The Final Phase

The final phase of my high fence has started. When I started buying land in 1998 I never wanted a HF ranch. But due to bad neighbors years ago I high fenced 2/3rds of my ranch. Now due to two neighboring ranchs (1 due south and 1 due north) being sold and breaking up into 30-80 acre ranchetts I decided to close in the final 1/3rd.

I like big older bucks, very hard to get them to 4yr olds much less 5-6yr olds with the conditions I had. These little ranchetts were going to make it even worse. I've spoken to a couple of biologist and I am keeping my native herd, and not putting any exotics on the ranch. Just going to be a native whitetail ranch for now.

I know some folks are against HF ranches, but I don't want to spend the rest of my days looking at 2-3yr old 15" 8 points. I certainly understand why folks don't like them but I feel I have no choice.

can't blame you under the circumstances you mentioned. Only downfall I can see is if you are looking at getting in the P&Y or B&C books

Sure looks pretty Stompy and I don't blame you at all given your circumstances. Out of curiosity, what is a linear mile of HF going for nowadays, $30K+?

Getting into a book is not important to me. I have a good friend that has hunted with me for over 35 years. He and I will be hunting for the trophy bucks. I plan on selling management, cull and doe hunts to the public. Eventually I hope to sell a trophy buck or two. I'm also signing up for MLD harvest option.

Close, about $34k

Looks good and will make things better for your needs and desires. That makes it all good.

Time to get ready for feed and water.

You'll like the control you'll have over the herd.

That’s a a nice fence. If it aligns to how you want to hunt on your own land then don’t let anyone say anything negative. Four of our neighbors are high fenced and it works well for all of them. As long as you have enough water and forage for the animals on the land it is a great way to manage the herd. Two of those neighbors had to sell off a bunch of animals in this past summer, but that was the first time the had to downsize a herd outside of normal management in 20 years.

Looks good.

16 ponds on the ranch, spent a month this past Summer cleaning out several and digging a couple of new ones. 3 big protein feeders that haven't been empty since 2002. Also about 60 acres of fertilized wheat.

That sounds like some great habitat to grow some studs.

Don't let the shoot what you want crowd and in the same breath wonder why there are no deer left in the area/why are all the deer nocturnal crowd get you down!

I'm in a similar situation. I like where I'm at, but ranches are being subdivided all around me.

Stompy, I can only envy you. If I were doing this I would learn to count deer even if P&W is going to .. To count deer right you will need a camera every 65 acres. Get a good procedure. This should keep you from overpopulating. The deer will be a lot of work but you will love every minute of it, even more than the hunting itself. How many acres did you fence in? You will not be loosing does to your neighbors which will cause you some work harvesting enough to keep from over populating...of course you know that. I wish you luck..

I get it, particularly after the last two years, all I shot buck-wise was 1 cull off 600 acres. My 150 acre neighbor (and guests) took at least 3 older bucks off his place this past year alone. I can't afford to buy him out nor fence him out at this point, so I hope to at least have a real conversation with him this year before it happens again.

I didn't high fence the whole ranch because 117 acres is across the county road, I fenced about 950 acres. I live on the ranch, so I have a pretty good idea of the population. Also right now my ratio is 1 buck-2does.

Gotta do what you gotta do, sir. Congrats and good luck.

I owned 600 acres some time back and did the same thing and never regretted it - I had a blast growing big deer and letting family and friends help me manage it. You will need to do a ton of culling - they multiply pretty quickly in HF - good luck with your project!

Stompy, it's your land so do what is right for you and the deer. I hunt in the Pinewoods of Northeast Texas so our terrain is so much different from what you have, but we still have the same problem with mind set of some neighbors.
On our place we took a mature deer about once every 5 or 6 years working with the large place to the north of us. We took our LAMPS doe quota and a couple of cull bucks each year. It worked really well with 6 landowners all working for the same goal.
Then one of the land owners sold out and the new guy was very impressed with all of the fine bucks in the area. He invited everyone he knew to come shoot them a buck. Our buck numbers dropped like a rock over the first 3 years he was there. No amount of talking to him could convince him he was the problem. He even asked where all of the buck had gone. I wish we could have high fenced around him, just didn't have the extra money.
Good luck and best wishes. Looking forward to seeing pictures of some nice bucks in the next few years.

Good luck Stompy. Looks great.

Keep us informed on your progress it will be interesting to see the project as it develops.

Feel free to do what you want!

I am not trying to be mean with this question at all, but since you posted this I want to ask....why did you post this?

You could have quietly done the HF project with only your close friends knowing, but you chose to come on here and tell us. I am really curious about the reason behind you telling us this. Genuinely curious. So please take this for what it is, a simple question.

Why on God's green earth does it matter? Some questions are much better posed via pm.

I have a lot of friends here on THF that aren't on other sites. Plus this is a hunting forum. Plus even though I didn't ask, I thought there may be some insight from others that have done this, and there was.

Why does anyone post anything on any forum?

Not sure why it riled you up so much that I asked. feel free to PM me if you can figure that out.

Think Stompy had shared with us a year or two ago that HFng was looking more and more like a possibility due to the issues he was facing with surrounding neighbors. I for one appreciate his candidness and sharing his experience with us. If anything, it could put others on notice here that are overshooting their leases and/or ranches what can and may happen as a repercussion.

The reason I asked is this could target you for a number of "labels"...and don't try to tell me this forum is not full of label making. you even labelled your neighbors (bad neighbors, supposedly because they shoot bucks that you want to keep around to let get old). Your post is full of "justification" for your actions on your property. Why do you need to justify it to anyone? It is your property, just do what you want.

Again, I am not trying to be mean or rude here, your post just reads like a excuse rather than an action. Claim it, be proud of it, you have the right. So just own it.

This is a pervading thought that I hear often today, "I can tell you what to do but don't you dare tell me what to do"....it is a little (lot) disingenuous to say someone NEEDs to HF a place because of neighbors. The underlying thought is these neighbors are disrupting my deer by shooting or pressuring or whatever else....deer are not yours, and never will be in Texas. They belong as much to the lease next door and the neighbor across the street as you. So the reality is the HF is for OUR control of the deer, not to because of the neighbors. We want to control the herd more closely, we want to better protect the herd from over hunting, we want to..blah blah...its all about controlling something that is not ours to control.

Sorry, this has nothing to do with neighbors and nothing to do with repercussions about the next door actions, it is all about controlling something that we think belongs to us, and that we have the right to dictate to others how those resources will be dealt with.

Just for the record, I could care less about HFs and do not think any less of someone who puts up a HF. I am just calling out the ridiculous speak of saying they are doing it but its the neighbors fault they are doing it. These fences are put up for the landowner to control what is on their property. Has nothing to do with the neighbors.

if you have to preface anything with "I am not trying to be mean with this question at all", then maybe, just maybe it shouldn't be asked.

I wrote that because this topic is inflammatory and cause people to be taken out of context. I did not want to have my question taken out of context. It really was a simple "why" question, and I gave my why for asking in the response to the answer.

I routinely state things such as that statement to preface questions or comments in a potentially inflammatory subject. I try to have civil discourse, not one way debates. But I will call out silliness when I see it. This, and many other topics, have much silliness wrapped up into it. So just trying to keep the discussion civil and lively

congrats stompy, If you ever need help gathering cattle, ill help. I hate gathering on places with bad fencing.

on a serious note, I look forward to seeing your photos and progression pics off individual deer. the HF tool is where theory and reality meet the road. Think you will be happy with your decision

it's akin to someone muttering, "I'll be honest with you, . . . " - worst preface going.

Not quite, the "i'll be honest with ya..." means what you say is sometimes not honest. Not with me.

Me saying " I am not trying to be mean here" means exactly what it says, do not take this as a sarcastic or snide comment, take it for what it is...also in line with me telling the truth and trying to remain civil.

I think Stompy was just wanting to give an update on a major project he has going on his place. He may of been justifying his actions on a subject he and all us know is controversial, but I see no problem with that. Im sure he wasnt wanting a debate on HF vs LF so if anyone wants to debate that I wish they would start a thread pointed specifically at that. Stompy has posted a lot about his place through the years so I just look at it like he built another barn or planted a wheat field.

Well, we aren't "friends", but I enjoy seeing what others do to their ranches. So, thanks for posting and in information
on how much a mile.

I am glad Stompy paid his money to achieve something better for hisself. No longer worried about the neighbors' undue pressures, he can enjoy hisself a lil' more.

I agree. I just wish he hadn't made the post sound like an excuse. As I said, its his, he can do what he wants with it. Own that right. Not everyone has that ability. Be proud of it. Not mildly ashamed....thats how I took the post and was asking why he posted it. not trying to get into any debate about HF or LF.

Your yankee "manners" really get in your way

Don't be so biased

lol

I’m glad glad you posted it, looks really good.

Keep us posted Stompy. We have considered and continue to consider whether we might go HF or not and your experience here is another point of reference us and others have to inform our decisions.

If it’s not too much to keep track of and share over the years, I am especially curious to see how quick deer numbers go up and how your management changes to keep up with the growth of the herd, the impact to antler size and the speed of that impact, cost and quantities of feed and whether that increases as deer cannot disperse during times of hardship.

The one negative I hear from those who high fence and end up taking it down is that they say it becomes too much of a job, so curious to here about your long term satisfaction of the fence as well.

Nice fence Stompy....I would think this also helps with controlling the hog population.

What about coyotes? Can they get through that fence?

yes they will dig under the fence - I had to place a bunch of traps to catch them when they would crawl under the fence

Also Stompy some of your deer will have trouble adjusting to the HF - I lost some that would try to jump it and it would break their necks - it takes a little while for them to figure it out but they will -

They were not simply bad neighbors, they were poachers. I heard a lot of shooting over there but when they put 6 stands on my fence line (not 100 yards from my fence but on the fence) I had a conversation with the lessor. He was the biggest azz I've met in a very long time. I found out they were killing way more deer than tags allowed, he was selling the deer meat. I'm not going to get into details of what happened to him, but he's no longer the lessor. I would call that the worst neighbor there is, and that's why the fence went up in the first place.

Yes, coyotes will be an issue...got my snares ready to go. Will probably be setting them this weekend.

I'm not mildly ashamed, just trying to be careful how I worded it....To avoid THIS!

very nice

Congratulations, that is some nice looking fencing! That's going to keep you busy keeping the herd in check but I bet you will get a lot of satisfaction out of your labors. I'm definitely curious about the results over the coming years and how you attack some of the problems that arise. Good Luck!

Man you did nothing wrong in your post - made total sense - you worded it exactly right - ignore the clutter from others - you will love your place once you get to control it -

Ha, you can come help work cows anytime you like My cows are so tame they are easy to work, a neighbor and I usually do just fine. I bought some replacement 4-5 year old angus cows a couple of weeks ago, heavy bred and some have already dropped calves. Got a great deal on them too from a friend and neighbor. He lost a 2000 acre lease and didn't want to run them through the sale barn.

Nice work Stompy, don't blame you a bit, and more power to you! You know, the yankee mentality never ceases to amaze me. They use to come down here to the Permian and attempt to "educate us" as to how to extract energy/oil/gas from the ground because they are smarter than everyone else. Guess they forgot we'd been doing it out here successfully since about 1935. They love hearing themselves talk.

The first set of gates are done, I'll paint them this weekend. The overhead is 15'.

I think it looks great. Thanks for sharing. And for those of us that dont have our own place, always good to hear someone say they will consider selling management hunts in the future.

I would like the cross bar and brand painted white...if I get a say....lol

It looks white but it's aluminum paint...you wanna come help? lol

We all wish you would exit this thread.

Congrats, Stompy

Buckeye, I really don't see the same thing in Stompy's original post; I re-read it and I clearly get his confliction as indicated. He never intended to own a HF ranch but circumstances out of his control made it an obvious choice he had to make. If that's ashamedness, I'm not seeing it the same way you are. I just see a landowner conveying/baring his personal situation.

Liberals and yankees should exit the entire forum.

You mean to tell me you took perfectly good habitat and high fenced it! And you now trapped them animals so the neighbors can’t shoot them? You are so inconsiderate!

🤣 that’s awesome sir and congratulations on what most of us will never experience. I truly am jealous!

Wow
Great looking fence Stompy and I completely understand why you spent some serious hard earned money of yours to do it.
Hats off to you for wanting to do it right and chase mature deer and have the best deer herd you can have!

Please keep posting your progress I love to read and see about all of it!

Most of the new fence line is pretty clean, but about a mile stretch needed some dozer work.

Greening up quick Stompy!!

Somebody said its been greening up for two months, I think it was Stompy.

I'm not a high fence hunter, but completely understand your reasoning for going with one. As bigger ranches get split up into smaller parcels with new landowners not necessarily being management minded, this is certainly one way to take matters into your own hands. Certainly no small financial decision either, so I hope it works out for you.

Took this pic yesterday.

Pasture's looking good. It's a shame you have to spend the money on a high fence to protect the integrity of your investment and your ability to enjoy the fruits of your labor developing a quality deer herd. The breaking up of larger tracts has certainly come a lot faster than I thought it would. It's a shame. I would have done the same thing given your circumstances.

very nice

These Elm trees are quite the challenge.

Hot dog them mommas look fat and happy!

Beautiful pic!

Looking good!

Heck yes, your fence is looking good

I was never a big fan of HF unless someone was breeding exotics, that has changed big time for the reasons you are putting your HF up!

As Texas is being over-run by people moving here and as you mentioned all of these beautiful medium to large ranches being chopped up for sale as small ranchettes, it is inevitable that the quality of hunting will diminish because of the additional amount of hunters per acre with little or no game management, you know the type "if it is Brown it's Down or if it Fly's it Dies"
Your high fence will also help keep trespassers of your property!

BTW there is nothing selfish about what you are doing, it makes perfect sense for someone who really enjoys quality hunting in a serene setting.

Looking Good! I'm like you, don't care for HF ,but in your situation I don't blame you. I would do the same thing.

Bit of a rough week with blown tires and having to cut up and prepare pipe. But they got another long stretch done, part of it still needs to be clipped. Looks like about 2.5-3 weeks before completion.

Looks good Jon. I’ve always appreciated the care you put into your ranch and how clean you keep it.

As far as fencing it in, you can’t fault a man for wanting to better his deer herd with neighbors that have a totally different philosophy/mindset. That I can get!!

Looks great! My theory on a lot of these “neighbors” is that they can be newbie land owners. EVERYBODY wants to own 5-? ranches in the so called country; and be the actors on Yellowstone. Hence, you get a lot of idiots living all over the place, more and more in Texas. I’ve been around the same ranch neighbors( or their relatives) all of my life—-and all that “weird hunting stuff/trespassing” just doesn’t happen. Or, or, it’s corrected at some time in the past.

I'm not a high Fence guy ,but It's one thing when you do it to grow big deer & another to do it because you won't have any deer because the neighbors shoot everything. I understand both camps. It is your land to do as you please,but never cared for a HF. Been in the situation where new neighbors in ranchettes changed the whole population around us. Heck I can't even shoot the deer on my place anymore. They are like pets. LOL!!

Stompy, can a deer jump over that fence..looks like maybe 5 ft. tall? I know nothing about fencing in deer..

Well, maybe a real healthy one with a good running start can, but it's rare. The top barded wire is 8' 1".

I'm doing it for both of those reasons. I'm also doing more for personal use, granted I'll have to sell a few hunts to keep numbers in check.

I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread but keep an eye out as deer may still try. We had a 1.5yr buck that tried to jump one out neighbors high fences and took off his whole bottom jaw. Not a pretty sight when we were able to catch up to him

looking good stompy

Good job John! It's yours... do it your way. I like it and the reasons you did it!

When it is finished are we invited to come for beer and barbecue to celebrate?....lol

Won't be any money left for that..lol

It's not hard work, lot's of walking, but I'm sick of painting pipe. Line pipe is every 100', corners, H braces, water gaps, gate braces and A braces, I've painted a lot of pipe the last 2 weeks. Got the last 3000' done this morning, now just touching up welds next week. I painted the first set of gates by hand, I'll be spraying the rest of them.

It's hard work but when it's finished..something to be proud of..2nd to nothing!! Keep up the good work.. I have just got a great idea flashed by me...get all the kids and wife a paint brush..lol

No kids and the wife has her own chores. I'll do it myself, cheaper and it's done right...nice thought though.

I know you agonized over fencing your place John. You are not alone in that respect. A lot of landowners I know who would have preferred not to, have ultimately ended up fencing for the exact same reasons. I suspect it is a bitter sweet project. The MLD program will be a big help in keeping up with the harvest as the deer herd increases. It can become a chore to keep up with. It sounds like you are already thinking about how you plan to keep that in check.. All the best to the new direction that facet of your place is evolving to. I enjoyed talking deer with you when my son and I were there dove hunting. You do more than most with your place. Kudos to you for taking the high road with buckeye’s pot stirring.

I would never feel bad about HFencing a property I owned - as stated before I did so on 600 acres - was for family and friends only and we had a blast - I really enjoyed growing big deer - I also have hunted a ST low fence ranch for years which I also love - so Stompy do not blink an eye about doing the HF - long term you will love it

Exactly right tlk!

I would guess after reading Stompy's post he would never have spent the large amount of money to do this if he didn't have to do it in order to manage the herd the way he wants to and raise mature, trophy class deer!
Hat's off to him for wanting the best herd he can have and digging deep into the wallet to do it.

The last of the wire is going up today, they'll spend today and some of tomorrow clipping and wiring it up. Probably tomorrow afternoon they'll start on gates. With gates and water gaps left, they have about 7 days left before their done. I have everything painted, all that'll be left is gates and gate overheads...Ready to be done, this is cutting into my bass fishing..

Stompy - did you do this project yourself?!? If so, God bless you. If not, can you PM me the company you used? Very good workmanship either way.

Stompy - did you 'inset' the fence from the property line next to your neighbors, or set it on the property line? IF inset, how far and why?

Thanks!

This was the final phase and it all borders the county road. This new fence is on the property line. The other 2/3rds of my ranch is about 6-8" inside the property line. I did that so there's no dispute with neighbors and I didn't want to deal with neighbors cows taking down the old fence. I also left the old fence to sorta protect the new one. Most of it has been up about 15 years.

All I'm doing is painting pipe. Information sent of fence contractor. Very pleased with him and his guys, very professional.

Worked on the main entrance yesterday, adding welded wire today. The overhead was already there and I had some nice clean 4" pipe to do the sides.

Nice, clean looking place.

Looking great..I was gonna paint that for ya ....but since you already have taken care of that I'll just admire all your hard work.
STANDING TALL !!!! Keep up the good work.

Got the wire and signs on before lunch. This spot is getting a big 16'x19' game guard (cattle guard) but it's being done last. I have so many folks in and out, I didn't want tall solar gates.

Gonna be harder to get the birds that fall on the county road. Looks great!

I'll patrol the roads for them.

Looks nice!

Congrats beautiful place jealous as all get out.

Glad you shared always neat to read about this stuff and see pictures.

Good job John! I like what I see. If you would have used 2x2 wire the doves would bounce off on the way down.

Two more gates, two small water gaps along with the remaining work at the entrance and some more paint and I'm done. The 16'x19' cattle/game guard will take two ir three days. Probably finish completely the first of next week.

The water gaps are done, painting them and gates and overheads today. All that's left is the 16' game guard. 22 working days so far, probably about 4 to go. The watergaps have sort of a heavy chainmail bolted to the back to keep them down when water is not running.

I bet you're glad to get it finished up. Looks great.

The fence is impressive and very professional looking...many years will pass as the fence stands with a deer herd second to none. You and the wife can be proud as it will be a showcase of wildlife. However a fruitful deer herd will dictate many days of hard work keeping the herd in check. You will probably need some guidance from other ranchers with a high fence. I know you will get the job done and done right. The P&W can help some but ya can't beat experience.
I wish you and the wife good luck and I'm proud of both of ya for having the drive to improve your ranch you both love so much.

Looks Good ! Congrats on a great ranch.

Yea, I'm ready to be done. When I am, I'm think I'm going to fish for a month.

For anyone wondering, this is what the backside of the watergap looks like. The watergap material is heavy conveyer belt.

Great job! Water gaps work great on cleared land; but run into trouble when you have the West Fork of the trinity river floating a oak the size of a small skyscraper in 25’ of water.

I bet, luckily I just have 3 small mostly dry creeks.

looks great!

Did you take inventory before, or will it be done now that the fence is complete?

Should help with pig and varmint control.

I lost a few I know. I'll take inventory this summer on the protein feeders.

Looking forward to following your success!

Down to the last thing, 16'x19' game guard and entrance gates. My entrance gates stay open 95% of the time, that's the reason for the game guard.

Good for you, John.
You've got a great place and your take great care of it.

dang, that's a big cattle guard! Great looking work

Game/Cattle guard is in, that was a job. Gates tomorrow, a little more paint on Saturday and I'M DONE. It's been a long month, ready to go fishing all of May and June.

you lost me with placement of the cattle/game guard. I figured it would have been centered between the gate post. It seems the weakest link is that animals could cross right at the guard and gate post very easily if gate is open, as you commented it is most of the time.

I've already considered that before we started. Wait till the gates are on and you'll understand better. They will be 8' tall gates that swing in, they will have drop rods that will connect them to the guard. The gates will be right at 10' long. I had to put the guard in that way because I didn't have enough room to feather gravel with it being centered. The overhead was already there and I didn't want to tear it down and move it in. I was in the county road when I took the picture.

I was also wondering and that makes perfect sense.

Congrats on the project!!!! I know your ready for a well deserved break so go have a few cold beers and enjoy all the hard work and money you’ve put in…

I will just say it is your place and your dollars and cents. The fence looks good and no doubt you are proud of the work.

x2

Makes perfect sense now.

Ok, final pictures. The gates are done. Big Thanks to Rick's Fencing for a very nice job.

That's a serious entrance. Well done.

Great looking!

Awesome, sir!

Bet that was a pain putting in place. What kind of equipment was required to move it into position?

It wasn't that bad turns out. We built it just across the road in one of my dove fields. My big tractor on one side, a skid steer on the other. Picked it up with heavy chains and slowly walked it over and set it down perfectly in place. Took about 30 minutes. The tricky part was, the guard is 19' wide, had to get through two 19' 6" openings.

Good looking guard/gate setup. Looks like a record size guard.

I did a lot of research, seems the 16' guard is the preferred size for deer. My entrance splits 2 of my sunflower fields, I get very few deer in that area anyway.

I know I said the last pic was it, but I couldn't let this thread end without a pic of the HF project being 100% finished. I painted the entrance gates yesterday. Thanks for the nice comments and questions fellas, it's been fun.

It all looks fantastic Stompy. Congrats on a job well done!

The fence is 100% complete and I finally got to do some fishing. Went last Tuesday and Wednesday and we put over 160 bass in the boat (mostly dinks) for both days. I did manage to stick a couple of good ones, a 10.25# and 7#

You at Hubbard Stompy? Damn nice fish brother.

Congrats!