I don't think this kind of operation should be allowed unless it is naturally occurring and I would not spend money to shoot one of these bucks and I would never do a (canned hunt)or for that matter "shoot" over a planted food plot. I do not think that it should be called hunting when you bait game and in my opinion planting food plots then shooting over them is baiting.

CWD started with penned wild animals. States and wildlife managers need to seriously look at these farms and make a plan that will allow the farmer to support himself but will also put an end to this type of farming.

How do you do that?
1) New farms of this type need to be illegal.
2) Selling or transferring the farm should also be illegal.
3) The goal of putting an end to penned wild animals needs to be considered and thought out in any related legislation.

I get that fact that many people's livelihoods are tied to this business, but that doesn't mean this type of business needs to exist forever. We need to protect our natural resources!!

I think that farm raised deer should only be used to create scents and petting farms for kids. Inbreeding them and using only grain and bottle feeding them is not what I call 100% natural breeding. I believe using food plots and scouting cameras is nothing like deer farming cuz the deer are still wild and huntin them is still a challenge to the hunter and gives the deer his wild senses to protect himself in the wild.

The only thing bigger then these antlers is the EGO's that they cause.

While these deer are great to look at, I would never consider shooting one of them in a high fenced enclosure a real "hunt". I respect the right of the deer farmer to engage in a legal form of agriculture and thus provide for his family in the way he/she sees fit, however I do not believe that any of these bucks, however beautiful I personally think they are, should be included in any record book along with a legally harvested, wild 170 inch whitetail. Just my thoughts.

that is just plain sick

this is sick how many people actually agree with this fenced in hunting crap. should be ashamed to even call yourself a hunter if you agree with shooting a deer that is used to humans. i dont mind the whole business aspect of it raising the deer to sell their urine or antlers but in no circumstances should they ever be hunted. do it like the rest of us and put your time in scouting and being with family and friends cause that is what hunting is actually all about. it should never be about just going out to shoot a boone and crocket size deer. there is way more to hunting than just getting a big one and i think too many hunters have been too wrapped up in shooting a monster instead of actually enjoying the sport.

Have any of you haters ever been to a deer farm? These people are the nicest people you will ever meet and they have a love for the animal.Every thing that you see on these "Freaks" heads are 100% natural without any steroids. Im a deer farmer and its one of the best investmens I have ever made. There is nothing better when you come home after a long days work and your bottle fed doe fawns come running up to you when you go in by them.

This is all part of the industrial age of hunting. I am all for fare chase and in the wild hunts. This article makes me think that hunting is no longer about those things. From growing up in the wonderful Mountains of the Blue Ridge I can say seeing any buck in the wild no matter the size is better than seeing 100 bucks in a pen. Bucks that big are no good to eat anyway. I have always said you cant eat the horns.

Educated line breeding of whitetails is in no way any different than what takes place in the performance horse industry,breeding racing pigeons, or for that matter the manipulation of corn,soybeans or other vegetables. The main reason a large percentage of doe fawns in deer pens are bottle raised is to manage both health and stress management issues. As a deer farmer I do agree some folks have "gone over the top" with the antler type they have decided to breed for,but, this is their choice and I believe in the end the public demand will ultimately determine what it is "WE" as an industry should breed for. The deer industry will become not as much a "between breeders" influenced market,but, will evolve into a "hunter demand combined with venison consumer" agricultural endeavor. I wonder how many "anti-deer pen" hunters still stalk their targets with a handmade longbow and arrows or even a flintlock musket without the advantage of scent lock clothing, illuminated sights,and bullet drop compensating scopes? The problem I have with this article is the fact it tends to put a wedge in the hunting community that we do not need during a time in which outside pressure is already trying to remove the right to hunt from us! Let's stop arguing about a subject that in the end will be corrected by consumer demand and join forces to unite against a common enemy we both have the"anti-hunting party" who would prefer that both sides of this issue lose! Remember that if we all liked the same thing there would only be vanilla ice cream.

Why do we hunt? Any part of our motivation which is derived from ego contributes to this practice. Do we hunt to challenge ourselves, or to brag to others? To fully experience and participate in the natural environment, or to decorate our living rooms? Is venison or herd health our first consideration when selecting prey, or is it B & C score? If we re-focus on core hunting values, there would be no market for this nonsense.

Lets talk about Farming for Antlers.

As private land owners or hunting clubs is that not what we try to do. We spend thousands of dollars a year in food plots, feeders, and other management systems. Do we not every year control breeding rights by shooting an killing inferior stock so that older more mature bucks have less competition and keeping our shooting off small percentages of doe to keep the doe to buck ratio in check thus trying to control mother nature and the out come of our property and the deer herd that you manage. When we as hunters by products for deer what do we look for. ANTLER GROWTH! Throwing stones at a glass house!

Lets talk about all the benefits that come from raising deer. Like those food plots you plant every year. The research for these products are done on a deer farm ( Whitetail Institute). The bagged feed that you put into feeders, comes from research provided from deer farms. We are apart of the landscape of hunting weather it is approved of or not.As hunters you use our products and benefit from our research but you still want to sit back and condemn our industry.Its hypercritical!

INTERESTING SUBJECT""" AWESOME BUCKS NO MATTER WHETHER I AGREE OR NOT. PROS AND CONS TO BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE, MY OBJECTION IS DO OR SHOULD WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO RESTRICT WHAT ANOTHER MAN MAY DESRIE ?

Please. If anything Dougherty went easy on the antler pornographers. What about the ones who use hot irons to manipulate entlers when they are in velvet? The only reason high fence operations are even recognized by the outdoor industry is because of their ad dollars. I do not have a sub to Outdoor Life but will get one now knowing they tell it as it is.

I would like to start off by saying that this "journalist" obviously did not do any homework on the subject. He went to the first website he found and went off of what it said. he has OBVIOUSLY NEVER visited a deer farm or hunting preserve. I personally have to become more educated with the industry, and trust me it is nothing like he says it is. I will guarantee that these "freak bucks" as he calls them, are treated with more care and respect than some people give to their own children. I understand that some people dont like high fenced hunting, and that is fine with me, but dont go bashing until you know the whole story. I believe it would be very appreciated if the person would go out, visit farms, and do the homework on the farms and also get his dollar figures correct, and re-write the story. I always thought this site was about outdoor life, not bashing the outdoor life and those who support it.

One last comment...and this always seems to put things in perspective for people. Everyone is familiar with 4-H. In 4-H, the kids pick a steer(s)(casturated male cow)every year. They halter break that steer, wash the steer, groom the steer. If they make it to the State Fair, that steer is so tame by then the kids can lay on them, sleep on them, pretty much do anything with them. And yes, this is from experience. At the end of the State Fair is a huge sale. They sell their steers. Where are these steers going? Not to someone's farm to be a pet, not to go back into the breeding program (they are casturated)...they are going on whatever buyer is there from whatever meat packing plant and heading to slaughter. I've personally led my steers onto that semi, but I still love steak! Doesn't matter if I buy it in the store or buy it from the local farmer. Its a business that pumps millions of $$ into the economy every year. Its a business that employs thousands of people. Its a business that uses idle land suitable for nothing else. Its a business that brings the family together doing something fun outside and its very rewarding with alot of fun things going on throughout the year. Its a new twist on the family farm that is slowly disappearing in this country.

One false statement that I would like comment on is that they are all bottlefed?? No..some are, mostly does and that is BECAUSE they are not domesticated and very hard to work if there isn't some calm ones to keep their heads on straight. Deer are dumb...not smart. They have instinct, but are not smart. Bucks are not bottle raised on most farms other than if necessary (abandoned) and these bucks are usually kept for conversation pieces and learning tools for kids and visitors. How many kids have felt the velvet of buck and knew that it was SO hot and how soft it was!! These animals are not desensitized. They have so much wild left in them that people are amazed...alot of tails is all alot of people see if one thing spooks them. They all have different personalities and even though you may bottlefeed a doe for 3 months, spend time with her several times a day...the day you wean her (depending on her personality) may be the last day you are ever that close to her. Don't judge if you don't know. Its very rewarding, fun and it is legal. Some people that don't have the chance to hunt free range have gotten the pleasure and thrill of hunting behind a fence. Wounded soldiers and the handicapped enjoy many free hunts from these "terrible" deer farmers and ranches every year. Those hunters may save your right to hunt someday if it is ever challenged! Otherwise, they may not have cared and didn't bother.

HSUS and PETA do not care how you hunt...high fence, no fence doesn't matter. They just don't want you to hunt...period. High fence operations don't downgrade the hunters that CHOOSE to hunt on their own. Why can't it be the same the other way around? To each his own...same with non typical vs typical. I personally prefer the typical look as that is what most deer look like. Most of the "bashed" deer farmers put alot of time and money into getting kids to hunt, fish, trap and spend their time outdoors. The state organiations spend thousands of $$ every year teaching and helping kids, helping wounded soldiers be able to hunt. So much good "on the other side of the fence" that most do not know (or talk) about.

Wow, looks like a lot of the local pet deer farmers e-mailed each other when they sauce this article, trying to defend their insult to hunters of a business. I would like to see a poll of how many hunters out there support these operations. I will bet my hunting privileges that vast majority of hunters do not support this. What kind of person truly pays $20,000 to kill a deer someone grew for them? I can't believe the amount of BS I am hearing these people spew in support of these operations. Where is the pride, character and resilience that goes into hunting a truly wary and wild deer that you earned trough hard work, instead of shooting a deer that has a price tag dangling from it antlers. How can any true spirited hunter be for something as gross and insulting as the operations. How do you pull the trigger with any sense of self-respect knowing you are shooting a deer that was grown artificially. And to read some arguments above how the artificial deer live longer and better lives than deer in the wild??? No kidding. Since when did anyone say Mother Nature was kind. It's called the cycle of life. Animals live and die so others can do the same. That's how it's suppose to be. I could go on and on, but listening to the support of this is disgraceful. The only one I can tell that support this on this site are the deer farmers themselves.

I'm not a hunter NOR a deer farmer. If anything...I'm closer to being a "tree hugger" of sorts. I can't stand back and let Craig and this grossly misinformed article go unchallenged nor you idiots who blither on how "great" Boone & Crockett is for taking a stand against high-fence operations. Granted in EVERY industry is a bad example that gets thrown in the spotlight as the "norm" but any high-quality preserve IS fair chase. Some of these preserves are larger than 3 sq miles (sometimes MUCH bigger in Texas) when a whitetail spends his time within 1 sq mile. If B&C is so "GREAT" than why is the illegally poached Dryden buck in the record books... or how about the MILO HANSON who chased his deer in his 4x4 for HOURS, even thru several fences, is in the record book. Wow... that is real sporting, eh?? I'm gonna go out on a limb and label the poor asshole who doesn't have money to hunt high-fence as the bugger that yells the loudest and somehow think it's sporting to hunt over a pile of corn or in a truck. Yo stupid sod...don't book a hunt to Africa....it's about 99% high-fence.

There will always be a market for these freak deer just like there will always be a market for male enhancement pills.

I agree with Craig. I am satisfied with my 100 incher.

It looks like the deer in picture 2 are showing what they think of Craig's misinformed article. If a hunter, and yes they are hunters wants to hunt high fence than that is their rite as an American. If another hunter doesn't, than don't. These "deer breeders are wrong" wieners haven't a clue on what's involved in capital, time, sweat and blood in operating a deer breeding facility. They talk about the "big dollars" that a rare few number of deer bring. By the time you pay for the sky rocketing feed cost for 3-4 years, deer health care and handling I would challenge any of them to "show me the money". In most cases the breeder deer are treated better and with far more respect than any deer would be shown in the wild. Visit a breeder and them make an informed decision.

Let's not cast stones in glass houses. I agree, some of the deer pictured have grown to crazy big sizes and don't even look like whitetails. All parts of the hunting industry have people on the extremes (baiters, paochers, night hunters, etc..). These people who are raising whitetails, for the most part, are people who truely love whitetail deer and just want to see them grow. Yes, that leads to bigger and bigger horns by selective breeding. Now down to the real facts...some like high fence hunting some don't, it is a matter of opinion. The deer farming industry contributes an unbelievable amount of money to deer research that would not be available otherwise. Like them or not these guys are paying millions in advertsiing and spending money to be at trade shows all over the country. If you don't like them, then don't go hunt there. At some point we better all get on the same team because people like HSUS and PETA would like nothing more than the hunting industry to be divided against itself. Another FACT - the anti high fence side must stop hiding behind disease as a issue. The has NEVER...NEVER been a case of CWD in a captive herd of whitetailed deer. It could happen tomorrow, but thankfully it hasn't happened yet. So far as ethics are concerned, this is where we are casting stones in glass houses. How about release quail hunts or pheasants hunts.... anybody picking on those guys?? To each his own.

here's an idea.
require the deer "farmers" to release 50% of all doe fawns sired by these freaks into the wild.
the genetics would be diluted into a wild population but still give some real hunters a shot at a wonder-buck in the wild.

So much of the information in this article is misleading and just simply not true I do not know where to start.How is breeding Whitetail deer any different from breeding cattle,sheep,hogs or even trout.Most states raise trout in hatching facilities and release into tail waters for anglers to catch.The trout will die if not caught!The released deer do great once released. By the way your picture of Gladiator is not Gladiator,I know he is in my deer pens you idiot.

Breeding deer in a controlled environment where they are feed well, medicated if sick, and safe from predators for years then shoot for a quick death is humane! Most deer in the wild die of disease, starvation, or predators. For farmers to provide pen raised healthy deer to a hunting preserves to be shoot so that it does not affect the wild population than I say good for them. And FYI if you tranquilize a doe then try to AI her your wasting the semen! They are ran through something similar to a cattle shoot.

To correct my own posting: Hats off to Tony Schoonen of the Boone & Crockett Club and to Kevin Hisey, Executive Secretary of Pope and Young for refusing to recognize the "barrel hunt" deer.
I could see deer being raised for meat and some things but not trophy antlers.
To me, you might as well be using epoxy to glue antlers together.

This practice has the same basis as most of the ugly and disgusting things in our society. . . GREED!

I think a 80 pound yearling doe taken legally is a better trophy than any of these bucks. They are cool to look at, but in so sense of the words are they a hunting trophy.