deer barrier

[TheMan419]

If you are looking for corner on the T-post fence use
Wedge-Loc Corner/In-Line Brace at Tractor Supply Co.

We have used them with good result on our horse pasture. The tension from the wire pulls them in and the brace stops them from falling over inward.

 

[oosik]

In the beginning, 35+ years ago, we had a real mixed fruit orchard. Soon learned the soft fruit was just not made for this climate. Soft fruit bloom early and are "put down" by late frosts. Pocket gophers really enjoy the roots shoots on newly planted fruit trees - wire basket root guards help a lot. Deer, raccoons & even porcupines will eat the fruit - long before its ripe. As the soft fruit ripens - every type of bee, wasp, hornet etc will be boring holes and eating the fruit.

We started with 32 fruit trees - hard & soft fruit. We now have four apple trees and its a fight to keep them alive and get some fruit every year. The old homestead to the north has an old pear tree that I pick every fall. The pears are great - just have to watch out for the burrowing insect larva.

 

[RalphVa]

I've had good luck with 3 hot lines @ 5,000 volts run off a solar powered/battery/electronic fence charger. May need to bait it a few places with strips of aluminum foil on the top (4' high) strand with peanut butter.

Just today, I added 2 lines to a single line that was keeping them out of my raspberry rows. A year ago, my wildlife camera captured one getting in past the single line. I baited it, and she stayed out for a year. May be another one. Baiting alone might work, but I added 2 more lines like I had around my big garden way down below for about 12-13 years. Got congestive heart failure and gave up that garden and put in some raised beds up here behind the house. Moved the 3 strand fence (on teflon posts) to around the raised beds. Had to bait this fence at one point because one was jumping the fence and eating the garden. Never had that happen in the big garden. Baiting stopped it.

Ralph

 

[LouNY]

I have seen a few deer that jumped fences, but looking at all the deer runs around here as I mowing an chopping haylage and then corn most of the runs
the deer tend to go under the fences when they can before they jump them, if they are being chased they do jump more.

 

[boatyard]

I do not have the details at hand, but a farmer friend had good luck with 2 approx. 4' tall fences spaced so that the deer could not clear both in a single leap but close enough to mess with their landing zone. Has anyone seen or heard of this?

 

[goeduck]

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.

I just plant standard size apple and pear trees that grow to 25 or 30 feet tall. No dwarfs for me. Getting the trees past deer munching height is a bit of a trick but I use chicken wire hoops on poles to do that. A bit of a challenge to pick the fruit on a tall tree but nothing an orchard ladder does not solve. No raccoons to speak of in the orchard.

 

[Redneck in training]

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.

We have problem with rabbits. My solution is to install owl perches at strategically located places near area we want to protect. The perch is two T posts welded together with a wooden horizontal perch on the top. The owl(s) will decimate rabbit population around our veggie garden enough that it suffers only small damage. Don't know if owls would catch voles.

 

[jaxs]

You'll notice some people are keeping deer out with 5'-6' fence while others have to go well over 6'. Difference in size of deer account's for that. Cost of fence and labor for maintaining it go up dramaticly when you reach 6'. A 5' to 6' fence with a single hot wire 5' to 6' away will keep deer out. Deer jump similar to an Olympic high jumper using the"flopper method",rarly like a broad jumper. Interfering with their launch position make's the low fence more difficult to jump. As size of deer increase,the hot wire should stand fartar from fence. You need a mower that will pass between fence and hot wire,otherwise it turn's into a jungle or you have a lot of hand labor keeping it clean.

 

[Looking4new]

A couple of dogs (german shepherds, labs and retrievers and the like) would look after the deer.

 

[TnAndy]

A couple of dogs (german shepherds, labs and retrievers and the like) would look after the deer.

30.06 with 180 soft nosed bullets are quite effective too. Skin out, cut into hunks, drop in BIG pot to boil the meat off, can the results, makes great dog food......waste not, want not.

One average whitetail:

My small orchard (40 trees), I put 4-6' T posts around each tree and used a ring of 2x4 welded wire (about a 20' piece) attached to the posts so deer can't get to them for the first 5-7 years of growth. By then, they are big enough to withstand some deer pressure....or I reduce the deer pressure as above.