WTA TAGS consultant Jordan Roche shares how to master the New Mexico draw for Oryx, Persian Ibex, and Barbary Sheep. New Mexico is the only place in the west where you can hunt free-range exotics. If you’re looking for a unique experience hunting one of these species, give a WTA TAGS consultant a call today at 800-755-8247.
Estate hunting, often referred to as high fence hunting, is one of the most misunderstood segments of the modern hunting landscape. The term can carry strong assumptions, but those assumptions rarely reflect the reality of what these hunts actually involve.
At its core, estate hunting offers hunters access to large, privately managed properties where wildlife is carefully stewarded, and hunting opportunities are predictable, efficient, and highly successful. These hunts are not intended to replace traditional public-land or limited-entry experiences. They are meant to provide an alternative option for hunters with specific goals, time constraints, or physical considerations.
Understanding estate hunting begins with recognizing how the properties operate and what the experience looks like on the ground.
Estate hunts take place on privately owned ranches or preserves enclosed by a perimeter fence. These properties can range from several thousand acres to well over 100,000 acres, depending on location, species, and management model.
Within these boundaries, wildlife populations are actively managed year-round. Landowners and outfitters focus on habitat improvement, water development, herd health, genetics, and balanced harvest rates. The result is a stable wildlife population with a strong age structure and consistent hunting opportunity.
Because animals remain on the property, outfitters can offer hunts with a very high harvest probability. In many cases, hunters can pursue specific age classes, horn characteristics, or species that would otherwise require years of applying or limited-entry permits.
One of the most common misconceptions about estate hunting is that animals are easily located and harvested quickly in a confined space. In reality, many estate properties are vast, and hunters may never see the perimeter fence during their hunt.
These ranches often feature diverse terrain of rolling hills, timber, brush country, open plains, canyons, and river bottoms, allowing animals to behave naturally. Hunters glass, stalk, track, and pass animals just as they would on large private ranches or expansive Western properties.
Once on the ground, the hunt feels far more like a traditional spot-and-stalk or guided private land experience than what many imagine when they hear the term “high fence.”
