Some people don't think it's fair chase. This is the country I just finished a 5 day hunt for aoudad in the Texas Hill Country and did not connect.

Where abouts?

Near Bandera, TX

Nice.

I've always said...Don't Knock It, Until You Try It

As I have said repeatedly, not all preserves are created equally. I have hunted HARD on a number of preserves while some have been a fish in the barrel shoot. This topic seems to bring out a lot of emotion in people. As Franchise so succinctly stated, "don't knock it till you try it."

I think they are invaluable for testing.

I've hunted the Texas hill country three time for Auodad; I still don't have one. I know they had some very good rams there because I seen them on previous Turkey hunts. Once I went after the rams.....well like I said...I don't have one. Oh, and it was in a pen.

But as Max stated, they're not all created equal. That said, I've always had a good time when I hunted one.

First winter I retired we bought an RV & lived at Bandera, loved it! Just up the road towards Kerrville was the little road stop of Medina & there was game everywhere & I mean everywhere. My wife & I even saw Kangaroo's, true story! What fascinated me were the Black Buck Antelope, they are beautiful animals.
Being from the west most of us have a bad taste in our mouth about "high fence" hunting because everything out here is pretty much public. Well, that's not the way everybody has to play & to be fair you have to see how everyone else has to live & hunt. I had been spoiled all my life, just walk out the door & go hunting, heck I thought that way the only way it was done & anybody that did it different was doing it wrong, no so, I was the one who was wrong, I was judging everyone else.
Not everyone can hunt out west, if you want to hunt & there's a place close by who am I to say it's not the "right" way to do it, go for it & learn, have fun, shoot a hog, a buck, a couple doe's, etc. Some places are big, some I saw were small & some were like a corral, you get what you pay for.
I hunted feral hogs & we went all night & it was tough, cactus, thick brush, water, sometimes snakes. Had a blast & the fences were a long way from the truck, usually only seen them one time a night. Killed 3, 2 with the knife & 1 with my OM 41 shorty. Great hunts! Don't worry about fences, have fun.

Dick

I've only been to 2 "high fence" operations. I enjoyed both of them. It allowed me a couple days to recharge and just enjoy being outdoors. The first was a hog hunting that I went on with my son. It was a great experience. Then this past spring I went by myself and had a great time even though the hunt was short. I got to spend time with some good people. Will I do it again? You bet. Already planning my next little trip.

While I would enjoy a "real" hunt, life gets in the way. Maybe after I retire things will be different. I have a hard enough time trying to get out deer hunting in my neck of the woods.

My dad took me on a few hunts out west when I was in middle/high school. Black bear in Idaho, Arizona, and Colorado; elk and mule deer in Colorado. Those were all fair chase. Then, the summer before my senior year, we went to New Zealand on a fenced hunt. They were all memorable hunts in their own ways, but honestly, there's nothing that beats having a big buck walk out on your own property, or having those mallards coming in with their wings cupped when you're duck hunting with some friends.

I guess "fair chase" can depend on the size of the playing field.

Whether one is talking "Freeze Tag" in the back yard.........."Capture the Flag" on the playground.........or an all out "Neighborhood War Game".

I hiked 11 miles one morning inside of a "fenced enclosure". Didn't see a quarter of the place.

Hey! Circles don't count!!!!

LMFAO,The first time I hunted with James was at Tioga, I walked 7 miles, in circles, LOL

When I hunted South Africa it was high fence, saw the fence the first day we got there but it was many thousands of acres, next time I saw that fence was the day we left.

Dick

One of the fenced areas I hunted in South Africa was 180000 acres. It was tough hunting.

This, like anything else, must be kept in perspective. Some are more "fair" than others and require more effort. I don't think anyone here is laboring under the delusion that chasing elk on a high fence ranch is exactly the same as chasing them across the Rockies but it can be challenging and fun all the same. It also makes a lot more critters a lot more accessible. They all have their place. Some turn up their noses at it but if it involves getting away from the asphalt and chasing critters in the company of family and friends, I'm all for it. I've met some fine folks at some of those places and wouldn't have had the opportunity otherwise.

Every time this subject comes up I think back to my second hunt in South Africa (where everything is fenced) when after putting my guns in the Land Rover I went back to my tent for my binoc`s... walking with my head down it was as I neared the tent that I looked up and to my shock was a large lioness on her belly with the tail whipping back and forth within 25 yards. Will always remember her yellow eyes as I slowly sidestepped the short distance to my tent and after a few seconds looked out to see the lioness had vanished.

To this day I think she did not have me for dinner because she felt it was not sporting to hunt a human behind a fence....True story.....

Hahahahahahahahahaha! That is funny, James!

Great Point James 😉👍

Well done, sir.

I've gone behind a high fence one time. It will NEVER happen again. NEVER EVER, EVER,EVER. It was a place that was frequented by others on this board. The whole operation was a frickin joke. I had my doubts going into the thing and everything I thought was confirmed 100%. Am I gonna give anyone else crap for doing it? Nope, but its not for me. I'd quit hunting before doing it again.

Aaron

excellent!

one thing i've not heard anyone talk about high fence ranching helps with is actually getting kids hunting. before you pooh-pooh this, it's real, and really significant. my oldest son is the gung ho hunter from birth. however, some of my other kids had to experience it and enjoy it before getting fully into hunting. problem is, most states hunting seasons are either during football, basketball, or both. if not for hunting exotics i don't think i'd have ever gotten a few of them involved and they are dsc and nra life members now. if we don't have opportunities for kiddos in the months they can go they won't hunt. if they don't hunt it's one more urbanite that will likely fight us. this is why i hate it when some condemn high fence hunting. you don't have to do it, but don't condemn nor fight against me doing it how i like too.

i will also ad, high fence hunting large bovines on foot with a revolver and no backup is more sporting than any deer hunt i've been on!


rickiesrevenge -- i hunted a property in africa and it took 35 minutes at 50mph to cover the length. sure you wouldn't hunt there if ya had the chance?

Guessing RR is talking about the smaller operations in the US

Possibly in North Carolina?

lol

Isn't Gold Mine tiny?

Hahahaha! Whit, do you have any idea how long Goldmine has been closed to the public for hunting?? 😉I've had hunts there, but it's been closed to the general public for several years 😀 It definitely was small, but we always had fun seeing what bullets did on flesh 😆

Theres many reasons to hunt. Sometimes i need to get food. Sometimes i want an experience in the wild. Sometimes i wanna bullet test. Sometimes i wanna hunt something dangerous and not spend the bank in africa! All valid reasons imho

Any reason to go hunt, shoot, bullet test or bring home the groceries is good enough for me...you can't eat the yellow pages, plus, I have lived on a farm since birth and these animals were put here to be killed and eaten 😉😆 it may surprise the hell out of everyone where the meat at the grocery store comes from. Either way an animal has to die 😊

To hunt behind a high fence or not hunt behind a high fence is everyone's right to choose, no one makes anyone do it, and if it's not for you, cool 👍, but it's always puzzling to me why anyone that eats meat would have a (moral) problem with it. If you eat beef, pork, chicken, or turkey.....surprise 😉 It's raised and kept in a barn or pasture...behind a fence....it would be a far stretch to say that those said animals are given a sporting chance 😉😂 I'd be willing to bet that if you eat meat, that your conscious doesn't bother you that you're eating meat that was raised and killed behind a fence...the bottom line is that there is ZERO difference in the end 😬

Well said!

I had no idea. Was just commenting on the size as I had heard it was really small. I wasn't judging.

It's been commercially closed since late 2009...even our group hunt in 2010 was just the landowner letting the group come in for some fun...basically a favor to me

Tradmark,
After going to that place in Tennessee there's no way I could bring myself to go past the gate. It completely soured my opinion of the whole thing. Here's my experience so you can judge for yourself.

We showed up for our three day "hunt" early enough to eat breakfast. We spoke with the guy running the place and he assured us we would have a good hunt. After breakfast he took us to the area in which we were to look for hogs. Some of the reviews from people on this site claimed that they never saw the fence once they went through it. That wasn't even close to our experience. Maybe I see things a bit differently after hunting the wilds of Alaska and huge tracts of land throughout the western states. We did see a few pigs but they were tiny and we were easily able to walk, not sneak, within 10-15 yards of them. By lunch time we'd seen most of that pen. By dinner we'd easily seen it all. Day two we asked the guide again if we could hunt anywhere that there were wild hogs. He flat out said no. We then asked if we could go to the pen across the road. They were very reluctant to say yes but eventually decided to let us. They told us we'd see some big hogs today. After the first day I decided that I wasn't going to carry my xp. My buddy talked me into taking my sidearm just in case. The pen was smaller than the first. We'd walked through most of it by lunch time. My buddy snuck up to a sleeping hog and was almost close enough to slap it's butt! It finally awoke and trotted off into the brush. We decided to cross the road and go back to the pen where we started the day before. We got about 100 yards from the gate when we heard a truck and trailer coming up the road. We stood there for a minute watching. When they stopped at the gate to the pen we'd just left, I couldn't believe what was gonna happen. My buddy and I looked at each other and I said this can't really be happening. They looped the truck and trailer around and pushed around a dozen big pigs out of the trailer, they hurried out of the pen so we wouldn't see what happened. They didn't know we were on a hill watching the while the whole thing transpired. We went back to the smaller pen to look at these pigs. They were nearly tame critters, easily walk to within 10-15 yards while talking and laughing at the situation. That was the last straw for me. We went back to the lodge and started packing. The guide was very concerned about us leaving. He said that we could hunt on a couple farms outside the pens if we wanted, I reminded him that we'd asked about that option earlier. Just then another group of "hunters" showed up I threw my stuff into the car and sat inside. I know that if they asked about my experience I would have told them my opinion, so I thought it would be better to let them form their own.

We would have preferred to hunt somewhere and never seen a pig, which we expressed upon our arrival and initial conversation with the guide. As I said before, never again. Are there places that have better operations? I'm sure there are, but the whole thing soured me on high fences.

If you were at wilderness you probably don't know he now owns 16000 acres. the original place is only 1100 acres.

That may have made a difference then but not any more....

i guess i made my comment on the basis that one situation soured you on any fenced property ever. kinda like a guy that eats at a crappy applebees in atlanta and won't walk into one in denver. never again. pretty strong and somewhat emotional. and yes, i'd have been pissed.

I've been to three high fence ranches. The first was a place in Florida where the hogs were basically domesticated. Felt like shooting fish in a barrel. We still killed hogs and the meat was fantastic. My experience at Wilderness Lodge in Tennessee was similar to "rickiesrevenge" and that was last fall. The hogs were pretty spoiled and you could get really close to them. The yak, watusi and water buffalo basically just stood around the watering hole waiting for someone to shoot them. The deer and antelope were much more skittish and aloof. I enjoyed it for what it was and enjoyed the meat but will probably never go back.

My experience in Hondo was right the opposite and I will definitely go back.

Either way, it is what it is and ain't what it ain't. I try to enjoy them for what they are and not worry too much about what they're not. That said, I wouldn't hunt anything at a high fence ranch that I could hunt otherwise. So only exotics for me.