Spoke to a buddy earlier this evening, he shared a story of his brother taking home a huge buck he shot at a location in NM. He says it’s a hunting reserve for the wealthiest of hunters. I didn’t really think much of it until he says it’s a high fence place. Now I was thinking, that sounds Not so sporting after all.

Thoughts please.......

Not my deal either. I’d rather kill a big deer that I had to actually hunt for, not sit in the stand hear a guide say “ Ok, that one is $10k, the one to his left is $21k....”. Lots of money in breeding white tails and selling high fence hunts.

Depends on the place. I’ve spent plenty of time (not deer hunting) on a high fence ranch and never seen a buck. There are some that sound like petting zoos. They’re not all the same, and it depends on density, in my opinion. I’ve never hunted deer, but that’s my take.

HF is not for me. With that being said, I have shot a few exotics that were under a HF, it was 9000 acres. Even on a place that big, you still have that sense of knowing they are in there. That same ranch had a whitetail pasture that was made of four 300 acre sections, and each one had a different range of deer size. We didn’t go in there. I will take my hunts on low fences and hope for a nice deer, and I have killed some good ones this way.

Drive up from Falcon Heights north toward Hebronville at 3am in a dense fog and you will see all the big [censored] bucks you'd ever want to see.

Go over 30mph and you will definitely get one with your truck.

How do you feel about fishing in a stocked pond?

Slippery slope. Aren’t all the lakes in Texas stocked by TPWD? So are they super sized stocked ponds?

I’ve killed 7 low fence booners one over 200 with a bow, I prefer high fence now. Kinda like boobs, the bigger the better.

Depends on the size of the ranch. On a large high fence ranch the hunting can be more difficult.

the folks around boerne got exotics when a high fence operation went bankrupt, guy went and cut his fences and ran all the game out. boerne city lake had fallow deer already hangin out when I moved.

not a fan of the canned hunts but if it is on thousands of acres and you have to hunt then no big deal.

You really need to ask this question over on the "Texas Hunting Forum."
Those guys will be more than happy to answer your question, as that is where you will find the hunters who have the most experience when it comes to fences or trolls.

There are many factors involved and studies being conducted. Population density, cover, food/water availability, current management practices, number of acres under high fence vs number of acres low fenced and the list goes on....

With Texas being 98% privately held chances are your neighbor on 1 of 4 sides does not care or share your views on game management or more interested in cattle or another focus for their land. Ranches exist that are partially high fenced; some have hgh fences within a low fenced property. Landowners have their own 'reasons' for why. Personally I am not a fan of high fences but for the breeding crowd it's a necessity. I have hunted on high fenced places that felt like a canned hunt. Also hunted a high fence place that was 24K acres and never saw a shooter buck.

Interesting point but “trolls”

They have had some good stuff over there last week, asking this right now would probably put a few of them in cardiac arrest.

Really