Good enough deer fence !!!

[jinman]

I learned last year that the deer in my area only ate my garden when their normal food supply dwindled. I still don't have my "nice" deer fence, so I bought some rolls of plastic netting (heavy duty) that are 7 feet tall and 100' rolls. I'm going to put up 8' t-posts and string this stuff between as a temporary measure. I'm hoping the deer don't get hungry enough to challenge it.

JC, I hope you have better luck than before. It sure looks like you have a solution there, but you need a game camera set up to see how the "perps" react. That way you can see if you have some hard-heads who will try to get through your fence.

 

[JC-jetro]

Thank you all for your responses. I don't believe deer are dumb and would try to put themselves in the harms way unnecessarily. Saying that and there is always one odd ball in the crowd that is foolish enough who will try it. I'm afraid that I might have a deer dangling from the fence dead. If they make the 8 foot jump and while they are inside he'll be spooked , scared and will be thrashing around and causing much damage to my veggies and self. The wind chime things that I put are plenty and keep making noise at all time so they will be alert to their presence. I deer hunt a lot and am familiar to their Psyche. When they are spooked the adrenaline rush take over and they will try any fence height. I don't reckon they will try this fence as the fence is 15' apart and if they get a head start to jump then they will crash in to the other side unless they know "Jujitsu", and pull a "Matrix Move" on me. At any rate, I spend a whopping $25 to do it as I had bunch of rebars and sheet metal scraps and such. I was there on Saturday to plant some more and seen no sign of them. I might do what Jim suggested and put a camera there. I did not feel a need in the past since they left their calling card prominently behind for me. I filled 4 out of my five tags last fall so I had the last laugh.

JC,

ps. if we ever built there then "I get me an ole yeller dog", and will instruct him " to wipe the ground with them pesky varmint"

one other thing, later on I will stake my tomatoes with cages and some with rebars, and should they attempt to jump, I know I'll some of them "shish-K-billy bobbed" on my rebar stakes and that will not be pretty.

 

[955er]

Previous to fencing my garden and strawberry beds, I thought I was having deer problems until I saw the woodchuck hammering the leaves on my green beans. Deer aren't the only critters that can wipe out your victuals.

 

[JC-jetro]

Previous to fencing my garden and strawberry beds, I thought I was having deer problems until I saw the woodchuck hammering the leaves on my green beans. Deer aren't the only critters that can wipe out your victuals.

True enough, but they left me no doubt as they picked up sufyy off of the vine few feet above the ground without damage to anything else. little critters pull the stuff down, cause bruising of the vines. Deer do a better job of it.

JC,

Their calling card was on either side of row and it was plentiful, I did not feel I need to add any manure this year.

 

[jinman]

Deer aren't the only critters that can wipe out your victuals.

Amen to that! I just went out and tilled my garden today. On one end of the rows of okra, beans, and sweet peas there were plants about 2" tall and trimmed right off the top. Two broccoli plants inside wire fences were trimmed, one leaving only two leaves. There were no deer tracks. I suspect I have a rabbit problem. I gotta try and get my fence up quickly.

 

[bp fick]

Yes, whitetail can reportedly jump 3 meters, which is 9 feet. That said, this is when they are really moving. Up here, we are over run with deer. My success has come not from building higher, but from making "cages". The theory is, (and yes, Ag Depts at State Universities have studied deer behaviors like crazy) that it seems deer do not like to jump into an area that they are not assured that an escape is easy. Makes sense. Also, if the deer can "see" the other fence, they "read" it as a trap. So, that is what I had last year. It is only 6' high.

If I had a camera that could shoot in the dark, I would show you pictures of them standing around my pilot project garden last year. As many as 8 at a time, and not one would jump into what they saw as a trap. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to work. I have made 6 more just like last year's. Although they chomped off ANYTHING that dared grow through the fence.

Also, double fencing has a 90% success rate. Leaving a space in-between. The distance plus the height, make it untenable for them. Czech is also on the money. Deer studies show having the first of a double fence titled, and it can tilt either way, is also an effective deterrent. FWIW

 

[JC-jetro]

Yes, whitetail can reportedly jump 3 meters, which is 9 feet. That said, this is when they are really moving. Up here, we are over run with deer. My success has come not from building higher, but from making "cages". The theory is, (and yes, Ag Depts at State Universities have studied deer behaviors like crazy) that it seems deer do not like to jump into an area that they are not assured that an escape is easy. Makes sense. Also, if the deer can "see" the other fence, they "read" it as a trap. So, that is what I had last year. It is only 6' high.

If I had a camera that could shoot in the dark, I would show you pictures of them standing around my pilot project garden last year. As many as 8 at a time, and not one would jump into what they saw as a trap. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to work. I have made 6 more just like last year's. Although they chomped off ANYTHING that dared grow through the fence.

Also, double fencing has a 90% success rate. Leaving a space in-between. The distance plus the height, make it untenable for them. Czech is also on the money. Deer studies show having the first of a double fence titled, and it can tilt either way, is also an effective deterrent. FWIW

BP,

That's exactly what I think, I have studied their move, I have read books on deer when I picked up deer hunting. I just don't see them do things rash, they always want to stay near cover, exit route always important even if when they are calm and grazing. Im', sure there is a few athletes amongst them that can jump 8 feet fence but not all. I never seen them knowingly run in to obstruction unless they were high tailing when the pursuit was on. I saw them catch a hoof on 5 foot fence when they were on the run.

Jim,

I'm sorry that the darned critters developed a taste for your veggies early on, I had at home one rabbit that mowed down every single pepper plant I had. they cut of the plant nice and clean with a 45 degree angle. suffice it o say that particular rabbit ain't bothering me no more. as a cure I ended up putting a piece of foundation drainage tile as a protection around the new seedling and haven not found the rabbits to cause damage to my little plants.

JC,

 

[JC-jetro]

Hello friends,

I am both upset and somewhat mad for having egg on my fence once more. It appears there are a few Olympic Athlete quality deer on my property. For quite a while i was not able to detect unauthorized entry in to my garden plot. Last few times I was there I saw deer scurry off as I approached my garden site. This am I was over there and there were bunch of footprint of deer origin inside my so called fortified 8 foot fence. I don't know if they actually jumped over or above barbed and between the electrical fence wires... but there is no mistake about it, they have landed, on all four it appeared they have jumped from the side and where they initially landed left a huge deep foot print. Ground was soft lately as we had a bunch of rain. They again attacked my tomatoes, had a bunch of green ones on the ground, they left my corn alone as they will wait till they are juicy and sweet surely before I get my paws on them. Last year out of 60 corn plants I planted I was able to harvest a single solitary head of sweet corn, I wondered how they missed that one. well, that's the story of my life. As they say, "misery likes company"

JC,

JC

 

[Thomas]

Sorry about your hard work no paying JC..yep those bugger sure smart when there interested in something.

Timing consuming but,night here and there until finding out how deer entering or game cam.

 

[bp fick]

You do have some very determined athletic deer.

So far, so good for me this year. I am piloting a new fencing material, poly netting. Easy to put up. A flat easy chinch to be exact. Light weight and non picky on the skin. Install with zip ties. Final jury has not yet come in, but so far so good.

The studies by state Ag depts is pretty conclusive on deer behavior. 3 meters, 9 feet is very doable by athletic deer. More and more height isn't always the answer. If 7' won't keep them out, then it would be a two row fence system for me. I would install the one fence two-three feet outside the inside fence, with the outside fence slightly lower than the first. The studies have shown the deer see it as a trap. Tilting the outer fence increases success. These Ag studies have convinced me. Brother, this is war.