My neighbor high fenced his property...I'm not happy!

Jeff in TX

Interesting development on my ranch. My neighbor on the south end of my property has 400 acres and just put up a high fence. Our local game biologist said he needs a minimum of 1200 acres to high fence . He's a professional bow hunter with his own TV show and wants to bring in his own generic deer herd. I realize it's his prerogative and money to do what he wants. However, this is going to cause cross breeding in a couple short years not that they'll be my problem.

This is highly irritating for me and my other neighbor. We don't have huge deer herds, we'd consider them modest at best. My neighbors and I have been working with the game biologist to manage our bucks and have done a good job over the past few years. A lot of deer we kill come and go between our three ranches . I’m hoping he didn’t high fence in many of the deer. This could really change the deer patterns and quality bucks we've been trying to manage for the next few years or longer. I'll know more this Friday when I go out and pull the SD cards on the cameras and see what's still there.

NCFUBAR

Maybe he fenced in some very fertile pigs ... especially breeding sows.

400 acres is not enough to land to sustain many areas for dominant bucks ... even a yearling to 2 year old will cover a 50 acre plus range while the older ones will cover a couple hundred acres easy. Sure they overlap some but 400 acres is small ...

Diver43

Seeing that the fence is against code, shouldnt he have to lower it?

Varmintmist

He didnt catch much. Deer move and 400 ac wont hold a herd in PA farm country, it certainly wont hold a herd in TX pasture. I wouldnt worry about it much. You just know where the deer you are working to cultivate are going to not be. Think of it this way, a strange doe might get the local boys excited and the fence wont stop scent. Food plot the perimeter.

I would, however, be dang sure that the "professional" hunter stays within his fence along with his deer.

Jayhawker

I've encountered a few guys like this, no matter how much property they own,they always seem to have a few blinds or stands that overlook the neighbors property....

early

Bad fences make bad neighbors?

toymachine

Sounds like he's trying to be a rancher, or develop some tame deer for more reliable camera footage. Not my cup of tea, but not my problem, either. I just hope he puts in the effort and research to make sure the critters don't suffer any vitamin deficiencies or whatnot. With an area that small, it'll require a lot of management. Wonder if those deer farmers have a cross-breeding program set up, to avoid inbreeding problems. Could use a similar approach as used with cattle, though that's a lot easier with an all-male or all-female population.

shootbrownelk

Jeff in TX wrote: »

Interesting development on my ranch. My neighbor on the south end of my property has 400 acres and just put up a high fence. Our local game biologist said he needs a minimum of 1200 acres to high fence . He's a professional bow hunter with his own TV show and wants to bring in his own generic deer herd. I realize it's his prerogative and money to do what he wants. However, this is going to cause cross breeding in a couple short years not that they'll be my problem.

This is highly irritating for me and my other neighbor. We don't have huge deer herds, we'd consider them modest at best. My neighbors and I have been working with the game biologist to manage our bucks and have done a good job over the past few years. A lot of deer we kill come and go between our three ranches . I’m hoping he didn’t high fence in many of the deer. This could really change the deer patterns and quality bucks we've been trying to manage for the next few years or longer. I'll know more this Friday when I go out and pull the SD cards on the cameras and see what's still there.

If he imports some breeders that are infected with CWD, your native deer could become infected. Game farms are a bad idea.

Jeff in TX

Interestingly enough my most productive stand is the back corner food plot which borders his property. It's an acre and half food plot with a feeder 10 yards from his fence. Since the winds primarily blow south to north I needed to put the feeder towards the back of the food plot. He didn't have any issues with putting it there. Deer on the back side of my property tend to move from my neighbor to my west and use the game trail that runs the fence line. Or they come from my neighbor who just high fenced his place. Once they leave the food plot they tend to move north east into my heart of my ranch.

He didn't settle for a 6' fence but went with an 8' footer. I doubt we'll see many deer if any jumping it. The possibilities of infection and cross breeding were the big concerns of the game biologist. My son went out today and said there were deer on the cameras but didn't elaborate. That's a good sign, I'm going to start a deer count this weekend with my neighbor and see what we come up with.

Time will tell on this one!

NN

We had the same issue with off base stands from a hunting club just across the fence, they would also cut the fence and send their dogs in to chase deer across the fence.

I got even one day, while walking in along the fence, a buck and doe came trotting down the other side of the fence.
I stuck the barrel of my 1100 through the chain link fence and shot the buck and went back to the creek and went around the fence and retrieved the buck.

snake284

Jeff, there's a place down here called Coloma Creek. It's the headwaters of Powder Horn Lake that flows into Matagorda Bay. Up the creek used to be good hog hunting along the banks and tide lands. The hogs and deer would cross from the big range on the south into the grain fields up from the creek on the north. It was a great public hunting area and we all used to hunt hogs, deer, ducks and Geese there. Then the big ranch that borders the creek on the south side put up a high game fence. That ruined it. The duck and goose hunting of course is still good especially at the first part of the season, but there's only an occasional rogue hog wandering through and almost never any deer. And the hell of it is there was so much game on that ranch to the south the fence probably had little affect on the hunting, except on the outside of the fence to the north. In other words the fence mostly stopped the poor boy from having a crack at a nice deer and a good supply of hogs to shoot. Yeah, it might have held some trophies within the ranch for the paying customers to shoot, but I hunted that place for 20 years and never saw a really nice buck outside the ranch at least in daylight. So was the fence put up due to rich man's greed or did they really think it would improve hunting on the ranch? I don't know. But it sure ruined a nice poor boy hunting spot.

Jeff in TX

Snake284,

This is the kick in the pants for my good neighbor and I. We've worked with the game biologist to improve habitat and the food plots for the deer. We each took a nice buck this year, well let's be honest my wife took the buck of my lifetime hunting with me on opening day which was exciting for the both of us. I passed up three nice deer that we would have normally shot years prior. We had a late season 150 class 10 pt show up out of no where towards the end of the season I passed on. All this meant we were getting it right with our game management program. I just hope he didn't trap too many deer in and if we do take a hit, it will only be for a year. I've been traveling for work like a mad man the past two months and I'm heading out today for a long 5 day weekend. A quick business trip at the end of the week then I'll be back for a week of turkey hunting. I talked to my neighbor and we're going to do an early deer count and compare game camera pictures and get an idea how many deer we currently have. The good thing my back neighbor is doing is renting a helicopter in next week to shoot all of the coyotes on his place and the four surrounding ranches. He asked me and my neighbor if we wanted them killed on our place and we said sure. Then he said it would cost over a grand each for our part of the helicopter expense and we said no. If I'm paying I'm flying and shooting is how I see it. However, it should put a good dent in the yote population. They need to get thinned out though my wife and I really enjoy listening to them call and get together every morning and evening.

This is what it is. Hopefully we can make a sweet glass of lemon aid out the lemons he's dealt us. Time's gonna tell on this one.

BTW, if you talk to your son, tell him I'll be calling him the first part of May about going out diving and fishing!

toymachine

cpj wrote: »

This brings up a question. Since wild deer don't "belong" to anyone, what does the state say about fencing in deer that don't belong to you?

He'd be fencing in his land property, wildlife notwithstanding. In some areas you have to maintain the watershed, I'm not sure about permitting free flow of wildlife - other than endangered or protected species.

snake284

Jeff in TX wrote: »

Snake284,

This is the kick in the pants for my good neighbor and I. We've worked with the game biologist to improve habitat and the food plots for the deer. We each took a nice buck this year, well let's be honest my wife took the buck of my lifetime hunting with me on opening day which was exciting for the both of us. I passed up three nice deer that we would have normally shot years prior. We had a late season 150 class 10 pt show up out of no where towards the end of the season I passed on. All this meant we were getting it right with our game management program. I just hope he didn't trap too many deer in and if we do take a hit, it will only be for a year. I've been traveling for work like a mad man the past two months and I'm heading out today for a long 5 day weekend. A quick business trip at the end of the week then I'll be back for a week of turkey hunting. I talked to my neighbor and we're going to do an early deer count and compare game camera pictures and get an idea how many deer we currently have. The good thing my back neighbor is doing is renting a helicopter in next week to shoot all of the coyotes on his place and the four surrounding ranches. He asked me and my neighbor if we wanted them killed on our place and we said sure. Then he said it would cost over a grand each for our part of the helicopter expense and we said no. If I'm paying I'm flying and shooting is how I see it. However, it should put a good dent in the yote population. They need to get thinned out though my wife and I really enjoy listening to them call and get together every morning and evening.

This is what it is. Hopefully we can make a sweet glass of lemon aid out the lemons he's dealt us. Time's gonna tell on this one.

BTW, if you talk to your son, tell him I'll be calling him the first part of May about going out diving and fishing!

Will do Jeff. As for taking a hit, the bad news is you will take some hit in numbers. It's inevitable. The guy is a professional it sounds like and he no doubt did his homework to fence in as many of the better bucks as he could. The good news is it's not the end of the world and it's a cinch he didn't get all of em. I figure in three years you will be fully recovered. As for disease, the guy with the high fence will more than likely experience ill effects if anyone does. Your deer will be more free to roam and other deer can come to you. He now has a more finite heard than you and the other guy. No new stock for him. His deer will be more likely to inbred. In fact, that will happen. I think this guy is looking for a short time of great hunting and then he'll need to knock that fence down and start over. One thing that bothers me is whose to say he won't take down sections of the high fence from time to time to enrich his heard? That would piss me off. You might have to build an equally high fence next to his. Then he'd be screwed.

Varmintmist

Jeff in TX wrote: »

They need to get thinned out though my wife and I really enjoy listening to them call and get together every morning and evening.

!

Trap and throw over the fence. Makes it easier on the herd you are working on and you can still hear them.

jbp-ohio

cpj wrote: »

This brings up a question. Since wild deer don't "belong" to anyone, what does the state say about fencing in deer that don't belong to you?

Back in Ohio, you call the Game Warden to come out and witness you have a deer drive to an opening in the fence. Then you can close the fence for good. Doesn't matter how successful the the drive was. Only that the attempt was made.

Jeff in TX

cpj wrote: »

This brings up a question. Since wild deer don't "belong" to anyone, what does the state say about fencing in deer that don't belong to you?

Actually he can get a permit and shoot the deer inside the fence if he's bringing in his own heard. We asked if we could drive them out before the fence went up. He never really committed to it or let us know the exact date the fence was going up, then one day it was up. It's going to prove interesting what happens this fall. I did have 3 does on one camera my son pulled the chip on. I've been cutting grass all weekend so I haven't pulled the remaining chips that will be tomorrow. Time will tell!