Speaks for itself.

I love the fact that for some reason the long bow is the only "ethical" weapon.   I didn't get that memo from God or whoever makes these rules, did any of the rest of you?

When the native americans were introduced to more accurate and more efficient weapons, do you think they just ignored them and kept wounding and missing game with long bows? (sorry to others on the board, that was personal...I don't like them.  If you do, that's great).

And you refer to Boone & Crockett and Pope & Young as basically the Gods on ethics and recognizing world records, and yet they absolutely DO award the same animals that are shot on food plots, ag fields, OVER BAIT, and with weapons other than the almighty longbow.  And I hate to burst your bubble, but they'll also recognize fencing.  Just not 8' fencing.  Sorry to say, but 6' fencing works very nearly as well.  And there are many down here using it.  They also recognize ranches that have limited areas open to fencing. 

And what if I plant an oak tree?  Isn't that then unethical?

And what about the crops that those farmers were planting where you hunted?  It's okay for you to hunt well fed deer due to man's intervention in that instance?  Is it only when it's intended to help the animal that it becomes wrong?  Or maybe it's the confined funnels and corridors due to the land ares being used by the farmers that's somehow fair and ethical.

I've always gotten a kick out of "that guy" that thinks because he hunts with a certain firearm or says he only hunts public lands or some other BS that he's the supreme hunter, and yet he doesn't really understand much about the animal, or hunting at all.  I'm actually sorry for you.  I can't imagine being that short-sighted in life about anything.

You have no knowledge of what you spew.  And it's unfortunate for everyone, especially people that might want to agree with certain points in your argument, that you are incapable of intelligent conversation or debate.

Kevin,

I thought we were discussing what could be done to solve these issues, but if you want to know what I charge for hunts...no problem for me.

I'll start by sharing with you my expenses:

Protein & Cotton Seed per year approx. $25k

Food Plots (farming, seed, the whole ball of wax) $30k

Now throw in everything else that has to do with the upkeep of a ranch plus three wells, feeers, stands, a lodge, two trucks, a barn, etc. and we come to around $100K per year.

I will sell around 15 deer hunts this season.  Our hunts start at $3,500 and go up from there depending on the size of the deer you harvest.  I hope to average around $4,000 per hunt.

That would bring our income up to around $60K from the deer hunts.  Throw in the bird hunting, the birding and photography operation and I will NOT break even for the year. 

We offer one hell of an experience for our hunters however.  This ranch is managed to the hilt.  We do our best to produce big, native, wild south Texas bucks and lots of them (Absolutely NO breeder deer or introduced genetics).  We see alot of deer and alot of bucks.  We rattle, spot and stalk, sit on food plots and senderos.  We do corn, but we do NOT have corn feeders. 

As far as increasing/decreasing the opportunity for hunters on our place, you and I have had that discussion.  If this place was as it was when we purchased it, it would still only present opportunity for 1 or 2 hunters.  As is with our deer density, we have our 15 pay hunts (which will increase to 20 next season), 5 to 7 cull bucks that we give away, and numerous doe hunts which we give away or share with our pay hunters as well.   Oh, and Dad and I take 1 buck per year as well.   With our doe harvest numbers, that's potentially an opportunity for over 50 Hunters.

Now, could we charge less and do less?  Sure.  And our hunts would certainly be more affordable.  But that's not why we came out here...it's not why we made the sacrifices that we made.    

It's not a hunt for everybody and I certainly know that and have never represented it as that.  But of our hunters in 2006, 100% rebooked for 2007.  Our 2007 hunters, 100% rebooked for 2008.  And they come from every walk of life.

I will certainly admit to being extremely ignorant about this guy's ranch and his deer. I just don't want to rush to judgement on either side until we know more. And really, even if it is as you say, while I wouldn't like or agree with it, it would still be his business. It just wouldn't be a big deal to me. 

I am equally impressed with low fence and high fence operations that produce giant deer with strong management techniques on native deer herds.  I do NOT believe that introduced breeder genetics qualifies as management.  

What is the goal of nearly every hunter out ther afterall?  To produce as big a buck as they possibly can.  Some people want to sell them.  Some people want to produce enough to pay their expenses so that they can harvest a few.  And some people are just hunting their own property, not selling hunts, or leasing or whatever.  We ALL want to produce giant bucks afterall.  We ALL want to promote the best genetics we have available to us, no matter if there's a fence present or not.  I personally like to see what our place can produce with native deer if year round food plots are implemented.  After all, agriculture is what makes whitetails huge everywhere else in the country.  To introduce it here, just makes sense to me.  Degrees in management techniques are personal choices based on beliefs and land and resources available to the individual.

And you're right.  IF, and I mean if he represents this as one thing and it turns out otherwise, shame on him...but not everybody or anybody who produces a big deer.  Let's reserve judgement until we have the facts.