High Fence in Texas

I would like to build a high fence around my ranch. On one side I have a neighbor that enjoys my deer that come onto his property. The fence is on the property line. Would this neighbor have any legal right to not let me raise the fence?

They are shooting deer you bought?

No. I haven't bought any yet but my place has many more deer than his. Good range management!

You said they were your deer that he enjoys so you must have bought animals he is shooting.

My buddy put a one mile fence up on one side a guy was day leasing. Just put it inside of his so no raising needed or questions asked. Our neighbor did his little pasture and same thing, put it inside so old fence is still there. He bought ear tagged deer.

Where we live, we have to jackhammer every post hole. I would like to raise the existing fence. Are there any rules or laws that would prevent that? If so, could someone direct me to them so that I could see the specifics.

Is the property in a POA?
As long as the fence is 'for sure' on the property line or just inside your side of the PL no one can do anything about it.

What do you mean by " my deer "? you don't own them, if you bought them for release on your property you'd already have the necessary TPWD permits.

This article covers most of your question---> TPWD magazine

Perfect. Thanks much for the article.

That article is from 2003 as an op ed. You need a survey to show where your property lines are unless you build it inside the current fence.

I've got the survey. Thanks guys!

Then you're in business, as long as there isn't a POA and your heart can take the estimate/cost of xx miles of high fence.

---> TxA&M LO Guide to fence laws

It's easier & cheaper to inset the HF a few feet in your property, & just leave the old LF in its place.

Oh, & people here will get severely butt-hurt if you don't allow your neighbors to shoot all the deer.

Your neighbors may be wounded vets, who are all preachers, just tryin to feed their families & teach their kids about hunting, by shooting every deer they see on their 40 acres. You can't have nice deer, its for the chillun'

To high fence or not is everyone's given right and not something I'd ever take from a person. I've seen it used very strategically and tactically necessary down in South Texas a many number of times. Personally, I am against both small property hunters and large property hunters whom over hunt and over harvest the deer populations as it happens both ways.

Oh, & people here will get severely butt hurt if you shoot deer on your own property even if you adhere to every rule, regulation, limit & law in place.

Actually, some folks around here are always on the look out for the most minuscule somethings to be butt hurt about & have such thin skin there is no way to reason with them & resort to childish name calling instead of adult conversation.

What's even funnier is, there are a few that actually think they own the deer on their property, better yet they think they should have a say in or be able to control what neighboring land owners can do on their own property, even if what they're doing is 100% by the book legal...

You gotta watch out for the closet left wing liberals around here.
You know, the ones that believe property owners rights should only pertain to them, not their neighbors... Because deer.

'muh freezer, amirite?

A day hunt operators on 10 acres is legally entitled to shoot 100 deer if they cross his place, carrying capacity be damned. If your ok with that, keep your LF. Some people ain't, so they HF. Then idiots bellyache about it, b cause they are cut off from "their deer".

Well said Maximus. I had a neighbor do that a few years ago. They had 3 feeders and 2 blinds on about 10 acres near my fenceline. They had about a 100 acres, but mostly open except for a few acres of brush along the creekbottom. I believe they shot everything they saw that was legal to shoot.

Nope, neither my wife or I killed a deer this year.

I get your frustration Max, the lease hunters less than 1/2 mile down the road from ranch HQ in NE young county killed 7 bucks & 11 doe on 700ish acres. The LO requires them to report all kills, not at all sound or even Mickey Mouse management, but legal.
The lease hunters on 300ish ac next to our grazing lease S of Graham said they killed 9 deer total. I still see deer in broad daylight almost every time I check cows.

Guess what,,, we still have plentiful deer on our place, sure the 13 point double crab claw split brow tine with stickers & a drop tine buck my wife and I were hunting never reappeared after the fourth week of rifle season.
Who knows he may still be around he made it through at least the last 4 seasons or he might have been killed, if so I'm sure whoever took him is a very happy hunter, congratulations to the hunter.

Our grazing lease in Montague had for many years a day lease operation going on 244 acres, the LO had blinds full every weekend & many week days all through the season. I don't know the actual amount of blinds, we could see 5 from our adjoining fence line.
The deer seemed to prefer our property & stayed on it or the non hunting neighbors to the south, both places were loaded with deer during the season.

I have zero problems with anyone choosing to HF their property.
What I have a problem with is people that want to trample on other land owners property rights over something as silly as deer.
Don't like the laws / regulations as they're written, quit beiotching like a bunch of school girls, act like a grown up lobby Austin for a change in them.
Or, the very simple answer is, high fence.

Thinking of high fencing a 40 acre trap that I hunt, buying some 200" deer and let them grow to 250+ and selling him to pay for the fence,Think that would work.

I think it's a great idea. Then you could shoot your own deer!

How many deer do you reckon your LF 40 acres sustains?

& whatever happened to the mule that came with the 40 acres?

with correct habitat, 40 acres could hold about 4-5 deer. Make all of them 200+" monster freaks and then feed them double down for a year, turn them into 250-300" deer and you will pay for not only the fence but the property too....

We got 50 mules for the 2000 acres,didn't get mules for west Texas land. Could feed the deer and watch them grow on the 40 acres. The contractors busy building your high fence yet.Or it might be cheaper to put guards every 100 yards to protect YOUR deer. Might try electric fences, heard they want cross one and might keep bad neighbors off of you land.

Why can't I haz both?

Don't fret none about me & my deer. Worry about how awesome that 40 acre lease of yours is, & how you can continue to coax your neighbors deer over onto your place just long enough to shoot them (the deer, not the neighbors).

I hope the state comes & gets their deer when my HF is completed. Or I guess they will be mine, eh?

It would easily work, but may take a while to get your return on that 200" deer you purchase for the initial stock. I know of a 50 acre HF place where the owner keeps his whitetail population around 75.

I have a feeling this is going to be a real interesting read.

Got a friend that has a 40 acre high fence and raises some big deer. He has almost 100 in the fence and he had to take on a partner because he could no longer afford the feed bill just by himself. Has sold a couple and made good money on them, but as he said it was just a drop in the bucket on what he is spending.

That was fun

So how many deer could I feed out in the old kennel that I used to keep my dog in? I could let people shoot them when I open the gate.

I have to call [censored]. Has nothing to do with Liberals. You build a high fence you might keep the deer out or your property. Then you will have to buy them. That is not hunting. I do low fence only or pay to shoot a gage animal.

one of the weirdest threads i have read on here.....

i look at it pretty simple. Your land is your land, my land is my land. You can bitch or belly-ache if you want, and I can ignore you if I want

Our neighbors hifenced their ranch, not because we were shooting too many deer, we've killed 14 bucks in 19 years, no doe. They fenced it so they can grow 200"-300" bucks. Our hunting has never been better. Their larger herd attracts deer on our side, like a magnet. I saw 24 different bucks from one stand that looks straight at their fence.