Deer Farming - What do you think?

[Lakrymator]

So the other day, I came across this guy's videos on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/kerm.fidler

At first I just thought "Oh those are just some monster bucks in a state where hunting seasons probably last 24 hours." Then I looked at their website.

http://www.highplainswhitetails.com/index.php

Which led me to this website:

http://www.wtedev.com/

And then I realized these folks are farming and selling deer semen to breed the ultimate herds. Of course these are fenced in farms, but they are working on a record yearling buck, I guess the current record is a 320" 42 pointer. What is up with this? How do you guys feel about it? I guess we buy GMO produce from the market, but would you hunt pedigree deer? I'm sure this has been around for a while, but I just happened to stumble upon it and am dumbfounded.

 

[brownceluse]

I like it! I wish I could afford it i would love to get those genetics in my hunting area.

 

[armyvet4583]

I think its pretty cool. Kinda. I mean I'm a fair chase kind of guy. Plus deer farms are where a lot of disease come from that effect the wild population as well. So I guess it boils down to money to be made and cool deer to see but not my cup of tea.

 

[Josh B]

I wouldn't shoot a deer someone bottle fed and raised in a pen for 3 years and think it's amazing some rich guy shoots a 200 inch buck in a 50 acre pen and thinks he is a great hunter. I don't agree with making mutated freaks either. I take a regular 120 inch ga buck anyday.

 

[Joe Brandon]

op2:

 

[GRT24]

Been around a deer farm quite a bit. It had a few couple acre pens with does and breeder bucks. Right down the road there was 1800 ac high fence out of state. It had plenty of big deer and I hunted it a ton last year. Ppl can say what they want but there were deer in there you never saw or were super smart. They were native deer and they would run and spooked just like any other deer sometimes it seemed worse. 50 AC is a little bit different vs 1800. It's a lot harder then most ppl think. It was not a hunting operation that took paid clients both the deer farm and high fence was a business investment so we got to hunt it all we wanted. Funny things is was the biggest deer I seen all year was on the other side of the fence by about 50 yds when going in one afternoon. Now the bad part was inside the high fence was a 1 acre "killing pen" and a 14 acre pen. I'm sure some of y'all have seen on TV what was shot in the killing pen buy dont know it and I do not agree with that. A lot of hunts were filmed in there. It's an investment just like cattle at least you give a chance to escape vs loading on a trailer and taking it to a slaughter house. Different strokes for different folks. Let the bashing begin. They either sold semen straws or breed does that we're wild native deer and not deer that were born and raised in captivity. They still had there wild instincts. The does would get caught and brought in and once they were breed they would be returned.

 

[Lakrymator]

I feel like hunting a fenced in property takes away from the "wild" aspect of hunting in some ways. Also I feel like finding your own trophies in God's natural wilderness would be more of an achievement in my book. With that said, I think it's insane that there could be 42 point yearlings walking around out there, and if you could improve the genetics in your area without locking them inside a farm somehow that could be cool.

 

[GRT24]

Those big huge deer are just crazy looking. The breeder bucks that I had the chance to see where big bit not crazy deformed looking. One set of sheds score around 215 and the other sheds from the other was around 255. Just big normal looking racks but tons of mass

Link too some bucks out of Texas for sale to give you an idea of what some sell for

http://bucktrader.com/ForSale.aspx?subcat=Breeder-Bucks

 

[Hammer Spank]

As I have always said, I agree with David Peterson. To perpetuate our way of life, we do not need more hunters. We need fewer, better hunters. Hunters that the average person can understand and respect. High fences, gmo deer, etc. They make normal people nauseous. The mentality of the average hunter in America today is the reason there is such an anti hunting movement. And deservedly so.

 

[Lakrymator]

As I have always said, I agree with David Peterson. To perpetuate our way of life, we do not need more hunters. We need fewer, better hunters. Hunters that the average person can understand and respect. High fences, gmo deer, etc. They make normal people nauseous. The mentality of the average hunter in America today is the reason there is such an anti hunting movement. And deservedly so.

I can agree with that. I don't think I would shoot an abnormal monster on a paid hunt just to hang it on my wall. Each deer I've taken has sacrificed its life for me, so that I could live. It's not just about bragging rights to put some bones on the wall. But if something that freak nasty showed up in the wild, I'd have to reach in my pack for the toilet paper!

 

[chill15]

I'm thinking that most of the nay-sayers on this site would do it if they could afford it. I would if I could!

 

[deers2ward]

So the other day, I came across this guy's videos on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/kerm.fidler

At first I just thought "Oh those are just some monster bucks in a state where hunting seasons probably last 24 hours." Then I looked at their website.

http://www.highplainswhitetails.com/index.php

Which led me to this website:

http://www.wtedev.com/

And then I realized these folks are farming and selling deer semen to breed the ultimate herds. Of course these are fenced in farms, but they are working on a record yearling buck, I guess the current record is a 320" 42 pointer. What is up with this? How do you guys feel about it? I guess we buy GMO produce from the market, but would you hunt pedigree deer? I'm sure this has been around for a while, but I just happened to stumble upon it and am dumbfounded.

What are feelings?

Why do you care what someone else does with their money?

Did they invite you to hunt there?

 

[Ohoopee Tusker]

As I have always said, I agree with David Peterson. To perpetuate our way of life, we do not need more hunters. We need fewer, better hunters. Hunters that the average person can understand and respect. High fences, gmo deer, etc. They make normal people nauseous. The mentality of the average hunter in America today is the reason there is such an anti hunting movement. And deservedly so.

Just how I see it.

 

[Whompascat]

Why not harvest an animal that is wild and raised in natural conditions, then again, some people don't possess the knowledge or ability to give the animal a fair chance.never understood killing a pen animal just to say look at me or look what I did....... jmo tho

 

[Lakrymator]

What are feelings?

Why do you care what someone else does with their money?

Did they invite you to hunt there?

-Feeling (noun): an emotional state or reaction.

-What others do with their money is their business, not mine.

-If they invited me to hunt there, then that's what this thread would be about.

I simply wanted to ask about what you all thought about this subject, because I'm not that familiar with it. I'm not flaming those who farm deer or defending those who don't. I kind of wondered how effective it would be to introduce those type of genetics into a wild population such as the one we have here in Georgia. I imagine even if you released a few of these pedigree bucks into your local wild, you would be blowing money and resources on the chance that the local DNA would improve. Then again who knows, I don't have the experience...maybe some of you do.

 

[Flaustin1]

Been around a deer farm quite a bit. It had a few couple acre pens with does and breeder bucks. Right down the road there was 1800 ac high fence out of state. It had plenty of big deer and I hunted it a ton last year. Ppl can say what they want but there were deer in there you never saw or were super smart. They were native deer and they would run and spooked just like any other deer sometimes it seemed worse. 50 AC is a little bit different vs 1800. It's a lot harder then most ppl think. It was not a hunting operation that took paid clients both the deer farm and high fence was a business investment so we got to hunt it all we wanted. Funny things is was the biggest deer I seen all year was on the other side of the fence by about 50 yds when going in one afternoon. Now the bad part was inside the high fence was a 1 acre "killing pen" and a 14 acre pen. I'm sure some of y'all have seen on TV what was shot in the killing pen buy dont know it and I do not agree with that. A lot of hunts were filmed in there. It's an investment just like cattle at least you give a chance to escape vs loading on a trailer and taking it to a slaughter house. Different strokes for different folks. Let the bashing begin. They either sold semen straws or breed does that we're wild native deer and not deer that were born and raised in captivity. They still had there wild instincts. The does would get caught and brought in and once they were breed they would be returned.

That's illegal as can be.

 

[GRT24]

That's illegal as can be.

It was bought as an investment to re sell. I'm not sure of the legality of the deer farm. I do know that it is illegal now to return native deer with out the proper permitting and dnr involved. The deer that are there are being maintained until they can be moved to a permanent place. I'm going by what I was told by the man who lives on site and ran it for the previous owners. The deer farm is in the process of getting all animals out but has go to thru the right process with dnr. As far as the high fence it is also against the law to sell hunts in an enclosure in this state hence no paying customers. The high fence has since been sold to an individual from out of state for personal use and hunting for the low price right around 2 mill.

 

[Josh B]

I've been on a hog hunt in Tennessee where they had exotics in about a 20 acre field. We watched a guy shoot a ram and his buddy was also supposed to shoot one but refused after also watching. And then the guide tried to get us to shoot some other kind of ram that couldn't even stand up because it's toes where so long. I think the guy paid $1700 for a 5 minute hunt.

 

[Flaustin1]

Thems called shew goats.

 

[Hammer Spank]

Just how I see it.

Tell Ernie I said hello