[Market-farming] Deer Fencing experiences
Allan Balliett
aballiett at frontiernet.net
Fri May 9 15:25:33 EDT 2008
http://www.premier1supplies.com
Premier Fencing on Deer:
Deer
Why anti-deer fences work (and fail)
The best anti-deer electric fence will fail if it
is installed at the wrong time, on the wrong site
or managed without an awareness of how a deer
herd interacts with your fenced area and the new
fence. The keys are:
1. The only 100% deer barrier is an 8 ft tall woven wire fence or a solid wall.
But that option is costly. Hence electric fences.
They rely upon a powerful shock to persuade deer
to neither jump nor penetrate a fence. Because
they aren't physical barriers, electric deer
fences require an understanding of deer behavior
and more maintenance.
2. Deer are creatures of habit.
Where they choose to feed, rub, walk and breed
are habits learned over time. It's reinforced
every time they do it safely. Fencing a deer herd
from an area or trail they use often forces the
herd to break an ingrained habit. That is why the
first day and week of denial of use (by a fence)
is the most critical. Once a herd's daily pattern
is broken, the change in feeding/walking/rubbing
routines and location is easier to maintain.
3. Deer make "cost-benefit" decisions about
feeding sites, trails and rubbing trees.
Pain barriers use electric shock to raise the
"cost" (the degree of risk and effort to use an
area)--and persuade deer that it is safer and
less painful to feed, rub or trail elsewhere.
(You won't persuade starving deer if your site is
its only food source for deer.)
4. Pain barriers work best when the deer are
tentative and have time to make a decision.
That's why it's important to identify deer trails
entering a new exclusion area and interrupt them
with something physical (e.g. a brush pile) where
the trail approaches the fence. Do this the day
the fence is installed. The key is to make them
tentative.
5. Don't hunt near the fence.
Frightened animals do not make normal decisions.
Once deer learn that they can leap over or crawl
under a fence, they're more likely to do so when
not frightened. A habit once begun is costly to
stop.
6. Don't fence the entire area all at once.
The intent is to change the herd's "habits." So
install a new fence around a small area first.
Leave it in place for 2 weeks. The local deer
herd will encounter it, learn to avoid it and
instead feed or rub in other areas. Then
progressively expand the enclosed area until 100%
is protected.
7. Deer interpret a fence in their terms.
Their world is black, white and shades of gray.
Therefore barriers that contrast with their view
of their world are the most visible to deer--and
most likely to get their attention.
Warning! There's a natural urge, for those whose
property and lives have been harmed by deer, to
buy the largest energizer possible (a
subconscious desire for revenge, perhaps?). We
strongly advise that you restrain this impulse if
those unfamiliar with electric fences (public,
children, visitors) might encounter the fence.
Why? Because high-output energizers do pose a
risk to humans (though far less than sharks,
ladders, knives, guns, cars, lightning and lethal
jellyfish, but nonetheless a risk). Electrified
anti-deer fences do work. But you must buy,
build, use and maintain them intelligently
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