The activity known as hunting has evolved into an enterprise that not in my lifetime could one imagine it would result in this practice today. The opinions and observations within I claim to be mine. That of a native Texan who has lived long enough to witness these changes to what I believe to be to the detriment of the wildlife and the citizen hunters of the state of Texas.
The definition of the word hunting is agreed upon by the most reputable sources like Oxford, Webster, and Cambridge, who state that it is the chase and killing of wild animals for food or sport. However, the people at Cambridge included profit, food, and sport in their description. Truthfully, they are more accurate for today’s requirement of sustenance hunting is not necessary. We hunters hunt because it is ingrained into us. A strong genetic trait that we brought with us from our time as hunter/gathers.
For those of us who still carry that strong ancestral desire to provide for ourselves and our families, opportunities have become scarce in the Lone Star state, where the whole world knows it is the WallyWorld for the whitetail deer. Whitetail trophy hunting has become quite the industry in Texas, not only for the billionaire landowners but also where anyone with a thousand acres can install a high fence and start their own trophy whitetail ranch. It is the author’s opinion that the act of hunting cannot be achieved within the boundaries of a high fenced ranch; for in that ranch, there is no wildlife to hunt. If a whitetail deer is incarcerated behind a high fence, it is culled, selectively bred, and fed the most nutritious foods to produce massive antlers in the shortest period of time, how could anyone call that animal wildlife? They will run to the ranch vehicle when pulling into the property because they know they are going to get fed. The whitetail deer in Texas that exists behind a high fence should be referred to as what they truly have become, which is livestock belonging to the specific landowner where they exist. If you are to question a representative of Texas Parks and Wildlife, you will be told that the whitetail in Texas belongs to the state. Who the hell is the state? I was under the impression that the citizens are the state. The landowner keeps the money paid for the permission to kill the deer. TP&W never taught their own people about the Wildlife Conservation Act of 1983. One would think with their twenty-six weeks of intensive training before becoming a state game warden, they would have been educated on who really owns the state’s deer. In a state statute, the deer in the state of Texas are declared wildlife even if they exist in a minnow trap. Leave it to the Texas legislature to leave a statute on the books that is totally untrue. This is a situation where the left hand hasn’t a clue what the right is doing. Sometimes, when you are dealing with stupidity, all you can do is stand back and admire it.
The famous and revered Boone and Crockett Club, the “Holy Grail” of all North American trophy record keepers, will not accept the entry of a game animal taken from within a high-fenced enclosure. Neither will the Pope and Young if you are an archery aficionado. They intend to keep the records of game animals that have been taken by fair chase methods. With that stated, what is the allure of harvesting a landowner’s livestock that has been created for the sole purpose of producing a rack of antlers that would not make good soup? The amount of money paid to harvest an incarcerated whitetail in Texas is exorbitant. That leaves the sustenance hunter in Texas in a dilemma. The state, being 95% privately owned, doesn’t leave much in the way of public land, so you pay to play or stay home. I choose to stay home. I cannot justify the price of Texas venison, especially after growing up eating it for free.
