Why does the photo section always turn out to be a witch hunt? Congratulations to the man in the picture that is one hell of a buck.

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but im sure if you had the money to shoot one and it was your deer you would hope everyone was impressed wouldnt you.

I think it is so comical to sit back and watch everyone bash each other, but sometimes it is over the top, and this is one of them. Why call someone a DB because the harvested a bigger deer than you will ever see. Why does it make them any less of a hunter than the next guy. I will tell you I own my own business and have been very fortunate in the hunting I have done. I will promise you I spend more time in the field than most. 90 % of my hunting is done on a low fence place. But every deer I have over 180 is from a high fence, does that make me any less of a hunter? Just because you are not able to pay for a big deer or you choose not to does not make you anymore or less of a hunter or person.

I never knew it was illegal to use the Boone and Crockett scoring system on a high fence buck. For some reason I was just thinking it couldn't be entered into the B&C record books. Stupid me!!!!

Fella, that is one heck of a deer. Don't let these clowns bring it down. Doesn't matter if there is a fence there or not, managing a place to grow a deer of that caliber is almost impossible. These guys evidently are able to grow them hunting their 10 acres while sitting on their neighbors fence line every year. Congrats.

I think anyone who knows me doesn't have to guess whether or not I hunt high fenced ranches... Before I get into my experiences, I think I speak for every high-fenced hunter when I say that I will always have an enormous respect for big low-fenced bucks. It's a shame that more hunters can't pass up a 140" 3 year old, but I digress.

The high-fenced ranches that I've hunted range from 1800 acres to 5500 acres and even on the smaller property, I've killed bucks that went unseen for their entire lives. One of my better bucks was a 167" ten point that I took with my father. Both of us had our heads cocked to the side as we watched the 6 year old buck walk past our tree... Neither of us had ever seen him. Even with numerous game cameras scattered throughout the property, we didn't have a single image of him, at least not since he was 3 yrs old or older (when most bucks are recognizable). On the larger ranch, I just harvested a buck in January that I have been chasing for 5 years. I spent over 300 hours hunting this buck with only 3 sightings. I can't count how many tricks I tried and custom setups we built to fool him, but nothing worked.

What I'm trying to express to everyone who thinks that a high fence means a canned, unfair hunt is that you couldn't be more wrong. Of course, there are ethical variables when it comes to the size of the ranch, the level of conditioning to humans (i.e. Breed Bucks), etc. But speaking from first-hand experience, I consider any ranch of roughly 1000 acres or more with bucks that are not released from a pen the year of their harvest to be fair chase hunts. Period.

I'd love to hear anyone weigh in on this who wants to... unless all you have to contribute is that high-fence hunters should only be called "shooters" (NTX Waterfowl) or that bucks raised on 1400 acres without anything but standard protein feed and good management are not real trophies (5Redman8).

Everyone else, feel free to throw in your two cents!

Let's not troll the man's post. Keep the comments postive.

Roo Basher, you made an extremely well worded and thoughtful post. The first sentence cracked me up and you bring up some great food for thought.

Trevor B, that is very interesting to hear about your personal experiences on both sides of the fence. My assumption (yes, I know what they say about assuming ) is that this was more in-line with the type of place that advertises 100% success. Either way, that is a true testament to the amazing animal that a whitetail is that they could go undetected for years on any property, high fence or no. I'm sure that you are rightfully very proud of your deer.

I'm relatively new to internet forums and I see that out of just about everything else under the sun, the topic of HF must be the most divisive. Lesson learned. I suppose I shouldn't have made a blanket statement though I think both sides can be guilty of that.

I'm not jealous of that buck nor any other that someone is fortunate enough to take, my issue is generally one of economics and of the American ideal of wildlife. Our country has taken great steps to make sure that the wildlife belongs to the people and forward thinking conservationists such as Teddy Roosevelt (one of the founders of B&C and a pretty decent president) protected species and land to ensure that right. I feel that HF pits the patrician against the plebeian if you will. Recall the English folk heroes of old (think Robin Hood) that dared hunt the "king's game". We have a long history in America and as Americans of increasing opportunities, not denying them.

Will a few hundred HF places end the world as we know it, of course not. However, if the trend continues, I fear that people such as myself will never have the capital to enjoy our favorite sport. I hope this will make sense and not be offensive.

Yes that is the Murski Ranch, Yes that is a tag, deer was released as a yearling and is now 6.5 years old. Nothing photo shopped. Deer is an absolute giant, and I take an extreme amount of pride in helping grow and harvest an animal of this magnitude.

I also think some of the issue is the advertising when they don't have 100 posts but are trying to sell hunts in photo section just my .02. But I agree no reason to hack on the deer.

I think anyone who knows me doesn't have to guess whether or not I hunt high fenced ranches... Before I get into my experiences, I think I speak for every high-fenced hunter when I say that I will always have an enormous respect for big low-fenced bucks. It's a shame that more hunters can't pass up a 140" 3 year old, but I digress.

The high-fenced ranches that I've hunted range from 1800 acres to 5500 acres and even on the smaller property, I've killed bucks that went unseen for their entire lives. One of my better bucks was a 167" ten point that I took with my father. Both of us had our heads cocked to the side as we watched the 6 year old buck walk past our tree... Neither of us had ever seen him. Even with numerous game cameras scattered throughout the property, we didn't have a single image of him, at least not since he was 3 yrs old or older (when most bucks are recognizable). On the larger ranch, I just harvested a buck in January that I have been chasing for 5 years. I spent over 300 hours hunting this buck with only 3 sightings. I can't count how many tricks I tried and custom setups we built to fool him, but nothing worked.

What I'm trying to express to everyone who thinks that a high fence means a canned, unfair hunt is that you couldn't be more wrong. Of course, there are ethical variables when it comes to the size of the ranch, the level of conditioning to humans (i.e. Breed Bucks), etc. But speaking from first-hand experience, I consider any ranch of roughly 1000 acres or more with bucks that are not released from a pen the year of their harvest to be fair chase hunts. Period.

I'd love to hear anyone weigh in on this who wants to... unless all you have to contribute is that high-fence hunters should only be called "shooters" (NTX Waterfowl) or that bucks raised on 1400 acres without anything but standard protein feed and good management are not real trophies (5Redman8).

Everyone else, feel free to throw in your two cents!