Made my first high fence hunt

4 days on a hill country ranch. 3 pens, each over 1500 acres. Only hunted exotics, but there were whitetail as well. Killed an aoudad, fallow and axis does with a bow. i had reservations about hunting in a "zoo" and figured using a bow would level the playing field a little. While it was a target rich environment, to assume that these animals would be easily killed with a bow was just wrong. They were the most skittish animals I've hunted in Texas by far, and all others were free range. Whitetail a acted like highly pressured whitetails. Young ones were dumb and the old does were always watching you. Rancher said there were some 180" deer in there, but we never saw anything that mature. He said some of the biggest bucks haven't been seen since October. Some of the exotics were near impossible to get within bow range. Guys spot and stalked for four days and never got a shot, but using a rifle would have ended their hunt quickly. Great rifle hunt for young hunters.

Rancher gave us some big props. Said his hunters from louisiana always bring their kids. Apparently we're the only ones who do this. Stressed how impressed he was with how we instill our hunting traditions in our children. Said he's worried about Texas because those guys just don't do that anymore.

I know it's not for everyone, but as far as whitetails the only difference I saw between this and open range hunting is the fact the deer were more pressured in the fence, at least on the other ranches I've been on. And the exotics were fun to put holes in! Lol