[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)Š
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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