I have read a lot about these “High Fence” hunts, and it really burns me up.

I would like to ask everyone a question, and that is, just who do these animals belong to? The answer is the citizens and taxpayers of each particular state. They are considered “Game Mamals” and we put our trust and tax dollars into our state game commiissions to manage and oversee them for us. We don’t do this so that they can sell them off to a bunch of ranchers that can then fence them in and get rich letting hunters with huge egos kill them.

I don’t know enough about the particulars of these “High Fence” operations, and would really like to know more. I would think that a rancher would have to actually buy Elk from a state in order to do this, and I don’t think that this would be an ethical thing to do, in view of the fact that they are a state resource, and no private. They belong to all of us. Then again, I suppose it’s possible in some states that ranchers who have Elk on thier properties can just put up a “High Fence” and trap the free roaming Elk inside these enclosures and then start charging the public to hunt them there.

Whatever the case may be, I feel that in any state, these animals are considered to be “Game Mamals” and therefore belong to every citizen and taxpayer, and that being the case should NOT be sold to private parties, and should never be allowed to be fenced in to prevent their free movement by anybody anywhere, so that they can make a fast buck.

It really surprises me that there are so many so called “Hunters” that pay the kinds of money that they do to use these facilities to kill an animal. It is my opinion that they are egomaniacs and want so badly to be considred the “Great White Hunters” that they will spend the money, whatever it costs, to accomplish this.

I pay to hunt every year. And I pay the state game commission for my licsense and tag to hunt the public land, like everyone else should have to do.

Does anyone here think that it is fair that a hunter kills a monster bull on one side of a fence, while your standing on the other side? Especially when you consider that some rancher is getting rich off of that fence. And if it weren’t for that fence that you would have had just as good an opportunity to kill that big bull as the guy that did kill it? After all, don’t those prices of the licsenses and tags that you bought go the state to manage and care for the elk herds so that you as a hunter will continue to have a good chance of harvesting a bull? That’s what were told anyhow. If states are selling elk to ranches and farms for fee hunters, then I think it’s high time that the prices of our licsenses and tags be reduced!!

I would not shoot a lion for the sport of it, but I would not try to prevent you from doing so if you wished.
Last year we took a white tail and an elk on a game ranch and plan to get another elk this fall.
I am 82 years old and have two artificial knees, torn rotator cuffs in both shoulders, and severe arthrites.
I still love to hunt and do so, altho at a slower pace.

At the price I pay, I put prime meat in the freezer and feed my family and friends at less than rhe cost of store bought meat.

In the process of all this, everyone involved earns a living, pays taxes, and contributes to the community.
What’s the problem?

Thanks,
EJB

I’m a Montana native from a rural farming and ranching community as well as an avid outdoorsman. Therefore I feel that I can provide some perspective on this difficult issue.

We are all blessed to live in a free society with many freedoms. Not the least of which is our right to own and govern our private property. Unfortunately, there are some instances where our actions on our own property have the potential to negatively impact many people and the environment beyond our private boundaries. High fence game farms are an excellent example of this. I call them game farms and not preserves because these are typically for-profit business operations that are not created for the purpose of preserving native wildlife populations or habitat.

A properly managed livestock operation poses little or no threat to the livelihoods of people or the environment beyond the borders of said operation. This is not the case with game farms because they:

1. Have the potential to spread disease to native elk populations.
2. Have the potential to contaminate the genetic purity of native elk populations where European red deer genes have been introduced to captive elk herds to increase antler scores.

The arguments posed at www.thetruthaboutelk.org (it should be www.thehalftruthaboutelk.org) are weak at best for the following reasons:

I know of one example near Phillipsburg Montana where captive elk in a high-fence farm tested positive for chronic wasting disease and were exterminated by government personnel. I would assume that this isn’t the first time or the last time that this has happened. It is also foolish to assume that all high-fence operations would fully comply with government testing or that the government could detect every single infected animal in every single operation every single year. Come on it’s the government.

I also know of one instance in Idaho and one in Montana where game farm elk escaped. Had these animals been diseased or contaminated with red deer genes they could have infected wild elk populations on a very large scale due to their close proximity to the Greater Yellowstone and Bitterroot elk herds. Again, given the cost for a high-fence operation to adhere to all government regulations, it is reasonable to assume that not all operations will comply fully. This was the case with the Big Velvet Ranch near Darby Montana who illegally failed to comply with government regulations on numerous occasions. Because big antlers result in big profit, how can we be confident that all operations will comply with the law and not hybridize their elk with red deer or spend the time and money disease testing their herds?

I realize that most owners of high-fence operations are good people who comply with the law. However, history has proven that captive animals have become diseased, animals can and do escape (wildfire burns down fences), and some greedy individuals sidestep the law to make a buck.

These are some of the reasons that the citizens of Montana have enacted legislation to prevent the transfer of existing game farm operating permits and the issuance of new permits. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has also denounced game farms for these and other reasons. The bottom line is that even with legislation in place, captive elk pose a real and serious threat to our native elk herds and our hunting heritage. Unlike many countries across the world, in the United States we are blessed in that wildlife (including elk herds) belongs to all citizens. It is intolerable that the financial exploits of the few threaten the wild herds that belong to all Americans. A threat to our wild elk herds is a threat to our values, culture, and hunting heritage.

The Oregon Hunters Association, along with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, has teamed up with HSUS to put an end to elk farming there.

It would seem to me to be the preverbal slippery slope. Joining up with HSUS regardless of the adgenda is a mistake in that their ultimate adgenda is elimnating all hunting period.

My husband gave me a long sought gift of an ‘Elk Hunt” for my birthday in December. Right away I started to seek out topographical maps of the area, historical weather data and information on the best way to prepare for this experience.

In the process I came upon this blog and am now disheartened that it is actually a high fenced hunt. Prior to this time I did not know the history of these type of businesses. Now the dilemma, how to tell my husband that it would be like shooting our pet.