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  • From: pech <pech9 AT rocketmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Deer Fencing
  • Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:10:59 -0800 (PST)

I use 4 or 5 strands of 1/2 inch electric "tape" ( black and white), bated with peanut butter wrapped in aluminum foil around my 2 acre garden and haven't had a deer since I've been here.  The fence is only 5.5 foot tall and a deer could easily jump it but they won't because of the pain of the bait. The trick is to move the deer path around your plot, so they won't be forced to jump. I watched where their path was (right thru the middle of the garden) and bated heavily at that spot and lighter toward the ends. Once they get the shock and associate the smell of peanut better with pain they avoid it and walk around. Deer are creatures of habit and once you move their path it stays that away.
 
I have 30' of open space around the garden so the deer can still get by. I don't think that's a magic number but I do think it's important not to fence them in.
 
I got all my stuff from Premiere, but I have sheep as well and use their eloctonet for coyotes.
 
T post at the corner and at gates and a tomato stake with an insulator every 12' or so should do it. I use fiberglass rods instead of tomato stakes because it's easier, but also costly. The rods came from Kencove
 
last year I had a lightning strike and was down to one strand out of 4 for half of the year and had no problem. This year I'm going to three strands because I feel I have my population of deer trained, if that's possible, to what goes on in the field.  
 
Oh yeah they say you want to set your bait at nose level to the average deer in your area, good luck with that.....
 
I hope this makes sense and you can use it...
 
Have Fun
Dave
z6a


From: Richard Robinson <rrobinson AT nasw.org>
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thu, January 21, 2010 11:04:43 AM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Deer Fencing

On Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:51:58 -0600, Marie Kamphefner wrote:
> Regards to the list:
>
> We need to install deer fencing around our garden area. Where is a good place
> to start looking for something that won’t cost an arm and a leg?

I have used two kinds of deer fencing. The tall plastic fencing is very effective, but a bit pricey. Try Kencove. I think the heavier weight is probably worth it in the long run, though the lighter weight seems to be holding up OK.

I've had surprising success this past year with a double run of wire fence, spaced three feet apart. The inner one is non-electric, with two strands, at about 24" and 48". The outer one is electrified, with three strands at 16", 32", and 48". For the outer, I used a run of white horse tape for the middle wire to increase visibility; I'm not sure it has done any good, but it does nicely outline the massive enclosure I've created! The theory is that the electricity keeps them from pushing through, the total width keeps them jumping over, and the narrow space keeps them from jumping in and then jumping out.

--
Richard Robinson
http://www.nasw.org/users/rrobinson/






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