A Deer Fence for the Dog Pasture

[GabeTX]

I bought a place on acreage so I could have a few acres for my dog (and future dogs) to run around in. The first step, which is still in progress over a year after moving in to the place, is to build a fence.

After taking Harvey Lacy's advice in an earlier thread and hiring someone with a truck-mounted pier drilling rig to make the postholes (I have a layer of limestone under about 2 feet of gumbo clay...), I then set the posts, built the braces, and ordered the wire, which arrived today.

I went with high-tensile woven wire, 6'2" high, because it let me space the posts 25' apart, and wouldn't require any in-line braces (you can stretch up to 1320' of it at a time). Most people around here use metal pipe for posts... But I like the way wood looks.

Here's a picture of the first line (my lot is pie-shaped, so there'll be two long runs and several shorter ones). It's about 890'.

 

[GabeTX]

This is my Jubilee. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

There's a roll of the wire I'm putting up. Around 340lbs per 330' roll. I've gotten a LOT of use out of that cary-all for this project.

 

[GabeTX]

And here's a shot of the first roll, unrolled and tied off to the brace post.

After this, I unrolled a second roll, spliced it to the first, unrolled it about 100', and unrolled a third roll from the other brace.

Then, I ran out of daylight. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I can't wait to get out there tomorrow morning, put the stretcher bars and pullers on, and tension the first run. Because the fabric is made with high-tensile wire (not mild steel, like regular field fence) with built-in crimps, tensioning it up should be pretty dramatic: all 890' feet will stand up and get in line brace-to-brace as I tighten it up. Should be a rewarding moment.

Then, the stapling begins...

 

[jinman]

Hi Gabe, that will be a nice fence when you finish. You better start early over the next few days. The morning temperatures will be in the 60s, but the afternoons will be in the 90s. Whew! Is it summer already? /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Your Jubilee looks pretty sharp and the carry-all sure beats wrestling with a roll of wire. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[GabeTX]

Today went... Not quite as well. Got up, finished tying off the last roll, attached the strainer bars and the chain pulls, and snapped the attached picture. From here, I should just be able to tighten the chain pulls and then start stapling.

So I tensioned it up, and ...

Nothing. Spent another hour throwing every pound I had at the chain pull handle making it even tighter and... Nothing.

OK, I probably don't have it set up right. Dissasembled everything, re-attached the bars, made sure they had each and every wire grabbed nice and snug, tightened up, and... Nothing. Flat on the ground. Very taught, but on the ground all the same.

Went back inside, re-read the installation instructions to see if I'd missed something, but nope: I was following them to the letter.

I probably just needed more tension! Off to Lowes for a 3' cheater bar. Worked great--put tons more tension on. The chains were so tight, I could stand on them and they didn't noticeably deflect towards the ground. But still, the fence was on the ground.

Tightened up just a little more, and *SNAP*. Chain pull broke, bottom half of the fence sprung back, and wires started snapping on the half of the fence that still had an unbroken chain pull on it. It was an unfortunate chain reaction. Pun intended. I think.

So, tomorrow I'll call the dealer up and see what I was doing wrong. And order another chain pull. They're only $115. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Evidently, there's more to installing this stuff then their sales literature implies. I'm shocked--who'da thought a company would exagerrate the ease of installation of their product? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[GabeTX]

Inspiration struck! With not much daylight to spare!

One thing I hadn't mentioned is that, even when the wire was flat on the ground, it was still tensioned to spec--according to the manufacturer, it's tensioned right when the crimps are about half flattened. And the crims on my flat-on-the-ground fence were half flat and then some.

So I put the boom pole on the Jubilee and lifted the fence into place.

It worked!

I went over to one of the brace posts, and sorted mock-trimmed it by lightly tacking it into place. It trimmed up fine--nice and neat. So unless I get better advice from the dealer tomorrow, I'll just plan on trimming it up like this, and retensioning a bit at the other end if I need to tighten it up more.

The wire is a little messed up near the clamps (from all my aborted first attempts), but I was able to shove the vertical stays around and clean it up.

Not quite as pain-free a day as I'd hoped, but I'll sleep a little better tonight.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Woven wire is very easy to install. I think your first mistake is thinking the wire will stand itself up when it is laying on the ground. You still need to stand it up.

What we do when we install our 8' woven wire is tie off the corner post like you started then roll the wire out. If it needs to be spliced we do the splice and then continue rolling the wire to the other corner post. When we reach there we cut off the wire and hook up the stretcher to that end and hook it to the loader of the TN. Curl the bucket back and it does all the work for you.

One thing we do is tack a staple every few post to hold the wire up until we put tension on it. When we start to tension the wire someone walks the line and removes the staples that start to hit the stays and moves them to the other side of the stay so that it still holds the wire up. Once you are happy with where the tension is at just tie off the end to the corner and release the loader. You will loose a slight bit of tension but not anything to worry about.

I am not saying the way we do things is the correct way but our wire has been standing since 97 and we have yet to have a deer break in or out. We did have three wild deer get into a pen we were building and we had three sides up. My father and I went in to try to get them out. Two bucks went right out but the third buck went nuts and ended up charging the fence full speed. He hit the wire about 10 feet from me as I was trying to get in front of him to turn him away from the wire. Needless to say it broke that deers neck instantly. He did taste good though /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[GabeTX]

Thanks, Robert! I'll give up hope of standing the wire up through tension. I don't have a loader, but the "boom pole on the tensioning chain" method seemed to work pretty well.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( He hit the wire about 10 feet from me as I was trying to get in front of him to turn him away from the wire. Needless to say it broke that deers neck instantly. He did taste good though )</font>
I believe it! This stuff is just odd if you're not used to working with it. It looks sort of flimsy, but when I was undoing the tension bars tonight I could easily climb to the top of the fence (and down again) without deforming the wire one bit. A lot stronger then it looks, and very different from the mild-steel 2"x4" stuff I've installed in the past.

 

[LarryD]

Don't tell me the Folgers can by the post has your staples in it, I've got the exact same "brand" of staples. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[GabeTX]

You still around, Robert? (Or anyone else who knows this stuff...)

Have you put up any curved sections? If so, how're they doing? I had to curve a section along the front of my property to avoid a water line. The manufacturer said curves were alright provided the fence was on the outside and that ideally there'd be a brace perpendicular to the fence midway on the curve.

I have a cross fence perpendicular to the curve, so the brace is taken care of. And I buried 4" x 4' "deadmen" behind the line posts on the curved section, but I still picture myself coming home one day and finding out my fence decided it would rather be in a different spot...