Bitmap wrote:Notice the pic where he's in velvet. There is a tag in his ear.
That doesn't necessarily mean he was/is raised in a pen or high fence.
I've hunted S. Texas once before myself and this is how it works. Most of the ranches have thousands of acres...the ranch I hunted on had close to 50K if I remember correctly...so many of the deer on these ranches are born, live, and die on the same ranch. The ranches and various plots are typically separated by 4' tall cattle fencing. After the season is over, some of the ranches catch (by shooting nets over them) deer for tagging and study in conjunction with colleges such as Texas A&M, etc..
It's a way of studying their habits, nutrition, etc......it's how they learn to grow 'em so BIG down there.
The deer I shot on my trip even had a "tracking" collar on him, but that was only used after the season was over by someone at the university. We certainly didn't have access to it....I low-crawled over 500 yards in an hour's time to shoot mine at 230 yards....and never saw a fence the entire trip that I couldn't have hurdled over without breaking my stride (all-conference hurdler in high school).
By a "price tag of 1 million dollars", this is how that works:
On my hunt, I was allowed to shoot a "cull" deer of 140 points or less for a total cost of $2,500 (graciously paid for by my wealthy cousin). Anything over 140 points, I had to pay out more money...in tiers, i.e. from 140-150 points was an additional $x/pt...once you reached 200 points, the cost skyrocketed. The guides are very adept at judging the score and often times have many of these deer captured on game cameras over the year so they can accurately estimate many of them.
I saw one deer that was very nice, but would've cost me an additional $3,000. I decided to let him walk on home.
BTW, mine scored 139 points.
