My family has been looking to purchase some land.

We recently found a property that is 100 Acres and is completely high fenced. I understand some peoples views on high fence and i understand the concerns with a small acreage being high fenced.

What i was more hoping yall could help me out with is what you need to know before buying property that is high fenced.

I know it is important to know who owns the fence, such as, is this place high fenced b/c all the neighbors put up high fence or does this property actually own the fencing.

Is there more maintenance when it comes to the fencing

I would guess you would need to do more supplemental feeding and would have to stay on top of it since animals cant move on.

Really any information would be helpful

Thanks

Any water gaps? They can be a PITA on a high fence.

Find out what the carrying capacity is for that area. That will determine how many deer you'll want to keep around. Be ready to shoot way more does than you'd think possible.

100acres high fenced is not much, as you know. At that point you're raising livestock. Any number of deer at all will be heavily dependent upon you for food.

My family owns 100acres of pretty decent land, 2 ponds about a half acre each, year round creek, about 60% wooded (lots of hardwood), and we plant spring/summer plots, feed protein year around, and corn of course. We see a lot of deer, likely more than anyone in our immediate area. But our deer also move on and off our property, a lot. Stop them from roaming and that's a whole lot more pressure on our "supplements", they become primary sources of food then.

Then there's the aspect of genetic diversity. I'm far from a wildlife biologist, but that would have to be addressed at some point as well, it would seem.

Is the fence exactly on the boundary lines or just inside them? You would need to the carrying capacity on the land in that area and then what animals you have inside it to understand what your management plan should be and include. You won't need to supplemental feed if you do not want many animals. If you area can carry a deer to 10 acres then you will only have 10 adult deer inside the fence. You harvest enough deer each year to have 10 deer left after the season. If you are going to stock exotics, research whether they eat grass only or browse only or grass and browse. If they are primarily grazers then stocking rates depend on the available forage for them. If browsers then you will have to decide whether they will compete with whitetails(they will) and decided on numbers of both. If you are in an area with good rainfall and have tillable land you can try food plots in fall/winter and in the spring/summer. Dedicate enough acres to support the amount of animals you have. If you have the right kind of browse that can be mechanically manipulated then you can create new growth that is much more readily available and higher in nutrition. If you are going to have cattle then factor them into your management plan. Also consider if it is in an AR county or the county were it is as far as your TPWD regs for deer hunting. It may limit your buck or doe harvest.
I was at a TPW seminar at Kerr WMA many years ago and someone asked Donnie Harmel a question on genetics as far as inbreeding and how it was effected by the size of acreage under HF. He thought for a little bit and then replied...that minimum amount in the Hill Country would be less than 20 acres...anything 20 acres are larger would not be an issue in his opinion. That small or smaller you would could have an inbreeding issue...then you would need to just introduce one new deer at some point.

I bought 600 acres a few years back and HF it. I first killed all the native deer and then brought in three bred does and three 2 year old bucks. My biggest problem was keeping the numbers in line because if you don't you can be overrun quickly. My place felt huge when I first bought it but it shrinks quickly trust me! Good luck to you

As always STx response was thorough and I assume right on. We are so lucky to have his continued knowledge at hand. Ive said it before, but its one thing to have the knowledge, but its another level the way he takes the time to spell it out. There may be others that know as much or more, but where are they when you need em?