Well, taking on this subject in the world of hunting is a touchy one to say the least. Nearly everyone has an opinion – and at that – usually a strong one. As most of you know, I’m doing my doctorate research at Auburn University on a piece of private property that also happens to be enclosed with a deer-proof high fence. At the generosity of the landowner, I was also allowed to participate in this year’s hunting activities. The entire property is archery only – which you also know suits me just fine.
So, after a year of interacting with a high fence property in the framework of several different perspectives, what do I think about high fences? Let me first tell you what my preconceived notions were coming into 2009 having had no previous experience with high fences or hunting inside them.
I thought that the only way I could consider a high fence to be fair chase would be if it encompassed an overwhelming amount of acreage – say 4 or 5 thousand acres. I had no desire to ever pay to hunt inside a high fence hunting operation. The only way I gathered my impressions of high fence hunting was from TV shows like Jack Brittingham’s, Ted Nugent, and others. That’s just a few then lump in all the TV shows that don’t explicitly state they are hunting a high fence operation but common sense tells you they are. I didn’t like them.
Why? Because obviously deer inside a high fence are basically a domesticated animal and it is not challenging to kill one. Right?
It all depends.
Fair chase hunting inside a high fence needs to be addressed on a case-by-case issue. I know you don’t want to hear me say that because it seems like a cop-out answer, but it’s the truth. Here’s the key factor – How vulnerable are the deer to harvest?
Notice I didn’t say can the deer run 2 miles away if they are spooked by a hunter. I didn’t say how many if the population structure resembles a wild population. I didn’t say if the deer are x amount as difficult to see as a free-range population.
How vulnerable are they to harvest is single handedly dependent on how you hunt. Hunt with a rifle inside the 700 acre research property where I work…you are going to kill a deer every time you step outside of the house during the rut. Hunt with archery equipment where your effective range is 40 yards…you are still going to kill a bunch of deer relatively easily because there are quite simply a lot of deer running around. Hunt with archery equipment for only bucks that are prime-aged individuals (not even including 4 year olds in this case) – you’re going to hunt hard for an opportunity within XX75 arrow range.
If your beef is with the fact that the deer are captive and can’t escape if they are scared. Your case is closed – you shouldn’t find any high fences that you feel comfortable with. But let me pose some research that I did at Chesapeake Farms in Maryland – spooked deer rarely exceeded 300 yards in their flight distances and never over 500 yards in a farmland/agricultural habitat. So in essence, that argument is debunked from the get go. Deer aren’t banging their antlers against the fence trying to get away from people.
Does it matter that the high fence population doesn’t resemble a free ranging deer population? Let me ask you this. If you could convince all your neighbors who shoot the first yearling buck that walks by their stand on the first day of rifle season to stop, would you complain if all those yearling bucks were available to shoot as 2 year olds the next fall? Of course not. Take it an extra year beyond that. If your neighbors have progressed to the point that only 4 year olds and older are legal to harvest – I can’t think of a single person in America that would be complaining. When a landowner has “complete” control over a population, they can regulate sex ratios and age structure by liberal antlerless harvest and strict buck restrictions to create a white-tailed deer population that ruts harder, more intensely, has more bucks, and has more big bucks than most people would encounter otherwise. Is this wrong? I think not. People are not protesting outside the lodges of the many intensely managed commercial deer hunting properties throughout the country.
But it just seems like it would be so easy to kill a deer inside a high fence because you see so many of them. Before I get into this point. I’ve never seen the numbers of deer at the research site that I could on a hunt at Milk River Outfitters or have seen on pronghorn and mule deer hunts out West or an Iowa cornfield in late December. How easy the deer are to make visual contact with depends on 2 things: deer density and habitat type. If you have a lot of deer and you can see a reasonable distance, you are going to see a lot of deer, but if you restrict your hunting methods (archery, strict guidelines, etc.), a fair level of vulnerability is not difficult to maintain.
High fence hunting is what you make of it. Yes, you can pay thousands of dollars and be guaranteed a shot at a 200″+ buck. Fair chase – in my opinion – no. If that’s your cup of tea and you feel comfortable hunting in that situation – by all means, shoot 2 of them.
It’s not mine. But, hunting with archery equipment inside a high fence of a square mile with lots of deer and lots of big bucks to watch run around. I enjoyed it…alot. Deer are intimately more familiar with their surroundings. Perennial stand sites are basically useless because every deer circles downwind (within easy rifle range often) to try and blow you out of the country. Your yearling bucks are still stupid. There are so many 2 year olds and 3 year olds running around that they aren’t much of a challenge to hunt. But by hunting with bow and arrow and trying to take mature does and old over-the-hill bucks. It is definitely challenging. Without the rut to dumb down the bucks a little, I wouldn’t have killed a single buck. From a harvest efficiency standpoint, I was more effective at killing deer in North Carolina with a bow and muzzleloader over a weekend and hunting over food plots with a rifle on free-range Alabama properties than I was at killing does let alone old mature bucks at the high fence research site.
So, is high fence hunting fair chase? I can answer honestly and sincerely when I say that the way I hunted this year inside a high fence was fair chase. But like I said, is XYZ high fence hunting fair chase? It just depends and it’s not for you to judge from a distance unless you know all the facts about that situation or have experienced it for yourself.
I expect that I get some comments on this article, so please don’t play the “But what about the impression high fence hunting gives to the general public especially anti-hunters?” Look, they (referring to the latter demographic) disdain hunting elephants inside a zoo enclosure as much as they do hunting squirrels with a slingshot. As far as the general public goes, they have the same notions as I did before this year – so am I going to give them the benefit of the doubt that with proper information they might just arrive at the same place where I currently am.
So there you have it, a previously uninformed now informed opinion from someone who tells it like it is. If you don’t jeopardize the level of a deer’s vulnerability, it is fair chase hunting. Plain and simple.
Here’s a gray area question/comment that I’ll insert at the end of my post on high fences. This one should muddy the waters. Why then am I still more satisfied/proud of a buck that I kill in a free-range setting with my rifle than a buck I kill inside a high fence with my bow (as awesome as those experiences have been)?
Leave me some comments, should be interesting.
