There's a difference between a domestic animal and one that has domesticated. There is also a difference between domestication and taming. Taming is the conditioned behavioral modification of a wild-born animal when its natural avoidance of humans is reduced and it accepts the presence of humans, but domestication is the permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to an inherited predisposition toward humans. IMHO, most any animal in a high fence operation is going to be more accepting to the presence of humans. Most, especially the trophy animals, did not live their long lives by luck or by the skills at escape. They get big/old because they have been selectively bred(which is a definition of domestication), supplementally fed and nurtured. Size of the high fence area is only relative to the amount of animals contained within it. Most animals in those operations are at unnaturally occurring numbers. One only has to look at pictures of, or observe multiple trophy/dominate animals, tolerating each other in small areas, to realize this is not the normal behavior of most true game animals. Many of the ranches with exotics that first started the craze years ago, actually obtained their breeding stock from Zoos. So as far as it being a quality hunt or a shoot, not only does it depend on the ranch/outfitter, it also depends on your personal definition. Around here folks with large tracts of private land, altho it is not high fenched, supplementally feed deer, limit hunting access/pressure and selectively harvest. While they don't actively selectively breed the local deer herd, they do selectively cull it. Allowing bucks to walk that have committed multiple mistakes that normally would've resulted in them being shot, is in reality, taming them. Feeding them, whether directly or indirectly with food plots, is in reality, taming them to a point. They not only learn to tolerate human presence, but they don't fully learn how to survive in the wild. So, it's not just the fence that matters.
There's a reason most record books do not recognize animals taken at high fence operations. Whether you agree with them or not, again depends on your own personal opinion of what constitutes a quality hunt. I've hunted wild pheasants that gave me my limit relatively easily and I've paid for released birds that gave me and my very good bird dog the slip. The quality of the hunt did not depend on the birds being wild, but depended on the conditions they were hunted in. Many high fence operations give you a 100% opportunity guarantee. This is not something that would occur naturally for most of us hunting in the wild. This has to tell folks something. I have nephew that shot a 1800# water buffalo with a crossbow when he was 12. First animal he ever shot with it. Why did his dad pick that animal for him, didn't have anything to do with the challenge....cause it gave them the most meat for the buck. It also gave the boy an experience and memories that he otherwise would not have experienced, altho he may at some point later, not really think of it as a hunt, or if he doesn't hunt much, may consider it the hunt of his life. Again, it's a personal thing. Anyone who seriously considers this kind of hunt, probably would enjoy it, at least a little.
