CWD - not good.

That is absolutely inexcusable!

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Two Louisiana men were charged with smuggling live white-tailed deer in Mississippi.
75-year-old Edward L. Donaldson Jr. and 42-year-old John Jared Oertling Louisiana, were charged with conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act for importing live white-tailed deer into Mississippi.
According to the Lacey act, any person who imports, exports, transports, sells, receives, acquires or purchases wildlife that were taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of any said wildlife is prohibited.
Donaldson Jr. and Oertling manage a 1,031-acre high fenced enclosure in Forrest County, called Turkey Trot Ranch. Both men conspired to smuggle the live white-tailed deer into Mississippi for the purpose of breeding and killing trophy white-tailed buck deer.

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breeding and killing trophy white-tailed buck deer

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I know that I'm new here and I really don't want to stir up a bunch of crap, but this really gets my blood boiling. Is this what hunting has devolved into? The chase for antlers? How can someone be proud of shooting an animal in an enclosure selectively bred to produce big antlers.

Every deer, doe or buck, I've killed has been a trophy to me. I guess that's why I can't stomach watching all the dipshits on tv hunting shows, other than Randy Newburg and Steven Rinella.

I don't think the non-hunting public (not the anti's) has a problem with hunting with respect to providing food for the table, population control, etc. But I do believe this complete commercialization of hunting and the chase for "trophies" will be the death of hunting.

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I know that I'm new here and I really don't want to stir up a bunch of crap, but this really gets my blood boiling. Is this what hunting has devolved into? The chase for antlers? How can someone be proud of shooting an animal in an enclosure selectively bred to produce big antlers. Every deer, doe or buck, I've killed has been a trophy to me. I guess that's why I can't stomach watching all the dipshits on tv hunting shows, other than Randy Newburg and Steven Rinella. I don't think the non-hunting public (not the anti's) has a problem with hunting with respect to providing food for the table, population control, etc. But I do believe this complete commercialization of hunting and the chase for "trophies" will be the death of hunting.

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I totally agree with what you said here! Sure I like to kill a big buck as much as anyone else, but to go to a high fence ranch that has genetically altered the herd specifically for bigger antlers is just ridiculous to me. I don't even consider it hunting.

I don't need to hunt in a pen to know that I'm in a pen.

I don't take your comment that way, and no I haven't. Just isn't my cup of tea. I know a guy that hunts next to us and he's a big wig in the oil field. He's been several times. I've seen the videos from his hunts and it was like shooting at cattle. Now I know all places are not the same. I just choose to hunt free ranging deer. I have no desire to hunt deer that have been bred for the sole purpose for antler growth. More to the hunt than that for me. Just saying!

I get what you are saying. I've done it once and would go again but my budget won't allow for it very often. It was a neat trip and my dad and I shot a couple of very nice bucks, and I got to see some absolute giants.
Personally I'd like for my next trip to be low fence in South Texas.
Mostly I just hate that the High fence deal gets such a bad rap. I mean we breed all kinds of animals for quality genetics. Those genetics have a purpose (i.e) hunting dogs. So why is it so wrong to breed quality genetics in whitetails even though it serves a purpose?

There's not a guy on this board who would have a problem with the genetics of the herd he hunts suddenly getting a big boost....
no one on here is going to say... nah I really don't want bigger deer.....
but there are plenty who will throw stones at others about it if it's not done the way they think it should be done.
But it's cool... you expect that on a message board.

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Have you done it? I have and it's very much hunting when done correctly. I'm not talking about a 50 acre pen... I'm talking about 1,000+ acres with a controlled population. I promise you it's not what you think.

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You can try to justify it however you want but you are no longer hunting a wild animal

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The deer were brought down in 2012. They don't live 5 years with CWD. The paranoia over CWD is somewhat silly.

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While you're probably right, as someone who hunts in Forrest County MS, I can tell you the deer herd there doesn't need any help with mortality. Plus, I don't trust these two jackasses to have reported and properly disposed of any deer that may have died of CWD inside their fence, given their current legal predicament resulting from dumbfrickery. Risk of naturally spreading the disease is low, but what these two did is the type of shite that elevates that risk and exposes the surrounding areas, all so they could make a buck off of doctors and lawyers from Hattiesburg.

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Once in the environment, CWD prions may remain infectious for many years. Thus, decomposition of diseased carcasses, infected "gut piles" from hunters who field dress their cervid harvests, as well as the urine, saliva, feces, and antler velvet of infected individuals that are deposited in the environment, all have the potential to create infectious environmental reservoirs of CWD.[4] One avian scavenger, the American crow, was recently evaluated as a potential vector for CWD.[22] As CWD prions remain viable after passing through the bird's digestive tract, crows represent a possible mechanism for the creation of environmental reservoirs of CWD.

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