deer fence

Hey


I bought and put some up early last spring in a heavy deer area where I have a garden in the woods. I used immature loblolly pines for the poles and made a gate from 2x4- covered the gate frame work with some of the fencing.- used an old set of hinges and a simple board with a screw into a post as the gate latch. The fence I used is the 7 foot tall very heavy duty poly propylene variety. JUst google "deer fence" and youll find several sources. It wasnt cheap- about $ 225 as I remember for about 300 feet of fence, but it worked- kept the deer out and as it is supposed to last about 10 years, it has already paid for itself in vegetables that the deer would have eaten.

 

Actually, it just has to be an electric fence.

Deer, like everything else, walk up to the fence. Upon contact of the shock, they run away. They will not jump it after this first contact.

Several strands of wire, up to about five feet high, does the job nicely.

But electric fences are not cheap either. About 400 dollars to cover posts, fence controller, wire, insulators, 12volt deep cycle battery to power it, and a recharger for the battery.

But its worth every penny.

 

Deer normally won't jump over something if they can't visualize the landing. Netting could possibly catch the deer. You don't want that.

A 'heavy trellis' made with old stockade panels. Usually made out of cedar or spruce. Or if you have the resources, make your own fence out of natural materials. I wouldn't make a solid wall, just enough lateral pieces to discourage crossing. Grow your climbing vegtables on the inside of the trellis. Your going to lose some but thats just the way it is.

Plant some turnips and other greens for them between your garden and their bed-down areas, as well. Though full of energy deer are lazy critters when not pressured by mating season, hunger, irresponsible hunters, and other stress.

You'll figure it out eventually. Best of luck.



mc

 

Hi Sue,
My deer have rapidly become the bane of my life!! Firstly, keep in mind that Deer are stupid, stupid, stupid......cute & pretty but stupid nontheless. They will happily crash right through your fence even if its 100' tall. You can use netting or chicken wire etc. but are best off tying ribbons of some sort randomly all over your fence this way those stupid deer will SEE that a fence is there & go elsewhere.
BTW, I have witnessed our deer leaping 7-8' easily so you may want to add a chicken wire roof or some wire strands higher than the fence, but add the ribbons otherwise the deer will fall & crush everything. LOL!

 

Sue


Follow my advice- Ive been there and done that. You wont be sorry.

 

Buying an electric fence is quite pricey but if you know how to do simple wiring you can make one just as good out of an old light balast, an extention cord and three strands of wire. It is more powerful than most electric fences that you buy but not so much as to kill or seriously injure anything (except for maybe a small unsuspecting bird that lands on it and then pecks it).

 

The 400 dollar price tag covers an area of about 140feet by 80feet.

And it *WILL* keep out deer along with racoons and other problem animals, *IF* you build it with the wire strands at the correct heights.

 

We have a orchard near us, The guy that bought the place is determined to keep the deer out... SO he spent all kinds of money putting up this "Deer Proof Fence" Lets just say 8 ft isnt high enough... Each evening and sometimes during the day youll see 7 deer that spend the day either bedded down along the water or munching away happily, safe from all dogs, and what not inside his lovely deer fence LOL... When they are ready to leave they walk up and simply bounce over it. HIs fence even has a couple strands of wire on top... Whats really irritating to this guy is I dont fence my garden at all... I have 3 dogs, at the moment they are on LONG chains until we get the property fenced all the way... My Male GSD is near my garden area, so no deer.
Dogs detere deer better than any fencing possible.
As far as electric fences go, that is about the cheapest fence to install. A charger runs anywhere from 25.00 to 225. Depending on milage, solar or plug in etc. Deer will jump it if they learn they can. Out back there is a doe that learned long time ago, so her and her babies jump it but the 2 bucks wont, they go around... Perhaps she is just really smart and is teaching her babies, but most deer wont even try it once they hit the wire...

 

That is a very rare situation.

Since deer walk everywhere they go(unless chased by something), they will touch the wires.

3000 plus volts running through the fence provides quite a jolt, even to human beings(I brushed against it by accident once). It feels like someone punched you.

Deer and racoons will leave the garden alone, if the fence is built right.

Now, if I could just deal with crows... :-(

 

My aunt had a great deal of trouble with deer DESTROYING her garden. So we put two fences around the perimeter, with the outer fence 4' from the inner one. Ordinary chick wire (60" tall) was used for the fence material. It's worked great, seemingly the deer can't 'land' between the two fences, or completely jump both of them.

An added bonus is she runs her chickens between the fences, and her insect/grasshopper loss has dropped dramatically!

Terry O

 

There is a product called deer netting. It is a plastic netting with spaces about 3/4"x 3/4" and is used to cover landscape shrubs to prevent deer from chewing on them. The rolls are 7'x100' and cost about $10.00-$12.00 each. A couple wraps of this with pie plates or plastic ribbons to indicate where it is will make a pretty cheap fence. Use whatever posts you have. Dogs work great, so do their droppings.

 

Hey, now, I have a pet deer. Don't go insulting the guy. Deer are not as stupid as you think.

Oh, and BTW soap DOES NOT work to keep deer out of the garden. We put some Irish Spring in the garden and well, our deer thought it was tasty.

 

We did the electric wire fence thing, but only 5 feet high. Then we attached some fiberglass wands at an angle to the top of every post and strung a yellow "caution" tape all around the top of the fiberglass poles. The deer don't go near the flappy tape., and even if they did go up close to the fence, they can't jump it because the tape is right over their heads.

It works great, except when high winds tear up the tape. Then you just splice some more in. And you get to make jokes about the deer reading the "Caution- DO NOT ENTER" message that surrounds the garden! :haha:

 

Here in WV we use a double elec fence, its the only thing that will work here. There r so many deers & they will eat anything & everything!! Its a expence & a lot of work but its the only way i can have a garden.

 

I think Terry's on to something. I've read somewhere that deer don't do long jumps, just high jumps. So if you take a roll of wire and lay it *parallel* to the ground and *off* the ground it will keep them at bay, because they can't long jump it and they won't walk over it. Can someone confirm this?

 

We surrounded a two acre garden with 8' black polypropylene deer netting last spring, and it has kept out deer, dogs, moose, etc. I wouldn't bother with less than 8'. I was a good girl, followed instructions, and tied white ribbon to hang and flap from the fence every 10' at chest height. The deer see this and don't run into the fence. I have watched deer walk along an entire 350' side of my garden, looking in, but not even trying to jump. The fence ended up being a little loose on top, which makes it flop over the deer's head some. They can't see the black netting very well, and so are not able to percieve the height and therefore are unwilling to jump it. It has worked beautifully for me and held up very well over the winter with several feet of snow. It is also very important to use soil staples as directed to hold the fence snug to the ground. Otherwise the deer will scoot under. Luckily my cat figured out how to get in and so I still have mouse, vole and gopher patrol.
I have used electric fences in the past, and much prefer this for ease of installation, looks (the black netting is hardly visible, especially when installed tree to tree), and ease of maintenance (none so far). It also doesn't scare the **** out of you if you touch it.
Of course, deer are different from area to area. But I do recommend this fencing highly. The leftovers also come in handy for all sorts of things. We are now using it in place of chicken wire on chicken runs and chicken tractors. No more bleeding hands!

 

I watched a 10 point buck jump a 7 foot three-strand high tensile electric fence like it was nothing. If they want to be somewhere, they will get there.
For electric to work, it has to be baited with caps. And even then, it's no guarantee.

 

I havent tried this myself yet. But I have read in a book that deer do NOT like rosemary they wont go near it wont eat it nothing. I like rosemary but it is so hard to transplant. the roots are very fragile if you dont messw ith them it should be ok. It can grow to be huge.