Game Ranch Thoughts?

[JGF@Gratiot]

Anyone ever been to a game ranch for big game? I never have, but had a friend ask if I wanted to go. Seems sort of boring to me, or not very satisfying? Anyone have any thoughts, or was it like "I want that one now bring him out?" Just curious on thoughs as if there was any actual real hunting feeling to it? Thanks in advance

[U of M Fan]

I have never been to one and I dont plan on ever going to one. I'm not knocking anyone who does it, its just not for me.

[bucko12pt]

If it's for whitetail, you can do 2-3 fair chase guided hunts in the best whitetal habitat in the world for the price of one fenced hunt.

Why anyone hunts within a fence is beyond me.:confused:

[JGF@Gratiot]

I think the situation is more of a place is going out of business for elk, and he is offering some ridiculous cheap hunts, and I agree it doesn't sound that exciting, but for CHEAP is it something anyone would consider, at worst for the meat?

[Lordofallthatswims]

A friend of the family is a guide, he says some guys pay 20k to shoot a deer at a feeder with a tag in its ear. I don't get it, might as well just by the mount of craigslist and save yourself 19,500.

[Bearblade]

I had a friend who said baiting, high fence hunting, etc., was "like hunting cats out of a trash can". That about sums it up for me. It's like buying a good time if you know what I mean, pretty weak, go out and get it on your own!

[GIDEON]

Fences are for sissies

[skipper34]

Fences are for sissies

Rich sissies.

[JGF@Gratiot]

Thanks for the input, pretty much my thoughts.

[onenationhere]

You are having a moral dilemma with this because you are associating a high fence experience with hunting,its not hunting its shooting so if you can get past the I am going hunting part then you should have fun.If you do go then please by all means shoot a pig,that will be one less to escape into the wild :)

[ramitupurs84]

I've never done it, I don't have the money that's for sure. To me a deer shot in the fence line is like a ' * ' like Barry Bonds type scenario. You wouldn't catch me bragging about the rack or the size of the deer if it was me. HOWEVER, I think if your trying to fill the freezer with some cheap pork it maybe alright.

[babyelvis]

if the amount of meat you would get would justify the price then i would go . elk taste good and getting a tag isnt easy . but i dont think i would show off my kill to any of my hunting buddys .

[Bill Collector Bob]

Hunt the fenced pen because its cheap but to keep your hunting morals "incheck" go out there wearing a full blaze orange suit with a couple strobes lights and carry out something like a portable radio to make a ruckus :dizzy:.

This should make the "hunting" a little more tricky! :lol:

[dogwhistle]

in a word it's unethical. and whenever you see an anti hunting piece it is always about a game farm. hunters would be wise to make it illegal.

if people want to raise game animals for meat or hides and such, then fine. but it isnt hunting. hunters earn their game and follow the rules of fair chase.

if hunting ever becomes illegal, and it's possible, then these game farms will have gone a long way in making that happen.

[hplayer13]

indians HUNTED for food. predators in the wild HUNT for food. it's not hunting when you go inside a pen, no matter what anyone says. its KILLING. sorry but this is a bogus topic and it's one which makes us real hunters look bad. if you're a real hunter, go in the open woods and getcha some meat. if you're no good at hunting, go down the road to the deli store and buy yourself some lotto tickets and venison in the freezer.:yikes:

[eino]

It doesn't sound like much fun to me. But I might go for a cow elk if it were cheap enough. Either way, if you eat meat someone killed it. So I don't think it would make me feel sad to shoot my own meat. Even if I could walk right up to it. I wouldn't do any braggin on it. That's pretty much the way a farm animal is killed before I eat it. Someone else just did the dirty work and I have a nice steak to look at. Bottom line for me would be price per pound.

Ed

[2PawsRiver]

If there was one cheap enough for an Elk, Pig or Buffalo, I would do it for the meat, but I would never refer to it as hunting...........though for once I might use the term "Harvested".

[jlock]

High Fence hunting is not for me either but I was thinking about a few things that we should realize also. I went to Texas for the last two years and hunted on a 48,000 acre ranch ( wild deer ) and the deer could not be any eaier to kill. They drive around and pour corn out of salt spreaders and the deer come out like rats. Big bucks that are bedded down let you approach them well within bow range while just watching you do it. Is this any better than a pen hunt ? I don't think so. And what about you guy's who talk about the morals of hunting but yet enter those rediculous trophy contest. The names you guy's give yourselves for your teams on this site does more harm to real hunters images. You talk about the high fence places should be banned so they do not give hunters a bad image while you parade a dead animal around hooting and hollering over it's rack. Watch the hunting videos and watch them idiots dancing in their stand and talking about how they just whacked a animal while showing the animal flopping on the ground after a bad shot and then go on for fifteen minutes bragging about their sponsers stuff. This stuff is just as bad for our image as a pen hunt so some of us need a reality check before we slam a guy hunting a cage while we are doing no better ourselves. Just some things to think about.

[duxdog]

I thought maybe for the meat, yes. But then I thought about it a little more. These game farms are the cause of many of the problems in our whitetail herds and the introduction of exotics. And they also are at risk to our farm livestock. So, for that reason I would not support them. I think they should all be shut down.
Sheesh, they single handedly ended baiting for hunters. I am surprised they haven't been destroyed by a few do-gooders.lol

[Craig M]

It doesn't sound like much fun to me. But I might go for a cow elk if it were cheap enough. Either way, if you eat meat someone killed it. So I don't think it would make me feel sad to shoot my own meat. Even if I could walk right up to it. I wouldn't do any braggin on it. That's pretty much the way a farm animal is killed before I eat it. Someone else just did the dirty work and I have a nice steak to look at. Bottom line for me would be price per pound.

Ed

This sums it up for me and I don't think it unethical. Have I done it, yes and had a good time doing it too. Will I do it again, sure, but bottom line is price per pound.

[hplayer13]

High Fence hunting is not for me either but I was thinking about a few things that we should realize also. I went to Texas for the last two years and hunted on a 48,000 acre ranch ( wild deer ) and the deer could not be any eaier to kill. They drive around and pour corn out of salt spreaders and the deer come out like rats. Big bucks that are bedded down let you approach them well within bow range while just watching you do it. Is this any better than a pen hunt ? I don't think so. And what about you guy's who talk about the morals of hunting but yet enter those rediculous trophy contest. The names you guy's give yourselves for your teams on this site does more harm to real hunters images. You talk about the high fence places should be banned so they do not give hunters a bad image while you parade a dead animal around hooting and hollering over it's rack. Watch the hunting videos and watch them idiots dancing in their stand and talking about how they just whacked a animal while showing the animal flopping on the ground after a bad shot and then go on for fifteen minutes bragging about their sponsers stuff. This stuff is just as bad for our image as a pen hunt so some of us need a reality check before we slam a guy hunting a cage while we are doing no better ourselves. Just some things to think about.


Exactly!! Of course the "pros" don't put all of their missed shots or bad shots on there. I may be wrong, but never on a BIG BUCKS video have I seen them track hard for them. They put in the perfect kill. Real hunting is not that easy. Yea, a good hunter makes a good shot when he gets the opportunity, but the realistic image is not that of what is on these videos. You put those pros out on some regular state land with nothing but a good ol 12 gauge and a pop up blind and then record that:lol::lol:

[john warren]

yes well,,, i say pretty much the same things about "hunters" thatwear
scentsuit , attractants, hunt from tree stands and such. even baiting deer.
but thats their choice,i don't dictate how you should hunt. no matter if i concider it cheating.
and of course there are people, like a good friend of mine that has been fighting cancer for two years. that may find this the only option they have to go out and enjoy the woods one more time.

[dogwhistle]

when do you impose your ethics on others, if at all? would you report someone shining deer, shooting game from a car or killing game out of season?

i've had a very serious form of cancer once. i doubt that it will ever reoccur, but if it did, the last thing i would want to do is to go to some game farm and butcher an animal. that sort of justification doesnt have much logic behind it.

[Violator22]

Game ranches have their place. Places like Texas, most of you all would call Game Ranches, as it is almost all private hunting, big fences down there. I hunt an area with a buddy down there that used to be a 14,000 acre game ranch, when the owner passed away, his wife sold it all off in 100 acre parcels. Now there are Elk, Axis and Fallow Deer and numerous sheep in the area. You can hunt any of them with a general big game tag, and they don't count toward the tag down there. Les