deer barrier

[dennisleary]

on top of the pathetic precipitation in CA so far this fall, the deer are laying waste to my orchard. Kind of breaks my heart to see the peach tree trunks with gouge marks from deerhooves and all the branches broken.
I looked into fencing but besides being ugly, its too expensive (like 6000)....

so does anyone have any suggestions for a low cost deer barrier? I've been looking on youtube and people say that 30#fishing line works well, strung every 24" - but I've also heard a strand of electrified wire can do the job.
I know this is a bit off topic but I figure you folks all speak from real experience
Thanks for your help

 

[LouNY]

electric fence will do it, but and this is a big but you'll need 3 hot lines and 2 grounded lines,
bottom strand hot that they can't crawl under,
next up grounded strand,
3rd up hot nose high as they are walking,
4th up grounded strand for when they start to reach over,
top strand hot for when they reach and think about jumping it.

 

[Phillip w]

electric fence will do it, but and this is a big but you'll need 3 hot lines and 2 grounded lines,
bottom strand hot that they can't crawl under,
next up grounded strand,
3rd up hot nose high as they are walking,
4th up grounded strand for when they start to reach over,
top strand hot for when they reach and think about jumping it.

This guy has got it figured out. Just have to figure whhat you want to use for a fence charger. You got ones that you can plug into 110 volts. There are some that run off a 12 volt battery. And then there are some that are solar powered. Good luck.

 

[jaxs]

Electric fence does well. I've had good luck with 2 hot strands and no grounds(animal's feet are grounded). As conditions get dryer,ground wires become increasingly necessary. The higher the voltage of charger,the dryer conditions it is effective in. Occasionally pouring water around charger ground rod helps in dry weather. In extreme dry when fence extend's a long distance from charger ground rod,wire strung on a few distant metal posts and watering 1 or 2 help with ground. If cost is a factor,1 hot 2' to 2.5' depending on size of adult doe in your location, from earth and another 4 to 4.5' from earth will exclude a high % of animals. Deer sniff anything suspicious so that work's in your favor. Aluminum streamers,can lids and other metal objocts suspended on fine wire attract attention then subsiquent sniffing. After being shocked by one of the objects on fence,similar objects suspended from trees are viewed as danger and act as detarant to approach. Deer associate dogs with danger,a couple of used dog beds in the orchard remind's them what happened earlier when they smelled dog. Most fence mfgrs recommend and sell small rods as post along with special insolators to fit posts. I use regular metal tee posts set far apart,sturdy corners and conventional horse wire to cut down on install/teardown time and expensve insolators. I can always use tee post and horse wire for other projects whereas the dinky rods and light weight electric fence wire have little use when not on the fence.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Amen on the electric fence, solved all my problems. Tee posts, braced corners (post on 45 angle and welded to vertical). Top wire was set at 5' with 3 equal spaced wires below. At each corners and gates I ran a vertical wire tying all strands together electrically. n maintains continuity if a strand gets broken by an agressive buck.

Ron

 

[Redneck in training]

We planted about 2500 trees on our property so protect them from deer was necessary. When the trees were small I run single strand of electric rope zigzag from tree to tree. It worked well but it was a pain to mow the grass. Also when the deer got hit and started running it usually run in the line and graged it. It required frequent repairs. Later on we bought T posts and insulators and installed the electrified line fence on the perimeter. It worked well for a while until some of the deer learned to sneak in between the lines. So we bought more insulators and added two more lines to make them closer together. Now we have the place fenced with a 5ft chainlink and two electric lines on the top. The top line is about 7 ft high. It worked for several years but last spring when mullberies were in full production I saw a small doe jump the fence like it was not there and go feast on the berries. The rest of the deer just watched her but didn't try to jump. I guess those got zapped before.
So my sugestion is to make the fence at least 7ft tall with lines about a foot apart. If you get snow then make the bottom line so you could disconnect it.

 

[fishheadbob]

Rats on stilts.
I deal with a great deal of deer damage to my Christmas trees and while there doesn't seem to be any foolproof, 100 percent method to totally eliminate deer damage, it can be reduced. Deer are wily and learn to thwart any deerproofing once they get hungry enough. An electric fence is a good start; how tall and how many strands can vary depending on your budget and your deer. I'd suggest starting with a single strand and adding to it if and when necessary.

Deer repellents all work to varying degrees, some are definitely better than others. Read up on online papers by different researchers on stuff like Plantskydd, Thiram, and lots of others. Some are organic, some are chemical soup, all work for a while, but I've found that deer get used to any of them and will hold their noses as they chomp away. About now somebody is ready to chime in "Use bars of Irish Spring" which most of us pros and most researchers have found to be ineffective.
6000 trees means you're going to be buying repellents in 55 gallon drums $$$$.

Damage for me is seasonal. I'll get buck rubs in mating season, browsing in February when there is little else to eat, and little damage the rest of the year. You'll learn your deer's calendar.
And the clear cut winner in deer control methods is lead. I've developed a definite liking for venison. The N.Y. Dept. of Environmental Conservation gives us permits to take additional antlerless deer (mommas) for control purposes. I allow extra hunters on my property to control numbers.
Good luck.

 

[big bubba]

another trick once you've installed your elec fence is to attach al foil w/peanut butter on the hot lines. they will fall for it and may discourage the traffic flow.

every year i have to attach heavy duty spiral wraps on my expensive aspens, japanese maples, sugar maples, honey locusts, etc. to avoid buck rubs. (from sept to april in my area) they can do a lot of damage in a hurry. know your frustration, best of luck

Spiral Tree Guards | Spiral Tree Wrap | Tree Bark Protectors

 

[oosik]

Honest to God - you guys that have found electric fence works must have wimps for deer. I've seen MANY deer INSIDE a 7' high fenced area - they can jump the fence flat footed.

Now 8' or 7' with barbed outrigger - they will find the appropriate spot, get a run and clear the fence like Superman. The WA state Game Dept gave up with 8' deer fencing with outriggers about fifty years ago. They would use public funding to fence a 300 acre apple orchard. A week later the farmer would call and ask for help pushing all the deer inside the enclosed orchard - OUT.

I've put up two and three wire electric fence around my orchard. They simply jump it and when spooked they tear the electric fencing to H*LL on the way out.

Around here I've come up with an easy, simple solution. Figure the deer will get 25% of your apple crop, the raccoons will get another 25% and you, if lucky, might get the remaining 50%. Plant your trees accordingly.

 

[rgr33]

I tried to save money when fencing my vineyard, using 4ft of woven wire on the bottom, then 3 feet of barb wire on top of that. After 6 months, the deer had heavily damaged about 10% of the vines that are nearest the woods.

Eventually, had to replace it with 7 foot hi tensile woven wire topped by 12 inches of barbed wire.
That has worked well for 5 years, eventually will pay for itself by prevention on grapes lost.

As a side note, vole activity has increased noticeably, as the coyotes can no longer get in the vineyard during growing season. I open it up for the winter, hoping that will help some. For every crop protection option, there seems to be an unexpected reaction.