game ranch hunt

[okielite]

I'm pretty sure Wyoming banned game farms many years ago. But I'm not sure if there are any other states, at least in the west.

Wyoming has pheasant farms run by the state as well as a bunch of private buffalo breeding operations. You will notice Terry bison ranch as soon as you cross the border on I25 coming from FT Collins. I've also been told that several high fence breeding operations were "grandfathered" when the new laws were put in place but I don't know if that is true or not.

 

[bdan68]

Wyoming has pheasant farms run by the state as well as a bunch of private buffalo breeding operations. You will notice Terry bison ranch as soon as you cross the border on I25 coming from FT Collins. I've also been told that several high fence breeding operations were "grandfathered" when the new laws were put in place but I don't know if that is true or not.

I'm mainly thinking of deer and elk farming, not necessarily birds. That doesn't concern me. They do have private pheasant hunting preserves in this state, and some also have chukar. Those aren't native species so I don't care, and neither does the state. Bison, they are considered livestock, not wildlife, so they can be farmed just like any other domesticated livestock.

 

[vince]

If I choose to kill an animal for meat in a pasture, I will.
Be it an elk, beef cow, or buffalo. What I won't do, nor condone, is calling it hunting. It's culling under managed conditions.
That is just my opinion and is worth what you paid for it.

 

[AT Hiker]

AT Hiker,

I'm right with you as is indicated by the first sentence of my first post.

But then again, we'd all probably be able to figure out where a ranched animal was killed, especially since wildlife services agency does not issue wild game tags for ranched animals.

But I'm good with a ranch hunter stretching the truth. If he wants me to believe that he killed a trophy bull after an arduous public land hunt, I'm good. I won't argue with him. The guy might be dying of cancer for all I know and it might have been his last hunt.

Extreme circumstance for sure, but I think we can all agree this has nothing to do with that population. Wounded warriors, disabled, etc are all due credit and its not my place to judge nor take it away from them. The TV personalities that leave out important details are more of my concern, they paint a unrealistic picture of what it really is and sadly the newer generation of hunters that lack a mentor fall for this quickly.

 

[jenbickel]

Wyoming has pheasant farms run by the state as well as a bunch of private buffalo breeding operations. You will notice Terry bison ranch as soon as you cross the border on I25 coming from FT Collins. I've also been told that several high fence breeding operations were "grandfathered" when the new laws were put in place but I don't know if that is true or not.

There are some that were "grandfathered in" I live right by an elk ranch and an Ibex ranch.

I agree, if you want to hunt high fence and can afford it, more power to you! Just don't lie about it.. I'm not a fan of the high fence ranches that only see their animals as a dollar sign. The elk ranch by me let one of my favorite Walmart workers who is disabled go and shoot a cow elk and a doe deer last year. The way his eyes lit up when he showed me pictures was amazing. I'm all for that.

 

[Montana]

I think I have shared my option on this once before but I don't see high fence hunting any different than some rich guy going to New Mexico and paying $30,000 on a reservation to kill a 400 plus bull and then hanging it on the wall as proud as can be. Or paying Mossback to have 10 guys scouting for you all summer long and then rolling in and shooting it. The size of animals is becoming the death of hunting, its changing the sport immensely.

But with that, comes full circle benefit for all as well. Economically speaking. So just like many other other things, there's always big pictures to be viewed. So I say.... to each is there own. And none of us understand there own personal fulfillment. So if they are happy. Congrats to them.

 

[AT Hiker]

I think I have shared my option on this once before but I don't see high fence hunting any different than some rich guy going to New Mexico and paying $30,000 on a reservation to kill a 400 plus bull and then hanging it on the wall as proud as can be. Or paying Mossback to have 10 guys scouting for you all summer long and then rolling in and shooting it. The size of animals is becoming the death of hunting, its changing the sport immensely.

But with that, comes full circle benefit for all as well. Economically speaking. So just like many other other things, there's always big pictures to be viewed. So I say.... to each is there own. And none of us understand there own personal fulfillment. So if they are happy. Congrats to them.

I understand and pretty well agree with you.

Where I live, just north across the border in KY is one of the nations top B&C counties. There are a few TV personalities that pay big $$ to have upwards to 1,000 acres (which is huge by our standards) that is privately managed and the only pressure the deer see are a few hunters and camera men during the rut. Wild creatures for sure, but man is it about as close to the "thin red line" as possible. My point is its not realistic, but they sure do a good job at making it sound like it is.

 

[shootbrownelk]

I don't mind the high fence places as long as they dont' pose a threat to wildlife. There is an elk operation near me and every year the wild elk end up on the fence line during the rut.

I was talking to them the other day and they told me they used to have mule deer but they kept getting worms so they stopped. Would hate to see mule deer exploited by game farms like elk and whitetail have.

A Wy G&F warden once told me that some game farm in north central Colorado had penned "Red Stags" escape and that were in Wyoming and possibly interbreeding with native Rocky Mountain Elk. I never heard anything about it again.
Any penned animal will eventually escape. Wyoming doesn't allow "Game Ranches". Thank God.

 

[Hilltop]

A Wy G&F warden once told me that some game farm in north central Colorado had penned "Red Stags" escape and that were in Wyoming and possibly interbreeding with native Rocky Mountain Elk. I never heard anything about it again.
Any penned animal will eventually escape. Wyoming doesn't allow "Game Ranches". Thank God.

You would think they would have a real challenge breeding with elk. They are basically the same size as a big mule deer. Elk are literally twice their size but I guess it may be possible?

 

[Topgun 30-06]

You would think they would have a real challenge breeding with elk. They are basically the same size as a big mule deer. Elk are literally twice their size but I guess it may be possible?

That would be my guess too, as from what I've read about them they reach a max of about 530#. Even a satellite bull elk is a lot bigger than that and a herd bull would be able to kick their butt pretty easy I would think.

 

[packmule]

I understand and pretty well agree with you.

Where I live, just north across the border in KY is one of the nations top B&C counties. There are a few TV personalities that pay big $$ to have upwards to 1,000 acres (which is huge by our standards) that is privately managed and the only pressure the deer see are a few hunters and camera men during the rut. Wild creatures for sure, but man is it about as close to the "thin red line" as possible. My point is its not realistic, but they sure do a good job at making it sound like it is.

That seems fairly realistic and likely results of good private management. We let our place sit like a refuge and really they aren't even pressured during the rut bc of how I have the place set-up to be able to access stands without disturbing anything. Makes for long shots and makes for me to have to go bow hunt somewhere else due to my goals, but when all the neighbors start shooting the older bucks tend to come back to the Refuge. They may not come out of cover during daylight, but they are able to get older and bigger. If one of the neighbors happens to shoot one, Kudos to them. I had one buck I hunted for 4yrs that I hoped someone would kill, I didn't care who, I just wanted to be able to see him in person finally.

 

[AT Hiker]

Realistic in terms for the common everyday hunter was my point. By no means am I saying they are tamed or easy, bad example on my part for this topic.

 

[swampokie]

I agree 100% If they wanna pay for private ranch that's one thing but even letting someone think it was diy is another.

 

[packmule]

I gotcha. It's unrealistic to do it as an individual, a group of guys could do it and split costs to absorb the hit. They just need to be able to agree on some rules to not shoot a place up to keep it a premium property. I've been on places with 40 guys splitting the costs of 20K heavily wooded acres w/ 10 miles of river frontage. The hunting was still phenomenal bc of the criteria placed on what could get shot. There were always 20-30ppl looking to get on if someone decided to drop out so if someone came along and offered more money for the place, you could pull folks off that list to shut that mess down.