Ok this has gotten pretty far off topic

I have mixed emotions on this topic. All fenced operations aren't created equally -- period. Some are challenging and frankly many aren't even remotely. That said, an easy "shoot" often actually suits my purposes well as I need to test and not necessarily spend days on end chasing a ghost. However, if deadlines aren't looming too ominously in the background, I find a true free ranging hunt way more satisfying. JMHO.

ya I think it depends on the situation and the ranch. Nothing like banging a free range trophy but I bet a good ranch hunt with a good budy would be a good time and test new ammo. Probably a number if ways to look at it! If I do ever go on one it will deff be with a handgun or bow!

I think there are plenty of high fence operations that are challenging and sporting. I feel it is a great way to hunt game not found in the wild in our country without the hassle of international travel. I have little interest in hunting game animals found here in the wild but have no problems with those that feel they want to do it that way. As said above not all high fence operations are created equal. Some more closely resemble slaughtering livestock than actual hunting. Now if someone wanted to get dressed up in camo and carry their favorite sporting arm or archery equipment to slaughter livestock and call it hunting I am happy for them.
There are some high fence operations that have more class. They either offer a challenge or at least a perceived challenge. Some of those are vast areas and others plan hunting areas around not looking at a fence.
In my opinion none of them offer the same challenge as free range. If they did they wouldn't maintain a miles of fence line. The biggest problem is everyones opinion of a challenging hunt is not the same. So ask a lot of questions about an area not only in size but also cross fencing and stocking methods before you decide on a ranch to hunt.

Never having hunted in Texas, the high fence/low fence controversy
has me puzzled. Does SCI say anything about fence types? I thought it was all about fair chase?

SCI and possibly Rowland Ward are the only books that recognize high fence. Boone and Crockett and Pope and Young don't recognize high fence animals.

Is it because P&Y and B&C don't recognize high fence as a fair chase situation? Last year we hunted on public land here in Nevada.
There was an area of high fence,but ,it was to keep wild game off the sheep ranch inside the high fence.

yep, they don't consider it fair chase if the animal can't escape a certain piece of property. Some high fence places are large enough that the animals don't know any different but then others are pretty small.

Anybody had a good experience at a high fence, or lodge, or exotic or whatever you want to call it in the southeast region? I'd like to hunt something before deer season gets here!

I get some static with my habit of a handgun backup in dangerous game country but never go without. Listening to wolves howl while answering a call to nature and watching the Northern Lights was much more interesting with a pistol over my shoulder!
High fence is another management tool, if the game has value it is conserved.

I wouldn't mind hunting in a high fence area that wasn't a slaughter pen. Here in Florida we have plenty of hogs and medium to small deer. The fence hunt would make it possible for me to hunt something we don't have here. Now the price of fence hunting may be too steep. I never looked into it. But I do feel I would have accomplished more if I hunted fair chase.

There is one in Island Park, Idaho about 2 miles from our cabin. They turned a bunch of bulls loose in there on Labor day. We drove up by it and a few bulls were eating the tall grass right next to the fence. We wondered how they get them to " act wild" . I am not sure that it matters. It looks like hunting a bovine in my pasture!

The first thing the new cows and horses that I put in my pasture is walk the fenceline. I was wondering about that concept and a few summers ago, I walked the exterior of the fence in IP. It looked like a race track on both sides of the fence. The owners drive a four wheeler around it daily to see if anybody has cit the fence. I am sure that outside animals try to get it and insiders try to get out, if they are there long enough. They should put a bunch of cows and bulls in there during the rut and then it would be fun just to film the excitement.

The "put & take" high fenced operations on relatively small acreage give "high fenced hunts" a bad rap. In the Texas game country most of the ranches are high fenced. However, many of the them are also large -- 20,000 acres or more. The larger ones have breeding herds of various species that have been there for generations. They exist alongside the "native" species. The concentration of animals in that area (high fenced or not) make the success on a hunt far greater than hunting the public land in the West.

A hunt for a "good" exotic on a large high fenced ranch in Texas is not shooting something in a slaughter pen.

My personal observation on some of these ranches is that elk are an exception. None of the ranches that I have hunted maintain breeding herds of elk. If they have Red Deer on the ranch, they will cross with the elk. The resulting offspring is not very good. Thus, most of the bull elk that I have seen are "put & take." They are mostly farm raised and do not act wild. I would have no interest in hunting them. Ditto for the bison that I have seen on these ranches.

However, the Axis, Fallow, Sika, Red Deer, Blackbuck, etc. that are "native" to that ranch are as wild and wily as the whitetail deer.