path... definitely not a road, there was a cemetery where his great great grandad was buried. It was fenced in and somewhat cared for. Below that cemetery was a big ole bottom. I saw some of the biggest hickory and pine trees I've ever seen down in that bottom. Squirrels and deer too. When I lived there I only saw one leased sign. Everything else was hunt as you wanted to. Them the timber people came in and clear cut everything unless it had a tree stand in it. Chainsaws don't like nails I hunted a couple of other big bottoms (not women lol ) in the same area. I was a good ways in once and bow hunting. I let it get too close to dark before I started walking out. I hadn't gone far and a Screech Owl let loose. It was the first time I'd ever heard one and the one time I've been uncomfortable in the woods

 

[KHawk66]

I always walked in and out in the pitch dark. Nature moves in the dark. Owls, coyotes yelping to pack up and running around underneath you. Harmless armadillos and racoons rustling leaves. Being out in nature, ain't nothing like it.

 

[Carpe Sus]

I recently got into a few discussions about high fence versus low fence hunting, and it really made me think. I’ve hunted both types of properties and each has its place. High fence hunts can offer controlled management and better animal quality, but they sometimes lose that sense of fair chase. Low fence or open country hunts feel more natural, but success rates drop and effort climbs and both challenge you in different ways. What’s your take, do you think high fence hunting still counts as fair chase?

If you were on a high fence small enough you felt like it felt unnatural, then you were on too small of a high fence property.

With that said, I am not a fan of them. They offer canned hunts with trapped game. Being trapped is why I have hunted multiple high fence properties. I do hog control and when hogs bust in, I am one of the people they call. The high dollar hunters don't want their $15,000 whitetail hunt messed up by a bunch of stupid hogs.

The small ranches usually often don't have too much in the way of cross fencing, but then you get these places that will maybe break up their high fence ranch into multiple tiny high fence zones/areas and then you are back to the trapped game sort of hunts.

 

[Drycreek]

If you were on a high fence small enough you felt like it felt unnatural, then you were on too small of a high fence property.

With that said, I am not a fan of them. They offer canned hunts with trapped game. Being trapped is why I have hunted multiple high fence properties. I do hog control and when hogs bust in, I am one of the people they call. The high dollar hunters don't want their $15,000 whitetail hunt messed up by a bunch of stupid hogs.

The small ranches usually often don't have too much in the way of cross fencing, but then you get these places that will maybe break up their high fence ranch into multiple tiny high fence zones/areas and then you are back to the trapped game sort of hunts.

I definitely think it depends on your mindset. I hunted on a thick 150 acre property a couple of times for axis does. Axis deer are hard to kill once they have been pressured. They will go nocturnal quicker than whitetails in my experience. If your expectations are that you are hunting, you’re probably fooling yourself. If you just want to “hunt” with your friends and take home the best venison ever (right up there with cow elk and pronghorn) then you are on the right track. Free range axis can be difficult too, but they won’t compare with pressured axis on a small place. Imagine 15/20 axis deer of all sexes 50 yards from you at almost dark, constantly milling and moving while you are trying to separate does from nubbins and spikes. So dark you can only separate sexes with a scope or binocular. In that particular scenario I held my fire and killed a fallow doe the next day. I won’t be doing that again, the meat was not nearly as good IMO.

 

[Drycreek]

I also hunted a 16,000 acre high fenced place in S Texas. The only time I saw the fence was arriving and leaving. High fenced on three sides and the Rio Grande was the S border. I was bowhunting javelina, but I saw hundreds of blue quail, several javvies, and a dozen Border Patrolmen !