Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
Okay, kiddies, get out your Texas road map. Here's the deal: Yesterday, I drove home to Terlingua from Corpus Christi and for part of the way I took FM 624 through Cotulla and on to Carizzo Springs.
West from US 59 to Cotulla, I'd guess that one-third of the ranches along the way were high-fence. From Carrizo Springs on to Del Rio, there were fewer of the high-fence ranches, although still a good many. Call it ten percent, maybe.
I checked the mileage from time to time, and looked for cross-fencing going away from the road, fencing that might have been internal and not boundary.
Generally, no ranch had less than three miles of road front. A few were up to ten miles. I saw but one high cross fence, and it was over a mile from any boundary fence.
Guesstimations: Ranch sizes were from 5,000 to 25,000 acres. I'd have to say that Bambi's not suffering ffrom confinement-itis.
Terrain: Flat to gently rolling. Relief of no more than twenty to thirty feet per mile.
Vegetation: Much of it as thickets of mesquite, prickly pear, catclaw acacia and other stuff with thorns. Quite a bit of it is impenetrable to a man on foot, and I mean that literally.
I'd say that in many pastures, a man on foot would have a clear view without obstruction of at most ten yards. Some were cleared so you could see motion at 50 to 100, but clear shots of 20 to 50 yards at most.
Yes, there were some with maybe 50/50 semi-cleared pasture--but that's still a lot of brush and cactus.
Still and all, a walking/stalking hunter is gonna need tweezers. If you ever stumble, well, pliers become your friend. But, no real problem. The broken-off pear thorn of December will fester out by March. BTDT.
I saw very, very few high box-stands. I'm guessing from seeing signs of senderos here and there that a fair amount of the hunting is from high seats in the back of a pickup truck. From what I've seen of those, I'd call shooting from on high as "seated, off-hand". Remember that riding up there is not the deal if you're subject to motion sickness.
Anyhow, from what I saw for a helluva lot of miles, anybody who goes to yacking about "penned deer" and "canned hunts" on these high-fence ranches hasn't been there, hasn't seen one, and doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm not saying there's 100% absolute purity, but I don't claim a total absence of poachers among "hunters", either. But it's a big mistake, it's very poor judgement to categorize an entire group because of the behavior of a very few.
Art
West from US 59 to Cotulla, I'd guess that one-third of the ranches along the way were high-fence. From Carrizo Springs on to Del Rio, there were fewer of the high-fence ranches, although still a good many. Call it ten percent, maybe.
I checked the mileage from time to time, and looked for cross-fencing going away from the road, fencing that might have been internal and not boundary.
Generally, no ranch had less than three miles of road front. A few were up to ten miles. I saw but one high cross fence, and it was over a mile from any boundary fence.
Guesstimations: Ranch sizes were from 5,000 to 25,000 acres. I'd have to say that Bambi's not suffering ffrom confinement-itis.
Terrain: Flat to gently rolling. Relief of no more than twenty to thirty feet per mile.
Vegetation: Much of it as thickets of mesquite, prickly pear, catclaw acacia and other stuff with thorns. Quite a bit of it is impenetrable to a man on foot, and I mean that literally.
I'd say that in many pastures, a man on foot would have a clear view without obstruction of at most ten yards. Some were cleared so you could see motion at 50 to 100, but clear shots of 20 to 50 yards at most.
Yes, there were some with maybe 50/50 semi-cleared pasture--but that's still a lot of brush and cactus.
Still and all, a walking/stalking hunter is gonna need tweezers. If you ever stumble, well, pliers become your friend. But, no real problem. The broken-off pear thorn of December will fester out by March. BTDT.
I saw very, very few high box-stands. I'm guessing from seeing signs of senderos here and there that a fair amount of the hunting is from high seats in the back of a pickup truck. From what I've seen of those, I'd call shooting from on high as "seated, off-hand". Remember that riding up there is not the deal if you're subject to motion sickness.
Anyhow, from what I saw for a helluva lot of miles, anybody who goes to yacking about "penned deer" and "canned hunts" on these high-fence ranches hasn't been there, hasn't seen one, and doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm not saying there's 100% absolute purity, but I don't claim a total absence of poachers among "hunters", either. But it's a big mistake, it's very poor judgement to categorize an entire group because of the behavior of a very few.
Art
. These types of operations are the reason why I dismiss each and every buck picture from Texas that lands on a magazine cover. A good number of these animals are captively bred and are fresh out of the feedlot. The motivation behind the manipulation is that the media and outfitter industry needs those stories and pics coming - it's just showbiz. Of course, well off clients need their BBQ story too so everyone is "in" on the erosion of truth. That said I've also hunted Encino in San Angelo (6,000 acres) and it was closer to real hunting. In the end though, I'd rather just shoot an honest Hill Country buck than a Frankenbuck any day. If I want a genuine big buck, I'll get on a plane to Alberta!