Deer Fencing

NY_Yankees_Fan · Mar 12, 2005

( I'm almost always nude. Guess they think I'm another deer. Had to fight off a couple twins one morning when I stepped out my back door for a wee-wee. The buggers were going to suckle me. I had to fight them off!
)

Way TOO MUCH info for me /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

MMM · Mar 12, 2005

Pretty in depth discussion here for you to read.

deer discouragers

Jackrabbit_Slim · Mar 12, 2005

Hi Dwight,

I've been putting in a lot of deer fence up here in the Comox Valley over the winter.

We have the same kind of deer problems as you folk and the 7 foot 6 inch farm wire is the standard here. It seems to be more than enough to keep the little rascals at bay. (For the benefit of readers not familiar with this area, we're plagued with a remarkably small species of deer here. What they lack in size, however, they more than make up for with numbers.)

Most of the work I do is with treated wood post. I like to go 4 to 5 inch 10 footers on my corners and braces and then 9 foot 3 to 4 inch on my line posts at 10 foot spacing.

Our soil conditions are pretty variable. It can go from clay to sand to gravel to rocks bigger than your head in only a matter of feet. Like your ground, we go from really soft in winter to rock hard in summer. I won't build a fence here unless the client agrees to double bracing.

If you're going to hang foliage off this fence I'd recommend going with deep, deep corners and braces and using the high tensile wire.

The BC Government Ag site has a pretty good pdf brochure on deer fencing. We don't need the height they recommend and the prices are a little outdated but it gives a pretty good overview of what needs to be done.

Slim

Dwight44 · Mar 12, 2005

( I've a pellet gun for getting them when they're up around the house area. Down below, I can almost walk up to them and hit them with a hammer. I'm almost always nude.
Ralph )

Are you sure you didn't originate on Saltspring, Ralphie?

I used to get dissed here in the winter because one of my pleasures during the wet season (and livin' in the country) is pissin' off the porch..nude or otherwise. Now I'm too old to be scaring the horses..

So I'll buy a BB gun and do my best High Noon act with them. Thanks for all the tips re: fencing, gave me some great ideas, particularly for the bracing an corners.

txdon · Mar 12, 2005

Dwight44, Attached is my 2-year old 8' deer fence. For a gate I used a 8' gate sideways with the fencing attached. I used cedar post. I now have to get an electric fence to keep the raccoons out.

TommyP · Mar 12, 2005

Dwight, You and Ralph have good ideas. One, building a fence around the raspberry bushes is a great idea. Deer do not like to jump over something when they can't see the landing area. This is a recommended choice up in Minnesota. We put the raspberries inside the fence, so the deer's depth perception is played with and they get nervous about jumping into the area.
Ralph's idea of the electric fence baited with peanut butter is also a winner and was recommended by a Master Gardener up here who is also an animal lover, but hates what the deer do to her gardens. This works like a charm, but the deer ahve to be baited to the wire with the peanut butter so when they lick it off the wire they get a most shocking experience. Good luck.

Egon · Mar 13, 2005

Jackrabbit Slim:

Them's ain't deer you got - just big rabbits. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Their habitat has been severly reduced lately by all the building going on in your area.

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

gws · Mar 13, 2005

Lowes has some "deer" netting you can put around or on trees. Its not going to stop a starving animal but iwill keep an afternoon munchers away. Its basicly taglefoot, small fine netting. Pretty cheap if I remember.

The netting also works as a cheap top for a chicken run.

txdon · Mar 13, 2005

If you use the netting that goes over trees DO NOT LET IT TOUCH THE GROUND! I had to cut out two live rat snakes last year before I got rid of the netting.

zechbl · Mar 13, 2005

I would recommend having Mr. Gary Alt (formerly from the Pa Game Commission) come down there and implement a Quality Deer Management program for your state. It seemed to do wonders for deer damage up here, as long as you don't like to hunt them......................