Experience with deer fence?

[OverlyRun]

Deer ate all but one of the ten apple trees I planted two years ago and I am ready to try again. I've discovered a fencing that is black polypropylene mesh (3/4"), comes in 7' X 100' rolls. Has anyone got any experience with this? I want to enclose an area that is probably 100' square (rather than try to put something around each tree).

The fencing seems pretty light duty....but I think it has the advantage of being light to work with and not much of an eyesore as the woven wire I wrestled with around each tree(the black poly disappears to the eye from a distance). Putting in a set of posts would be realtively straightforward (dig 16 post holes).

Has anyone used this? To good effect? Got a better way of protecting tasty young trees from deer (besides moving out to the farm permanently and letting the dogs do what they are meant to)?

Though it is late this year to be planting new trees, I hope to get something done in the next two weeks.

Chas

 

[Anonymous Poster]

No,I know what your talking about as far as the plastic fencing,but I've never used it.Seven ft.might be high enough but a deer can jump that height if he wants to,it might be enough to discouage them though.You might want to tie some white strips of cloth or something on the top every 4 or 5 ft.,they will blow in the wind.I'd say you would need a fence of close to 9 ft. to keep them from jumping it if they really wanted to,which generally if there is other food handy,they won't try your 7 ft. fence,Electric fencing might be another thought,one strand low set out a deers length from one strand high,or something like that,a deer ,when hes not rushed, likes to walk right up to the fence and jump it basicly from a standing or walking start.They have killed a lot of my trees as well,but not from eating them,the little bucks in the early fall,rub the bark off of them and the bigger bucks can totally distroy them,[little trees that is]. RICHARD GAUTHIER

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I've been told deer won't jump when they can't see the landing site. I know they're blonds, but let's give them some credit. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

What would be interesting would be to try a sight barrier that covers the normal standing stance of a deer. It would only have to cover an area about three feet. Here in Texas we have these beautiful antlered things called deer that are not any larger than a decent goat. A fence five feet high with the top half opaque might do the trick for them.

Heck we might have a new product to create! Of course that would put some buds out of business. They make their living putting in game fences around the country.

Of course I'm not sure about them crawling underneath it though. I do know goats can go under a fence like nothing you've ever seen. They are amazing.

 

[Boondox]

Chas -- My wife used that stuff around the garden. It seemed to work...but then one morning pretty much everything had been eaten down to the nubs! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Plan B was to enclose that fence with another fence four feet out that consisted of nothing but a few strands of fishing line. We actually saw this work -- neat stuff. Before jumping a fence the deer like to get close to size it up. But the fishing line, which seemed to be invisible to them, really spooked them. They could have walked right thru it and in several cases they actually broke it, but it kept them away from the real fence and so they never even tried to jump.

The other option we had success with was enclosing the garden with a double row of chicken wire spaced four feet apart and putting chickens in there. Again, not sure why it worked. Could have been the movement of the birds or the smell of their manure hiding the scent of potential danger. Didn't matter since it worked. But with this method you have to keep the wings clipped or the chickens will do as much damage to the crops -- especially ripe tomatoes.

By the way, none of the old remedies (human hair, dog fur, coyote pee, soap, blood meal) seemed to bother our whitetails.

Pete

 

[rancar]

I've found good, old fashioned barking dogs to be the only tried and true remedy to control (but not eliminate) our deer population. Nothing else seems to work for me. Fences, chemical retardent spray-ons, and everything else touted as deer control strategies.....the deer just find a way to get around these.

Fifteen years ago I had hopes of starting a Christmas tree farm but even the barking dogs couldn't be out all the time. I lost pretty much all the tree seedlings I put in. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

...Bob

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I've visited tree/shrub nurseries in my state (WI) that look like prison camps, with acres and acres surrounded by 10 ft. high fence to keep the deer out. I have a 6 ft. wire fence around a 1/3 acre perennial nursery. Shade cloth is stretched over this area during the growing season, which makes a pretty "solid looking" structure. Deer walk around it, but have never tried to invade it as far as I can tell ... and there are alot of their favorite plants inside. The shade cloth gets rolled up in the fall, but fortunately I've never had any deer jump the fence and come in after the "roof" is removed. I like to think that once they get used to the idea of not being in the area during the growing season, it carries over through the winter. I KNOW they can jump a 6 ft. fence, but so far (6 years) they just haven't tried. They just keep walking around it all winter, too. Lots of deer tracks in the snow outside the fence, but none inside. I guess all it would take is one young buck with a smart idea to jump in and next thing you know I'd have a whole herd in there stomping on my containers and chomping on green leaves beneath the snow. Hopefully seven feet of plastic mesh will give your deer the idea they can't get inside. I agree it's alot easier to work with. Unfortunately, you'll be fencing them out for years, until the trees get tall enough, or forever if you have dwarf varieties. I'm not sure where most of the investment is, the trees or the fence and posts, but if it's in the trees, maybe I'd plant just two or three trees again this year to test and see if the fence will work at keeping the deer out. Of course, one young buck with a smart idea can turn what seemed like a good fence into a bad fence a few years down the road, and there go your trees again. I've heard but never tested the theory that deer are "high jumpers" and not "broad jumpers," meaning two shorter (4 ft. outer, 6 ft. inner) fences spaced two to three feet apart will deter them better than one taller fence. Maybe some year I'll investigate. Best of luck with whatever you try.
Bernie

 

[Chuck52]

Chas,

I have the same problem with my fruit trees. Right now I've got cages around each tree, but I want to plant several more and don't want to have all those separate enclosures to deal with. What I'm planning is a picket fence made of 6' treated dog-ear slats on stringers between 4x4 posts. I'll space pickets at one foot and have them about 6" off the ground. The fence will then be about 6.5' tall. I figure I can use all treated lumber and stain it a nice brown, and it will then look OK in the landscape. The trees will be close enough to the fence that they will themselves help to form a barrier to the deer jumping in. The spacing of the pickets should also allow plenty of light in. This fence should also be fairly cheap, since the slats are about $1.00 each and the other components are relatively inexpensive.

Now, I've gone a different route with my garden. I have a 60" KK tiller that I work my garden plot with, so I like to have full access and don't want a permanent fence. The location of the garden makes a permanent fence unhandy too. So, I'm using 5x16' cattle panels held up by 6.5' t-posts. It's easy to pull the posts, which are sunk only just to the cross plates, and the panels are held on by clips. Of course 5' is nothing to a deer, so I wired 2' extensions of pvc to each post and ran a nylon coerd along that with plastic grocery sacks between each post. Those sacks, even cut to avoid catching rain, really flap in the breeze. No deer so far. Knock on wood.

Chuck

 

[Boondox]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I've found good, old fashioned barking dogs to be the only tried and true remedy )</font>

Heck, my dogs think deer droppings are better than Tootsie Rolls! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Pete

 

[OverlyRun]

Well it's good to see I'm not alone in this battle.....

The idea of distracting them with a fishline barrier or other distraction short of the real fence is intersting. The packaging for the fencing suggests hanging it at an angle, and indeed a foot off the ground, leaning out. This way you get seven+ feet of height (7+1-loss to the angle). Presumably the deer hit it with their heads first and can't shoulder up to it and press through it.

The fence is pretty cheap, and putting posts in is pretty quick (ten minutes to dig a hole 24 inches deep). And the trees are about $25 bucks. So the real cost is the time putting the trees in, watering them and the lost time in doing it all again after they become deer brunch. So I'll probably put the whole setup in. But the suggestions you guys have for ways to dissuade the pole vaulters are very much appreicated.

The idea of a second row of barrier...making it difficult for them to see where they'll land is interesting....suggests that a sight barrier...fish line with ribbons waving?....set a few feet out might be the easiest to implement....espeically if it could be set so that the lawn mower could run under it (this part of the field is smooth enough to mow with the ride-on...don't need the rotary cutter).

Against all of my plans are the boss's idea that our view ought no tbe marred by more of my construction projects and that the deer really are cute. They haven't been eating her perennials yet.

Progress report and photo's in a few weeks (assuming I can get this project off the ground).

Thanks for all the good ideas.

Chas

 

[Schultz]

I've been using a 6' fence (two 3' sections of green garden fence) around my garden for five years now without any deer jumping the fence. I've seen them walk all around the fence but none have jumped it.
Just before I put it up I read an article in Michigan Out of Doors on a study done by the DNR, and I decided on a 6' fence. They did the study under normal circumstances, meaning they didn't have a female in heat and a crazed buck on the other side, and they weren&#8217;t caged deer. My numbers are likely off a little, but they mentioned something like the following:

4' fence -- deer will jump it at will to get what they want
5' fence -- deer will jump it 50% of the time, or may just walk along it until an opening
6' fence -- 90 or 95% of the deer will not jump it
7' fence -- 95 or 97% wont jump it
8' fence -- 98-99% won&#8217;t jump it
10' fence --- 100% wont bother with it.
So, the extra work and expense beyond 7' doesn't buy much.

I too have had problems keeping the buds, leaves, & new shoots on my fruit trees. The trees have now out grown the 4' diameter cages I started them in. I'm in the process of putting up stakes with black deer netting around the dozen dwarf fruit trees I have. I'm using 8' rebar that I paint dark green. I drive four rebars in around the tree to 6' high and tie wrap the netting to the rebar stakes. At one end of the neeting I use a couple velcro wraps so I can get in a pick the fruit or prune the tree. It's worked so far this season, and you don't see it from a distance. I don't know how long the netting will last, but it&#8217;s rather inexpensive, so if I get 3-4 years out of it I'll be pleased.

 

[DocHeb]

For the same price, you could get 6 1/2 to 7 feet by putting the two three-foot fences up with a 1 foot space between them. This would probably require taller posts, however. Are you growing any corn? Are you bothered by racoons or groundhogs? I'm hoping that the racoons will be distracted by the acres of feed corn around us and leave my sweet corn alone, but I'm already planning for the deer!

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

I had problems with the deer getting my fruit trees, so I made hoops about 4-5' in DIA to go around the trees. Now, the interesting thing is that I didn't have enough fencing to hoop all the trees, so It's only the trees around the outside and a few in the middle that have the hoops.

Since doing it, I've had deer nibble a little on the trees around the outside edge, but not enter and chew on the trees in the middle. Deer tracks come right up to the edge of the area, skirt around it and go off again. I think the deer are afraid to come inside because they fear they will be trapped between the hoops.

It appears to go area by area. The deer in some areas are unafraid of certain fencing/deterrents, and the deer in other areas are unafraid of different ones. One smart deer can teach a lot of others.

Steve

 

[OverlyRun]

Before I came to this point, I had 4 ft high woven wire cattle fence in 6-foot diameter circles around each fruit tree...and a "tent" of fence over the top of the circle. Despite this, the deer reached in and got every bud, every shoot. They did not discrimminate between the periphery or the heart of my little orchard. The trees are now gone (see post#1) and I have about a dozen unused circles of heavy duty woven wire cattle fence looking for a different use.

This leads me to want to fence in a larger area that keeps the deer far away from the trees altogether. The lightweight polypropelene is LOTS easier to work with than cutting the wire fence. I like the idea of using two three-foot sections separated by a space to gain some height....and get that last 3% of deterrence.

We have woodchuks and rabbits too, but a sleeve of mesh or something around the first 24" of trunk will protect against that.

It must be a mesure of how bad the other trees taste that the deer go to all the trouble to get the apple trees.

Chas

 

[TresCrows]

Get some monofiliment and run it in all directions so as to create an invisible maze. They hate the stuff and get spooked when something touches them they cannot see and every which way they run they hit some more of it. That coupled with plastic bags tieied to the trees and tin cans and repellent and wire cages around the trees seems to work somewhat. J

 

[JerryG]

monofiliment
As crazy as it sounds, it does work. I live in a rural area on the edge of a state wildlife management area. The deer are everywhere. Monofiliment around the garden is the only thing that we have found that will work. We just run it between post like wire, usually two strands. The only bad thing about using it is that when they get into it, they will break it and you will have to put it up again.

 

[DocHeb]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The only bad thing about using it is that when they get into it, they will break it and you will have to put it up again )</font>

That sounds like a lot of maintenance. Do you think they will keep breaking a strand of electic fence smeared with peanut butter? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(
It must be a mesure of how bad the other trees taste that the deer go to all the trouble to get the apple trees.

Chas )</font>

Before I put up the hoops, they bit a couple of mine in half. Left the tops hanging and walked away.

Steve