Had the honor of hunting on a amazing 1900 acre high fence ranch down near Laredo this weekend. Being that it was high fenced and there were handfuls of MLD tags needing to be used on culls and does, I came prepared with lots of bullets and coolers. After all, it's high fenced and that's shooting fish in a barrel isn't it? Our guide showed us pictures of several old culls that were on the kill list, some of which would be my largest buck ever. Well what I didn't expect was with the rain they have received this year the amount of brush and how dense it would be. I saw deer every sit but no bucks that were on the cull list and unfortunately all the doe I saw had ear tags and were off limits. After talking with the manager of the ranch I found out that most of the bucks on the cull list had only been seen on cameras and never in person. Did manage to take two hogs and a javalina. My hunting partner had a little more luck and managed three does and funky looking cull buck. Had a great time and was just amazed at the amount of cover the land has down there. So everyone that thinks that tall fence makes the hunting easier I would suggest trying it for yourself before you judge. It can be every bit if not harder of a hunt on the right ranch. That was my first HF hunt and hope to do again next year.

Its just the small minded ones that hunt 2 times a year and live thru Hunting Shows

Glad you had a great time and that is some Lovely Country

Congrats

Not sure one "weekend" is enough to judge from, but congrats on the hogs none the less

Chris,

Glad you had a good time but don't expect your post to convert anyone. The feelings on HF and LF are very strong and the discussions can be pretty interesting until the posts start to get personal. If you keep an open mind you can see valid points on both sides.

All that said, hope your hogs are tasty.

That being said...

Congrats. But don't expect anyone to actually experience something before they judge it.

I have a couple of high fenced bucks on my south Texas ranch that have been on a hit list for 5+ years. One is at least 10 years old now. Targeting specific deer can many times be the most difficult type of hunting.

Stx does it each year on his "small" LF place and always seems to connect. What's wrong with you?

Just messing with you. Hunting is hunting, no matter where it is done.

Congrats to the OP for an interesting first experience. Hope the next trip is more productive, but congrats on the experience, the hogs and javi

Congrats sounds like a fun hunt

Sounds like a fun trip.

I love south texas, its where I like to spend as much of my time as possible.

Wait for it.....

lol

With 1900 acres....it doesn't matter what kind of fence it has unless its all plowed fields.....Jes Sayin....

Just cuz it's HF don't mean they're in an 8x8 pen.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

The ignorant will remain that way by their choice and I will continue to refer to them as such.

I hope they give you another opportunity to connect on one of those bucks.

Chris is a very good hunter who's very unlikely to make a mistake. He'll be invited back and kill one of those bucks, I'm sure of it.

ChrisB if you had permission to do so and wanted to do so, could you have killed any non-cull-list bucks?

Let me begin with I do not care how or where anyone else hunts. Different strokes for different folks. But how does someone disagreeing with hunting behind a HF make them ignorant? To the OP, how could hunting behind a HF be harder than hunting free range animals? I am glad you had fun and glad you harvested a hog. That is what it is all about. I personally am not a fan of HF's but am hunting for culls and does behind one in two weeks much like you did. I will also be in S. Texas and am looking forward to having a good time doing it. I do not however think I am ignorant for not supporting HF's. Just my $0.02.

Thanks for the fresh perspective. I would hunt that place in a heartbeat and consider it an honor.

never hunted HF, don't have anything against it, if its a decent amount of acreage...

Let me be clear:

The ignorant are the ones that classify this hunt and all other HF hunts as shooting a deer in a pen that has no chance to escape and is waiting for you to pull the trigger. You tell me, is that ignorant or not?

And by the way, the same people I'm referring to are going to paint your hunt your doing in 2 weeks with the same broad brush. They will ignore all facts pertaining to your hunt like acreage, terrain, conditions, methods and classify you as hunting deer in a pen that can't escape just waiting for you to pull the trigger. Would you call that ignorant?

That's all I was trying to give. Wasn't trying to convert anyone. I'll be back at my low fence lease this weekend with bow in hand waiting on a big buck to slip up.

Not a fan of HF but your going hunting in one in two weeks? Don't support it but your lowering your standards anyway?

There are two types of hunting, fair chase and High fence. I dont know why everyone makes such a big deal out of it. kill animals anyway you legally can. But don't tell me it's the same because it's not. I've guided and killed cull deer on some large high fence places.

I was also drawn for a hunt on the Mason Mountain WMA last year. It was just what I expected, shooting animals in a large pen. It was a good time and we limited out the first afternoon, we also got to see some really nice deer and exotics. However I would have had just as much fun spotlighting deer down the side of the highway if it were legal.

The ignorant part comes in play because some prefer to remain ignorant by not at least visiting one and seeing how difficult it can be.

The part about it being harder has to do with the fact that most south Texas ranches are impenetrable brush with food and bedding places everywhere. Huge numbers of Midwest farmland hunters who hunt areas consisting of farm fields with very limited cover bad mouth high fences. When in fact they have some of the easiest hunting on the planet.

This is fact.

The world record buck milo Hanson killed ran into a itty bitty wood lot surrounded by farmland....they drove him outta there and shot him on the run. He had also been shot at previously IIRC