Valid points on the difference between canned hunts, ranch and hunting behind a wire!
I have been on deer hunts (Behind the wire) in the States that proved to be as much if not more of a challenge than hunting in the swamps and forrest! However these enclosures were better than 2000 acres of thick timber and no feeder hunting! My reason was simple! I wanted a chance at taking a super trophy class white-tail under a fair chase conditions that are just not found in my home state!
However, I will not say that the buck I took came from the wilderness areas! That would make me a liar! Was it fair chase! You bet, if not I would have left!
Yes, I took ridicule for this from a lot of folks and I say so what! It was a hunt, not a shoot!
I have also visited ranches and left in the same day! As it seemed more like a zoo and I could not see any challenge in it! I just thanked the owner, paid him his day rate and left!
This year I returned again to New Zealand! Although the rance of 8000 plus acres of rolling hills and thick ball busting brush that also had 3000 acres with Red stags behind a wire( NOTE: Although I did try,I could not find the first red stag to film)
I was able to take a super free range sika deer and a decent elk that were or had been hanging around the property and fighting through the fence with the confined reds.
The sika came to a call on the second afternoon of the hunt through a thick valley that lead out of the wilderness area to where the owner kept his females!
However, the elk I hunted had left to return into the high ranges with 4 cows and 2 rag horns!
We stayed on him for 4 days solid and finally located him a few miles away from the ranch. The rut was over, but with some serious stalking and glassing we found him, used the hills to our advantage and got a shot off at a bit over 200 yards.
This was unlike last year, where I went to another 4000 acre operation and stalked behind the fenced rolling hills and thick bush for the red I shot! Funny thing about the ranches in New Zealand, the game inside the fences will draw those on the outside! With pressure pushing elk, and other deer out of the open ranges, they tend to stay close to the outside of the game ranch fences to try and get at the females inside.
In both cases in NZ, I have yet to see one with small open pastures or land that was not a challenge.
Now, This season, I am headed to Wyoming for another bull! If I connect, I will feel the same about him as the elk I killed last month as they were both on the outside.
Even though it was behind a fence I was challenged by the red stag last year and it was a great hunt, I will not think any different or less of him than the elk I just hunted or the one I will kill in Wyoming! As all have been or will be a challenge.
Both the ones behind the wire and in the wilderness.
I also agree that is not right to enter animals into any book that have been shot behind a wire, why? Because if that was alowed it would not matter if it was 100 acres or 100,000 acres as in Africa!.
It is nice to have an exoctic trophy to hang in the den like the rams, axis or fallow that you would have to travel to India to hunt in the wild! Just as long as the animal have the advantage and it proved a challenge.
I will clearly state that their is a BIG difference between a "canned hunt" and a hunt behind a fence. I can attest to this as I have hunted in the wilds all my life, hunted on some challenging ranches and visited places that I quickly left as they were what I would call a can hunt!
Most folks have never even visited such ranches will call them all a can hunt! All i have to say is you would have to see for yourself to understand the differences. I for one once thought the same as some do and that ALL ranch, or high fence hunts were canned or easy shoots!
My opinion changed when I actually got the chance to hunt on a few and visit a few others.
That is about all I can say on the topic and I encourage anyone to check out some of these places and compare to others and you will see what is a can hunt shoot and what is a "Fair chase behind the wire hunt"
As a few outdoor writer have written, "People will mock things that they have no idea about, or no experience with!"
And that is about all I have to say about that
Forrest Thump!