Why aren’t mule deer high fenced?

[txtrophy85]

Bored and curious..

How much would it cost to high fence 10k acres?

That's 15.6 sections of land.

Round up to 16 for ease
In a square that would be 4 abreast and deep. Each section is 1 mile x 1 mile. 4 miles per side x 4 sides = 16 Miles. Just to do the perimeter not counting cross fences.....

depends entirely on property shape and terrain. 10k acres can vary a lot in footage if isn't a huge square block.

[Hoss163]

Mule Deer stress levels are way higher than a whitetails is one reason why they are not high fenced are people don’t raise and breed them like they do whitetails . But I’m sure people high fence the places and trap them in there !

[Bear82]

My guess is due to CWD. Once HF got big, I believe they started stopping the transport of animals between states. Everyone wanted a big whitetail but there just wasn't enough demand for mule deer I'm guessing long ago.

[Chance Love]

Bored and curious..

How much would it cost to high fence 10k acres?

That's 15.6 sections of land.

Round up to 16 for ease
In a square that would be 4 abreast and deep. Each section is 1 mile x 1 mile. 4 miles per side x 4 sides = 16 Miles. Just to do the perimeter not counting cross fences.....

Start at $30k/mile and go up from there.

[pure lefty]

Mule deer are found out west. Western hunters don't fake hunt. All good posts, love SmTx post.

[meltingfeather]

too much range

[Pushbutton2]

Start at $30k/mile and go up from there.

[emoji44][emoji54][emoji33]
Holy Cow!!!!

[Landrover]

One of my SCI Houston Chapter members got a monster in Mexico last year. The place as noted above was HUGE!

[muzzlebrake]

Ever seen Mule deer jump? They have built in pogo sticks. It takes a 20 foot high fence to hold them.

[JTCowpoke]

One reason you won't find many high fence ranches with mule deer (expecially in TX) is because it would have to be in a county that has a season for mule deer.

If you put up a high fence ranch in a county that doesn't have a mule deer season you wouldn't be able to hunt them.

[flywise]

A better question is........why is any animal HFenced

[909ag2006]

Mule deer migrate.

[wtx223]

Which mule deer in the TBGA top 5 was from a high fence? None of the top 5 in typical or non typical came from high fence.



I know of a few HF mule deer operations. Most all of those ranches low fence deer are bigger than their high fence ones. But big money in selling breeder deer.

Merritt killed a typical several years back that grossed over 200 typical and netted somewhere in 90s....not sure if that deer is listed on TBGA, but he came from a high fence. Great buck, as are most of the deer he kills.

There were 2 typicals killed in Culberson County this year that netted a little over 200. One of those should be new typical state record if entered.



To OPs question, not a big demand for high fence mule deer would be my guess.
The genetics of current mule deer breeders in Texas has not been producing giant bucks, though they are making progress.
And most of the large ranches do not want mule deer to turn into what whitetail breeding has.

[tex4k]

Guy not far from herehigh fenced a few sections, hunted out the whitetail was going to let the mule deer breed and grow. Last report I got was the mule deer died within 2 years?? Don't know any facts or particulars this was just bil info.

[careybirdwell]

I hunted a 47000 acre high fence ranch in between Dryden and Sanderson. It was loaded with mule deer