I too, grew up in Texas and hunting in Texas. I never hunted a high fenced area until I was in my late 40's.
One part of Captdavid's story is that a lot of the reason for the 'no doe shooting' in the 60's was due in large part to the drought of the 50's. There was a study done in the late 50's by Texas A&M in Llano county that showed some 90% of the deer there had died off due to no rain.
(as an aside, they closed the gates on Lake Belton in 1959 and stated that with the current rate of rainfall in the area, the lake would be filled in 5-6 years. That spring [1960] they had record rainfall and the lake was filled in less than 18 months)
Screw worm in South Texas kept the deer herds lower than carrying capacity for many years.
When Texas became a state, the US allowed Texas to keep it's lands in lieu of the US taking on the debt the Republic had piled up. The only requirement was the forfeiture of the lands in what is now parts of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.
Texas traded away some 'useless' land to have the current capitol built. This formed the XIT Ranch in the panhandle. They used convict labor for a lot of the workforce - the reason there is a street in Austin named 'Convict Hill Rd'.
The opinions of High Fence vs Low Fence will never be over. There is some good that comes of having high fencing to some and some mistaken beliefs involved by some that have never hunted it.
Methodology of hunting varies all over the country. Some would never hunt deer with dogs, to others, it is a way of life.
To each their own. The main thing to remember is the famous quote from one of our founding fathers - if we do not hang together, surely we will hang separately. If you don't want to hunt a certain way, don't.
