Off Season Hunting Exotics
General Topic
If you have a high fenced 500 acres then should it technically be more of a challenge then 30 acres in a suburban environment?
I've done like 10 in the last 17 years. Always 1200 to 5000 Acres. My adult son has been with me on 4 & my older g-son on a couple.. It's always a fun time.. Now, that being said, I have also bowhunted DIY, Public land in 15 States over 60 years of Bowhunting so I understand both sides.. Actually my son & I are looking for another this March. We like Feb & March as it gives us a break from the snow & cold usually for a few days & extends out bowhunting. HF allows us to bowhunt Exotic animals we could not afford to hunt in their native lands & regardless of what some say, it is an awesome experience & great fun time.. This was my son on his 1st & the Sika he took. Oh, I've bowhunted Sika's TWICE in Maryland where they ARE free range
Not my cup of tea but glad you enjoyed it. Statements such as "the" Corsican ram and "the" Texas Dall leave a sour taste in my mouth. The fence is there, they can't get away, it's just a matter of time (your time and the timing of the feeder going off).
I'm a bit surprised you didn't take the meat, as I see that as one of the main ways to justify this type of shoot. At least it got used. I have no problem with it, and the animals have it a lot better than most farm animals.
I hunted javelina in a high fence....all 16,000 acres of it. Only time we saw the fence was coming and leaving. However, I'm gonna try to kill an axis doe on a bowhunting only place in March during spring break, about the only time my wife gets a week off. She doesn't hunt, but she enjoys going with me, especially if it's somewhere she's never been. It doesn't hurt that axis deer is delicious ! I have zero desire to hunt any kind of sheep, wild or not, but I don't disparage people who do. If we all wanted to do the same thing, it would get a little crowded out there.
When our archery deer and elk are done I turn to chasing mountain lion or calling coyotes most of the winter to get my fix (though with a rifle) . Never shot anything fenced in. Just don't need to here. We have so much ground we can hunt that never wanted to.
I have never been on a fenced hunt though have hunted where the natural instincts of the prey are altered by there being agricultural land with crops in the West or trickle watering stations in the desert Southwest. Antelope Island near SLC might as well have a high fence. Hunting critters during the rut is questioned by some as the natural defenses are lowered.
I drew a tag in extreme southern Texas for a public ground hunt held in March and for exotics. No feeders but were assigned to compartments so less chance of conflict or accident. I liked being in that country that time of year. Have twice drawn December deer hunts in extreme southern Arizona. I also like that country that time of year. If you appreciate getting out of the frozen Great North and want to do some shooting while you are down in the SW thawing out then take your bow and rifle along. Your money, your time and your business. Is legal. Is ethical. I would put it higher on the challenge scale than buying a steak at the grocery store.
Is easy to cast stones and if we do then at some point in the chest thumping the only "true" hunter got his setup by harvesting a naturally fallen tree to hand carve a long bow then making his own arrows and forging or chipping his own points while collecting the fletching and string material. That is silly. Go hunt or shoot or whatever. Get out and enjoy life.
This is a subject that will never be settled or right to a purist (I guess that's the word). Since I have done both, I can understand the way some might think. They bring in "the fence" & it would make a BIG difference if in the "small" put & take properties out there. Those "are" shoots in most cases. Now, you get into a full thousand acres & larger that fence doesn't play much to your success (some will never take that statement as even close to being true). As far as sitting & killing over a feeder, that's how some states hunt free range. MOST animals get pretty wary around a feeder & in many places ONLY go to them after dark. Regardless, it's an awesome fun time to try for animal most of is cannot afford to hunt in their native lands. If you hunt a "day lease" there is no guarantee you will kill something or even get a shot for that matter (been there, done that). Like I said, I've done DIY, Public land a zillion times so know all about free range hunting too. Free Range today is a joke for most with game cams, food plots, range finders, Google earth, sights, releases & the ones that slay me, HIT LISTS & NAMES for wild deer. Oh & the baiting in states where it's NOT allowed & the statement, I don't hunt that area, I just put bait there so my cam can take pics of what is in the area (BS). I say, IF you tried a 1000 acre or more HF & not a guarantee kill place you might think a little different. Oh, If I shoot it, I eat it & if it's any kind of sheep, I arrange for someone that eats them prior to a hunt (I shot two at the start that I gave to families that ate them) I NO longer will shoot one. To me they are NASTY tastin.
