Deer Repellents and Fencing

Richard Haard richrd@nas.com
Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:49:13 PDT
We have seen deer jump over 6 foot fence. We tried electric fence with hot wires alternating with ground wire, 6 inch spacing, and the deer leap directly at the fence passing through in a moment. Much money spent here protecting our 30 acre nursery. Finally, we put up a 8 foot plastic fence designed for elk, completely surrounding our 30 acre field. This worked only after we staked down the bottom of the perimeter fence to the soil. On a deer trail, and distracted by a predator a deer will crash into the fence and break through the stiff plastic fencing. It must hurt because is unusual. We solved by placing flags in the fence at these places. Where ground is higher beyond the 8 foot fence the deer can still jump over. 

On regular basis they somehow get in. This requires a deer roundup and herding to an exit gate. We have installed a cattle guard at our entrance and deer will not cross. It is a prefabricated reinforced concrete unit.

In another field, for protecting a seed crop we build a bird net box around blooming plants. This works very well. Also simply laying loose birdnet on top of the plants  much reduces the damage. Deer get tangled and stay away.

Bellingham, Wa.
On Oct 9, 2011, at 12:16 PM, Rodger Whitlock wrote:

> Difficulty and caveat: I've only *heard* this and can't vouch that it's true. 
> Anyone able to comment?




More information about the pbs mailing list