DEER FENCE INSTALLATION
PREPARATION Having barrier deer fence installed by professional deer fence installers is costly. Therefore, those who do not have deep pockets, or who have workers willing to take on the job, are well advised to consider merely getting professional guidance while doing the job themselves or having it done by their own people. Professional Advice, Instruction, and Installation For those who do not wish to go it entirely alone, we provide a full range of consultative, teaching, and installation services. Our customer service desk is of course available to provide information about products and informal guidance on installation during the hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday. Beyond that, we work closely with the Deer DeFence Company, an installation firm with long experience in this field. For a small fee, Deer DeFence will provide professional consultation by telephone for customers nationwide. We can also arrange through Deer DeFence and other professionals for on-site visits and/or installation in most of the New England and Middle Atlantic region. In addition, for landscapers and other professionals seeking hands-on instruction in metal hexagrid and other deer fence installation, we can arrange for workshop instruction sessions tailored to your needs. Those interested in any of these services may contact us by telephone (508-888-8305), fax (508-888-0272), or e-mail for advice or an appropriate referral. It’s just common sense that people installing a barrier deer fence should come prepared for reasonably rough outside work. (One person can do the job, but two-man teams are best). They should wear work gloves, tough shirts with long sleeves, and (if the weather permits) jackets with long sleeves-preferably ones made of leather. The list of tools needed is reasonably short–a string and some small stakes to mark the fence line; tin snips (preferably scissor-nosed) if one is installing metal fence; a brush king, pruner or other clearing equipment if brush or low branches must be cleared, and also for cutting a two-foot swath all the way to the ground; a post-hole digger, spade, and mattock if post holes are to be dug; a fenceman’s hammer with a corrugated face that won’t bounce off u-nails; and some optional equipment: a hand-held post driver (item 15-05) for installing metal posts; a gripple tensioner (item 16-04) for tightening cables; a puller/cutter (item 17-08) for use with zip-lock ties; a Stanley hog-ringer (item 17-09) for use with hog-ring staples; a crimping tool (item 16-06) if oval metal sleeves are being used; and cement-related equipment if cement footings are being poured. Start by laying out the deer fence line with a string and small stakes. The finished deer fence should have 6 feet of brush and vegetation cleared on either side of it; so if the fence must run through brush, bushes, or low trees, it pays to do this clearing before the deer fence is installed. Clear the brush with a brush king, pruner, or other equipment down to a height of a foot or so, and cut to the ground anything heavy within a foot of the deer fence line, so that a mower can go over it. Then mow the ground within a foot on either side of the deer fence line, so that a two-foot swath is cleared all the way to the ground. EARLY STEPS: POSTS AND FENCE SETUP The Advantages of Trees for Deer Fence Trees make the best deer fence supports, because they are both strong and natural. When you set up a deer fence you want to keep things looking as natural as possible, so that the fence fades into near-invisibility for both deer and people. Trees are admirably suited to this purpose, and if the fence zig-zags a bit as it goes from tree to tree, so much the better. Trees are also the best supports because they are strong, durable, and well-anchored. Select only healthy trees that have bare trunks, or at least no major branches from the ground up to the top of the fence (usually seven feet) on that side of the tree facing outward toward the deer. Polypropylene fence, which is light, can run as much as 30 or even (in extreme cases) 40 feet from one tree to the next with no intermediate support. Our metal hexagrid fence, a product developed by the Deer DeFence Company, is heavier and needs to be supported about every 20 feet. So if you are setting the metal fence into a place where trees are, say, 40 feet apart, you can attach the fence to the two trees and then come back and set up a support post halfway between them. Attach both metal hexagrid fencing and plastic deer fencing to trees on the outer side of the trees (the side facing the deer). Do this loosely with U-nails (items 17-01 and 17-02), using no more nails than necessary–something like 5 per tree. Be sure (this is very important) to leave a flap of deer fencing at the bottom of the fence on the ground, extending outward toward the deer. This flap should be 6 inches long, which means that a 90-inch (7.5 foot) section of deer fencing will yield a deer fence with a final (finished) height of approximately 7 feet. If a hole, ditch, or dip causes a flap-consuming space to appear under the fence, you can simply add a piece of cut fence to the bottom. If you don’t have suitable trees along the deer fence line, or if you choose not to use them, either wooden or metal posts can do the job. Avoid using smooth round metal posts, especially with metal fencing, unless you are installing an outward-reaching barrier along the top (see Anti-Jumping Insurance). That’s because the attachment ties will have no holes to go through, and so the ties will eventually tend to slip and the fence will tend to sag. In general, wooden deer fence posts should be either cylindrical cedar posts or pressure-treated 4x4 posts. Plan on setting them two-and-a-half feet into the ground or below the frost line, whichever is deeper. Metal angle-iron posts studded with holes every two inches and painted flat black (item 15-01) are also suitable, and smooth round posts (item 15-03) can be interspersed with either of these. All of these metal posts should be driven at least 2 feet into the ground. Because they are thicker and stronger than metal angle-iron posts, wooden deer fence posts should be used at corners (only if no trees are available) and at places that can be expected to bear major loads. Avoid using untreated wood, because most untreated wood in contact with the soil will rot in a year or two. If the soil is sandy or otherwise loose, set your deer fence corner posts in cement footings that are roughly one foot wide and that extend two-and-a-half feet down or below the frost line, whichever is deeper; and provide similar footings at intervals of roughly 40 feet for every other post. (Unless the soil is extremely loose, you do not need to provide a footing for every post). By and large one should set wooden deer fence posts roughly 20 feet apart, and the deer fencing should be loosely attached to them with five or so U-nails (items 17-01 and 17-02). As a general rule, the fencing should be pulled tight enough so that it stands straight and rigid, but no tighter. Thick, black-painted steel angle-iron posts (item 15-01) make perfectly good deer fence posts that hold up very well (their expected life is 30 years). They are also less expensive and easier to install than wooden posts. Their disadvantages are that they look less “natural” than wood and do not grip the soil as well–so they are not recommended for use on corners, on sharp turns, or at sites with loose soil unless they are placed in cement footings the same size as those described above for wooden posts. If the ground contains significant rocks or roots, it is wise to prepare for post-driving with a pry bar–a tool that somewhat resembles a crow bar but is straight, about five feet long, and can readily be bought at most local hardware stores. Take your pry bar and thrust it into the ground where you plan to set a post. With its weight helping you, work the bar downward however far you want the post to go. This demonstrates that there are no rocks or roots in the way. (If you run into a rock or root that the bar cannot navigate, shift the bar to another place and try again. Where the ground is not rocky or where it has been probed as just described, set your metal posts to the desired depth (usually 2 to 3 feet) with a hand-held post driver (item 15-05). The driver is a weighted metal cylinder open at one end and closed at the other, with handles on the sides. To use it, one takes it up a ladder and slips it over the top of the metal post to be installed. It is then raised and dropped anywhere from a few inches to nearly its full length so as to tap or pound the post into the ground. When you use this tool, be sure no one is ever trying to assist you by holding the upper portion of the post to be driven with their hands, because the heavy descending driver can remove literally inches of flesh from the hands. Attach polypropylene fencing to angle-iron posts with 5 or so heavy-duty black zip-lock ties (items 17-04 thru 17-07), running each tie through appropriate holes in the angle-iron. If one is installing metal hexagrid fencing, do not apply zip-lock ties toward the top of the fence. Instead run a short loop of tie-wire (16-021) through the angle-iron holes and the fencing, and twist the loop securely shut and tight against the fence. This makes a long-lasting attachment that is stronger and better able to support the weight of the metal fence. If there are no esthetic objections, a good solution is to alternate wooden and metal angle-iron posts, placing the wooden posts 30 feet apart if they are to support metal fencing, and then placing one metal angle-iron post halfway between them. (For plastic fencing the spacing can be wider, up to 40 feet between the two wooden posts, leaving a roughly 20-foot span between the angle-iron post and the wooden posts on either side.) One can also use exclusively wooden posts in open areas. These should be spaced up to 20 feet apart to support a metal hexagrid deer fence or up to 30 feet apart to support a polypropylene deer fence. In any case, if the deer seem at all inclined to jump the more visible fence in this open area, one should consider installing round posts (item 15-03) topped with angled 13-inch extensions (item 15-04) strung with monofilament cable (item 16-01) to prevent jumping (see Anti-Jumping Insurance). MIDDLE STEPS: JOINS, ADJUSTMENTS, AND SUPPORTS Joining the Deer Fence Sections
Polypropylene deer fence sections can be joined together with zip-lock ties, tie-wire, or hog rings. Those using zip-lock ties should use the heavy-duty ties (items 17-04 thru 17-07), which have an expected life of 5 to 10 years, depending on their exposure to sun and stress. Attach these ties by running them through the fence grids to be joined and then pulling them moderately tight. Attach enough of these ties to firmly join the two sections and also to resist the stresses likely to be encountered from wind, rain, snow, and deer. You don’t need the hand-held mechanical puller/cutter sometimes sold with these ties–professionals generally don’t use it. One reason is that you want the ties a bit loose, as over-tightening can strain or break them. So mechanical tightening is not really a good idea; and as for cutting you can remove the ends of the secured ties just as easily with small tin snips or wire cutters as you can with the puller/cutter.
A reasonable alternative to the zip-lock tie is a length of black pvc-coated tie-wire (16-021). This wire can be cut to convenient lengths, looped through the polypropylene fence mesh, and twisted shut. This produces stronger and longer-lasting connections than zip-lock ties, but ones that are more time-consuming to install.
Another alternative is 9/16-inch “hog rings” (item 17-10), these being metal staple-like clips that form a closed circle and are applied with a Stanley Hog-ringer gun (item 17-09). This is a good system, and will prove an especially worthwhile investment if you plan to give your deer fence a metal skirt. However, stay away from the slightly cheaper 11/16-inch hog-ring system–because these rings go on rather flat, do an inferior attachment job, and can occasionally damage the deer fence. Similarly, the very heavy black “hog rings” sold with a special manual applicator tool should be avoided–not because they don’t work but because they are extremely time-consuming to apply.
Happily, if you are putting up a metal hexagrid deer fence you need none of these fasteners to join the sections. That’s because the cut ends of the hexagons (like the cut ends of chicken-wire fencing) point outward. These ends,which may be very sharp, can be put through hexagrids on the deer fence section to which they are being joined, and the two sets of outward-pointing ends from both hexagrids can then be twisted back around one another. If done enough times along the seam, this produces a strong long-lasting bond joining the two sections. What happens if you are running your fence along flat terrain and suddenly the ground slopes up or down? Obviously, you have to realign the fence to follow the new grade. Do this by installing a post where the slope changes and cutting the fence just after it passes this post. Then angle the next length of fencing up or down as much as necessary to make a straight run to the next post , following the new grade and being sure to leave enough fencing material along the bottom to create a six-inch flap. Securing the Deer Fence Bottom
One of the most common errors of deer fence installers is to focus so much on how tall the deer fence will be that they neglect its bottom. But the bottom is precisely where the deer usually get through. So for starters it is essential to leave a 6-inch flap of deer fence material extending outward (toward the deer) on the bottom. This flap should be firmly secured with ground stakes (generally kinked galvanized steel stakes, see items 18-01 and 18-02), to ensure that entry is barred not only to the deer but also to animals like rabbits and woodchucks. These stakes are usually placed about 6 feet apart and are supplemented with rocks when suitable rocks are available. Whether a plastic deer fence is being repaired after holes have appeared in its lower reaches, or whether it is being combined with a metal hexagrid “skirt” 2 to 4 feet high at the time it is first set up, the resulting plastic-metal deer fence combination should offer no open seam for exploration by would-be intruders. The metal skirt (with its 6-inch flap) should be kept on the outside (the side from which the deer will come), and should be firmly attached to the plastic deer fencing with zip-lock ties or hog rings (roughly one per square foot), and both flaps (if there is a plastic one) should be pegged down.
The top of the deer fence must be left visually undefined. As noted earlier, the deer have trouble seeing our plastic or metal deer fences. They especially have trouble telling how tall these deer fences are, and so they don’t know how high they need to jump. If you put something on the top of the deer fence that defines it–like, say, a two-by-four board, then that will lead the deer to think (correctly) that the fence ends there and will present them with an open invitation to jump. Since you don’t want to send this invitation, you should avoid putting anything along the deer fence top that defines the deer fence’s upper boundary. However, you do want to provide support along the top of the fence–something that is done for polypropylene fence with black monofilament line and for metal hexagrid fence with pvc-coated tie wire. Monofilament Lines for Plastic Deer Fence
Monofilament line for deer fence comes in several gauges–most commonly 8 gauge, 11 gauge, and 12 gauge. However, we have found that the 8-gauge line is hard to work with and the 12-gauge line is weak, while the 11-gauge line works well. So we only offer the 11-gauge line (item 16-01). This 11-gauge line resists UV radiation well and is reasonably durable, having an expected life of 5 to 10 years. It can be connected to the fence with hog-rings, zip-lock ties, or short lengths of tie wire, and can be drawn tight and secured to posts or trees with gripples and a gripple tensioning tool (items 16-03 thru 16-05). Alternatively, it can be tightened and secured without gripples or a tensioning tool as follows: Hammer a two-inch U-nail ( item 17-01). about half-way in on the outside surface of the tree or wood post to which the monofilament is being secured. Then cut the monofilament, string it through the U-nail opening twice, pull the filament taut, and hammer the U-nail down far enough to hold the filament securely but not far enough to harm or break it. Who said there was no art to installing a deer fence? The main weakness of this monofilament line is that it stretches. So every year or two one needs to inspect it to see whether it is sagging. If it is, go from the U-nail where it is attached to the tree (or one side of the gripple-secured loop) and move the line horizontally back over the tree or post until the line has regained the desired tightness, and at this point drive a U-nail over the repositioned strand to keep it taut. Not all polypropylene deer fences need monofilament support. If the fence is relatively short (less than 500 feet long), likely to take few direct deer impacts, and out of reach of elderly or sick trees likely to drop their limbs, then you need no monofilament line. However, if tree limbs seem likely to fall on the fence, then one or more lengths of monofilament line strung along the top of the fence as described above is good damage-limiting insurance. Likewise, if your fence is long (over 500 feet), then placing a monofilament line on top is a good idea; and if it seems likely to receive a lot of direct deer assaults to its mid-section, you should put in three monofilament lines–one along the top and two others at heights of 24" and 48" above the ground. Tie-Wire Cables for Metal Hexagrid Deer Fence Do not use monofilament line of any gauge for the metal hexagrid deer fencing, which is heavier than the polypropylene fencing. Instead use as your top-wire a pvc-coated tie-wire (16-021), which has a soft steel core and which does the job nicely. Unlike the polypropylene fence, which may need to be strengthened by monofilament lines running through its mid-section, the full 90" metal hexagrid deer fencing already has horizontal 20-gauge reinforcing wires running through it at regular intervals (in addition to 17-gauge top and bottom wires), and it is generally strong enough to resist multiple deer impacts and ward off small and medium-sized limbs on its own. Therefore, the only tie-wire cable needed is the single one along the top that helps to support the fence’s weight. This cable should be installed in all cases, regardless of the fence’s length. Start marrying the cable to the horizontal 17-gauge wire at the top of the hexagrids (you can use either side of the hexagrid fencing roll as the fence top) with a few loosely fastened ziplock ties. Then secure the cable to your posts or trees using u-nails (item 17-01) pounded half-way in; then tighten the cable with gripples and a gripple tensioner (items 16-03 thru 16-05); and finish the job by joining the cable to the fence’s top horizontal wire with hog rings (items 17-09 and 17-10). FINISHING TOUCHES, GATES, AND MAINTENANCE
For your deer fence to be effective, as noted earlier, it needs to be practically invisible to deer. But you don’t want deer to bump into it unexpectedly and then to explore this nearly invisible object, because that makes them more likely to become familiar with it and become comfortable probing its defenses. So it’s a good idea to warn them off with a danger signal that gives them the fence’s approximate (but not precise) location. Do this by putting strips of white surveyor’s tape (item 18-03) on the fence. Place each strip about waist high (definitely not over 4 feet high) and tie one end to the fence with a knot, arranging things so that the other end hangs downward for about a foot on the outside of the fence, which will allow it to blow freely in the wind. One of these “flags” should be placed roughly in the middle of each fence section (between each pair of posts), though two per section can be used if the deer pressure is intense. What this does is create a highly visible sign that mimics the white-tailed deer’s raised white tail–a natural danger signal for this species that says, in essence, “get away”. It also shows roughly where the “invisible” fence runs, but so long as the markers are placed no higher than 4 feet above the ground, it reveals nothing about the fence’s height. Far from being incidental or optional add-ons, these markers are an important part of any deer fence–especially in the first few months after the fence is installed.
Remember, 99 percent of the time deer will not try to jump a 7-foot deer fence. However, should you feel deer are likely to jump your fence–because it is out in the open, or it crosses a deer path, or you have “witnessed” it being jumped before, then it pays to take out “anti-jumping insurance”. There are essentially two ways of doing this. The less effective is to raise the height of the fence. You can add any reasonable amount of height you like to a jump-prone length of fence by combining 9-foot angle-iron posts with 4-footers (the 4-footers come with nuts, bolts, and washers for purposes of attachment) (see items 15-01 and 15-02). Situate these taller combined angle-iron posts up to 40 feet apart and string 11-gauge monofilament line (item 16-01) through the angle-iron holes at roughly 6-inch intervals. Once you have drawn these lines reasonably taut and have secured them well, you will find that you have effectively added up to three-and a half feet to your fence. The problem with all of this is that raising the fence height doesn’t discourage deer from exploring your fence and even jumping up to examine its upper reaches. They can jump at least 12 feet, probably more, if they really want to. So if they have a powerful incentive to explore and then make a jump that “ventures a guess,” raising the fence a few feet won’t stop them. Fortunately (although jumping is rare as previously noted), there is a better way to stop deer from jumping. Start by installing round one and five-eighths inch diameter black galvanized steel posts (item 15-03) at intervals of 40 feet along the vulnerable run of fence. If your soil has no rocks or very few, use a post driver (item 15-05). Otherwise, if the soil is at all rocky, you are better off using an ordinary post-hole digger. Set these posts at an appropriate depth and tie them into the rest of the established fence with zip-lock ties or lengths of tie-wire. (16-021; items 17-03 thru 17-07). If the fence is new, plan to intersperse these posts with trees, wood posts, or black angle-iron posts (item 15-01), including one round post roughly every 40 feet and arranging things so that the fence won’t sag by making the distance from each round metal post to its neighboring trees, wood posts, or angle-iron posts relatively short (on the order of 10 feet). On top of each round post, place a cap with a 13-inch notched steel bracket (item 15-04). Place this cap so that its bar extends upward and directly outward (toward the deer), rising at an angle of 45 degrees. Then attach an 11-gauge monofilament line (item 16-01) to the row of outward-projecting bars. Do this by setting a length of filament into the lowest of several notches on the top of the bracket, wrapping the filament around the bracket, tying it down with other lengths of monofilament line, and going on to the same notch on the next bracket and repeating the process. Do this until the monofilament is connected to all the brackets and then go on to the next notch up until all the notches are occupied and the monofilament lines proceed outward at roughly 6-inch intervals to the ends of the 13-inch brackets. This arrangement, which can be used with both polypropylene and metal hexagrid fencing, strongly discourages jumping–because any deer that jumps up to explore or go over the fence will be thrown back by something coming out sideways that the deer simply cannot see. The resulting effect is daunting–so daunting that the system appears 100 percent effective. That is, we know of no case where any deer has ever jumped over a deer fence reinforced this way.
Use suitable trees as the posts at fence corners wherever possible. Lacking trees, you need some sort of corner brace (item 15-06) or a heavy-duty earth anchor (item 16-11) with a cabling system. The cabling/earth anchor system (which can be used with any corner posts) is appealing, because all you have to do is to run a metal cable (16-021) from the next post back over the top of your corner post (where it is secured with U-nails) or through a hole drilled in the corner post and on to the heavy-duty earth anchor, which is placed in the ground an appropriate distance away from the corner post (anywhere from 3 to 8 feet) and is postioned so that the entire length of the cable runs in a straight line. Doing this from both directions coming into the corner produces essentially a cross in which the earth anchors are located at the ends of adjacent arms. Besides bracing the corner post, this arrangement actually presses down on the post, thereby helping to secure it in the ground. If there is no room to place earth anchors outside your fence, you may be tempted to try corner braces (item 15-06). These consist of two pipes, one placed along each of the two incoming sides of the fence. These posts are both set into the ground so that they rise at about a 45 degree angle to a connector band on the corner post. Besides being unsightly (if the relevant fence corner is in the open or readily visible), this corner brace system has another drawback. For unless all three posts are set into concrete footings, it is very hard to make the corner post connections correctly, and the tension from the fence’s cable tends to make the risers act as the fulcrums of levers so as to destabilize, loosen, or even unearth the corner post. Thus, concrete footings are really required with corner braces, and since they are a lot of work to install, the earth anchor system really is a more efficient and better answer. These same points apply to the earth anchor cabling system as compared to the end brace system (item 15-07) sometimes applied at the end of a fence run. Almost any good deer fence needs gates, because it must completely surround the property or garden protected. Otherwise, deer will persistently explore the entire perimeter and in due course get around the fence to find their way in. Even so, gates are relatively vulnerable points. So they should be placed where the deer are unlikely to go, to the extent possible, and in any event should be kept away from established deer paths.
These are the relatively narrow gates that give access to people, lawn mowers, and rototiller but not cars. Such gates should be put between trees or well-anchored posts that are relatively close together. Then one should end the tensioned cable (assuming there is one) at the trees (the gate and gate frame should not be under tension) and come in to the gate frame with a short run (ideally only a few feet) of plastic or metal fencing. The gate frame and the gate itself can be custom-built from one-and-three-eighths diameter tubular galvanized steel or like materials, or it can be purchased as a kit to be erected on location. Gates offered on this website (items 19-01 thru 19-03) are of the latter type. These gates are 7 feet high when built and are designed for openings 3, 4, and 5 feet wide.
Driveway Gates and Driveway Grates There are two kinds of driveway treatments compatible with barrier deer fence. One is a raised gate arrangement very like the access gates above, only wider. Again, such gates can be custom-built or they can be bought as a kit (items 19-04 thru 19-06). In either case, they can be equipped with a wide range of devices to open, close, and lock them manually or by remote control (items 19-07 thru 19-15). Like the support posts of the access gates, the frames of these wider driveway gates should not be placed under any tension. So any cables should end at trees or posts located as close as possible to the each support post; and the remaining short distance to the frame, on both sides, should be spanned by a few feet of plastic or metal fencing. The driveway gates of this sort that we offer are 7 feet high and come in widths up to 15 feet An alternative driveway device, known as a “deer grate” is extremely attractive but expensive (see items 19-16 thru 19-19). The only product that really keeps deer out while leaving the driveway open, it works by setting a series of smooth 3-inch metal cylinders across the drive. These are spaced 3 inches apart and are situated over an open space too deep for deer hooves to reach comfortably. As a result, the deer will not enter the driveway. This device really works over both the short and long term to completely exclude all deer. The down-side: It is a potential accident hazard for infants and it costs a lot–not only for the massive well-engineered grate and its shipping, but also for on-site excavation and placement. Regarding installation specifics, prepare the site by digging down 2 feet and putting in 1 foot of fill that is tamped down really well with a tamping machine. Each grate consists of two 81-inch sections weighing anywhere from 1,100 pounds each (for a 10-foot-wide grate) to 1,760 pounds each (for a 16-foot-wide grate). Use a large back-hoe to unload each section when it arrives and set it into place. We recommend that this work be performed by an experienced landscaper. Customers living in Southern New England, the Middle Atlantic Region, Maryland, and Virginia who are interested in having a grate installed should contact us (tel. 508-888-8305, fax. 508-888-0272, e-mail) for a referral. An important thing to avoid , if you are interested in this product, is something called a “cattle guard” made of reinforced concrete that operates on similar principles but that uses deep waves of concrete in place of steel pipe. The still expensive but more affordable cattle guard works just fine to keep out cattle, and at first it works against deer. But in time deer generally learn to thwart it–by walking along narrow edges at its sides, or by passing over this cement device when it is clogged by ice and snow, or by discovering that its bottom is within reach of their hooves, or perhaps in other ways. In any case, they do typically learn to fox it, and then the buyer of this expensive product is stuck with either letting in the deer or installing another kind of gate. Both polypropylene and metal hexagrid deer fences can deal reasonably effectively with minor deer paths–especially if they are strengthened to resist bottom penetration, direct assaults, and jumping in the area where the fence encounters the path. This is not true, however, of major deer paths, where the path is clearly marked and commonly flattened to bare ground. A new deer fence that crosses such a path will encounter so much deer pressure from deer accustomed to passing through that the fence is likely to need ongoing heavy maintenance, and if the fence is plastic the deer on various occasions are likely to break through. In such a situation it often pays to give the deer their path. Design your fence with an entrance where it intersects the deer path, and then build sections of the fence along both sides of the deer path until you reach the point where the path exits the protected area. It may not be necessary to follow all of the old path. Behind the entrance, it my be possible to divert the path in ways convenient to you. But simply blocking a major deer path invites trouble–even if one installs metal hexagrid fencing topped by a jumping barrier, puts an electric fence in front (see www.electric-deer-fence.com for suitable electric fence supplies), and supplements all this with items like the Scarecrow (see www.garden-pest-control.biz and click on the orange circle that says “water sprayers”) to temporarily divert the deer from their established path. Such a system may well succeed in blocking the deer temporarily; but it will also tend to generate heavy deer pressure, periodic problems, and high maintenance costs for a considerable period of time. Many deer fence owners have never become attuned to maintenance the way car owners have. The typical new car buyer doesn’t say “I’ve invested a good deal in this equipment, so now let it maintain itself.” But that is precisely what many new deer fence owners seem to say. In general, maintaining a new deer fence is not so involved or costly as maintaining a new car. But there are certain basic things that must be done, and if they are not done the deer fence’s effectiveness will diminish and the fence itself may fail. To begin with, all deer fences need to be periodically inspected. Angle-iron posts need to be inspected for rust regularly and touched up with rust-preventive paint (see item 15-08). Plastic deer fences must be searched for the small holes that rabbits and woodchucks make, so that these can be repaired before deer find and enlarge them. Whether the fence is plastic or metal, a lane 6 feet out from it in both directions needs to be kept clear of branches and encroaching vegetation. In addition, all deer fences need to be kept free of vines and fallen limbs, and any point along the fence where things have come apart as a result of deer assault or other events needs to be repaired. This is a significant point–because it turns out that when deer get inside a well-built fence it is often because a tree or dead limb has come down on a section of the fence, and the deer have simply stepped over the offending tree or branch and the fence. It is also worth noting that when metal hexagrid fence sustains a major blow, the fence first stretches and deforms on the bottom and then sags at the top. This can usually be repaired quickly and easily with an angle-iron post and a few heavy-duty zip-lock ties. Vines growing on the fence are of special concern, and it is not enough to merely cut them at the base and kill them–for dead vines can catch snow and ice in winter to an extent that the weight causes even a metal fence to buckle. Of course, extensive vine growth is hard to pull out in summer without damaging the fence, so in this circumstance the best tactic is to first cut the vines at the bottom. Then come back a few days later, when the leaves have died, and extract the dead vines from the fence. Other common-sense maintenance activities are as follows: Inspect the fence regularly, and also inspect it after any high wind. Following winter storms, especially ice storms, inspect the fence to make sure it is still up and to remove any accumulated snow and ice–something that should be done qingerly in the case of plastic fence in order to avoid damaging the fence. Also, remember to inspect all monofilament lines once a year or so and to tighten any that have stretched. All this sounds like more work than it is. With rare exception the inspection and repair activities outlined above take little time. However, they are vital. Failure to perform them invites failure of the fence. On the positive side, if a properly installed deer fence is well inspected and maintained, it will generally perform well and will defend reliably against deer for many years. |
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McGregor Fence Co. 508-888-8305