???

I will take research done by a bunch of college kids for what it is. Research done by a bunch of college kids…
It is nonsense. If you have spent much time in a place with strong older age classes of bucks you already know that. You have seen the large bachelor groups of mature bucks that spend the summer together. Then shortly after their antlers harden. Well before the pre rut, they disburse. They absolutely do not ALL stay on the same 1,600 acres where they spent the summer. That is factual. If you have a sparse population of mature bucks they are not forced to travel as far to find an area with a doe population they can dominate. Where data is gathered has a great influence on the data that is gathered. More factual stuff. Add to the equation that quite often the buck with the most impressive headgear is very often not the most physically imposing buck in the herd and you lose some great younger or less dominant bucks to the neighbors. Even on very large places with strong mature age classes. That is a reality of low fence hunting that does not happen in high fence scenarios and the basis for my comments.

Smokey knocks it outa the yard again. .

Boggy Slough had some great research pre and post fencing……

There are a Magnitude of Home range studies that suggest 25k acres is well with in most dispersal and Home range studies for any part of the state, including a large chunk of the High plains.

Home range and core range cover fall festivities. Thats not just one study, We are talking dozens.

almost every study was done by a college kids working on post graduate degrees….. Lets just ignore that all suggest similar and repeatable findings….

Whatever. I hunt about 600 acres and eagerly share video and game cam shots of deer others never see.

This but one of them and I think they would’ve recognized him.

And thats pretty much the summarization of about dozen home and core range studies

you can have properties with in miles of each other with difference HR areas strickly based off lack of cover. Excavators and greatly inlarge home areas

Every time I see the word research I lose interest in whatever the person is saying. The knowledge from folks who visit the woods isn’t even comparable to folks who live in the woods.

Yep, for sure. Wildlife researchers teach, wildlife managers have to prove success for their existence.

I just walked over and took this from my bedroom window. Maybe I should write a paper about it

I guess I’m trying to play both sides of the fence.
I value Smokey’s perspective, always, so i like to compliment him when he takes time to elaborate on his boots on the ground experiences. Same with the clown. Much respect for both.
I also believe a lot can be learned from studies, including the home range stuff.
At the same time you have to be careful to pay close attention to all factors about any study.

I don’t say this to be antagonistic but “who cares?”

It’s a personal question that only you can answer.

Most of us are hunting over a feeder or food plot anyway, which looks and feels the same whether you’re high or low fence.

People who hate on high fence are just bitter they don’t have one.

In other words, I’m gonna make you feel bad for what you have because I can’t get it myself.

This is exactly it but the a$$clown and bitchfork can’t handle when someone states their view if it doesn’t fall within their beliefs.

Not all HF ranches are created equally. Recently spent a week on 1100 acre HF with native deer. Of all the guys hunting, 4 whitetail were seen with none being shooter bucks. During that time 10 different hunters entered the woods and only 2 saw deer. It wasn't all 10 at once but still 10 people over 7 days and 4 deer seen.

I have also done a management hunt on a 500 acre HF ranch and had my pick of bucks every day I was there, 5 days in total.

Geez Bobo. Said another way, the amount of acreage required for each deer is roughly the same. That is not the issue. The location of that acreage not always being contained inside one ownership or whether the aggregate acreage is even contiguous is the rub. Professionals do their own research and development rather than rely on papers college kids write to receive their degrees.

Only problem I have with Hi-Fence is they're inability to keep their critters inside their fence. We've got 2 Exotic ranches nth of the big ranch and escapee's have already started populating neighboring ranches. I've seen Blackbuck, Axis and Fallow on the big ranch and the neighbors ranches. Every time we get a hard rain, we get more escapee's through their water gaps. Not sure how much they play into the Aoudad increase but I'll bet a few of them have escaped also, both brought in Aoudad.

I agree with this completely, especially when oceans are used instead of conventional fence wire.

And almost anything they import to our pen from Africa causes problems.

I don't think that there is a universally accepted definition of fair chase hunting? For some, if the property is high fenced, then there cannot be fair chase. For others, the size of the high fenced property is a determining factor. And there are others too, whose definition includes that, regardless of the height of the fence, finding and taking a shot at the animal should not be a certainty on any given day.

There are so many factors that could influence the outcome of a hunt including the skill and fitness of the hunter, the type of terrain, the method of hunting employed, the type of weapon used, the max shooting distance a hunter imposes upon himself, game numbers in the area, hunting pressure, size of property and more. I don't know your situation with regard to the above but I do know some species that like thick bush are able to play cat and mouse with a hunter on foot in an area smaller than that covered by 25 football fields never mind 25,000 acres - low or high fence. And if the hunter were to be using a compound bow, traditional bow or even a spear then it may take a number of seasons to be successful - if ever. I'd think that even though the animals are confined by a high fence, a fair chase hunt is possible on that property of 25,000 acres and even on far smaller high fenced properties.

I used to not like them, but after buying our own ranch last year and passing on younger bucks, I am seeing the need for the high fence just so the bucks can grow to a mature age.

We are not seeing any mature bucks this year in Duval County after passing on a lot of younger bucks last year. Nothing lives long enough in our area of Duval County to grow up!
Very sad. Now, it's one thing if you stock your own deer/exotics but I don't agree with those who lock up the State's natural resources and claim they are their own. That is wrong.
We live in Jackson County and that has happened a lot around us in the past few years.

Also, it has been a weird year for the rutt in Duval County.....everything is still too green so deer aren't hungry and we have had no cold weather.

Disappointed and thinking hard on that high fence as it seems to be the only way we will be able to see a difference. Unless you own thousands of acres, you can't manage
your deer population without the help from your neighbors and they don't care.

If you were starting your own hunting operation on 25k acres that you owned, would you be willing to release breeder bucks worth several $100,000.00's inside 25 k acres LF? That's a serious question from one serious hunter to another.

I agree. We live in Jackson County and high fences going up around us. Sad to see native whitetail trying to get out or get in because they've been using that trail for years.
It's not right for someone to pen up the State's natural resources and claim that they are "now their deer". If you want to high fence, buy your own deer and your own exotics.

Why would I do that, its a concept that simply doesn't work? Native would wash them out very quickly, they would probably live whole life on ranch and die there, but genes would wash out.

I would do a DMP pen and gene swamp using 1-4 bucks on 10-15 native does a piece . I would never have to release a paid for buck. And yes if it was legal to do DMP release on LF still I would absolutely do it, Id most likely use native bucks though, Anyway ranches still do this exact thing in Mexico with mule deer and Whitetails. In fact alot of the historic big deer TX LF ranches use to do it.

Ive already owned majority of a ranch north of the Red that produced 8 gross and 4 net deer. 2 which grossed 200 NT, 100% LF/native deer. My opinions are not theory. When I took over we never had a deer over 150. It wasnt hard because of genes we had, just had to foster what was there, and improve/optimize food choices, biggest thing was just getting history on deer and putting hard 6.5 year min harvest age.

so if someone kills all the deer out and restocks you are cool?

@ Bobo: Thanks for the answer.