permaculture

[Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>]

First of all, Home Depot is an evil box store that drains money out of the 
local community- not a very good permaculture practice to shop there.
   
  Deer vary tremendously in their behavior around fencing.  Sometimes two 
little four foot barriers about 4 ft apart will work, sometimes a 6 ft fence, 
sometimes an 8ft fence.  The topography and vegetation also affects how 
effective a fence is.  If the deer are on the downhill side of a fence on a 
slope, it is harder for them to jump it.  Tree branches along the fenceline 
and above the fence also reinforce the barrier.  Deer don't seem to care 
about getting shocked unless the power is ridiculously high.  You end up 
having to build a full-on metal fence anyway.
   
  If you have money to buy lots of fence posts and wire fencing like what 
Larry described, it could be the best long-term solution, although in the 
West, 6ft fencing usually works by itself if you stretch another wire a foot 
above it.  Sometimes another wire a foot above that is necessary.  The 
relatively new plastic deer fencing is very effective and requires fewer 
posts.  It lasts a long time, especially in the shade, is invisible, and can 
be recycled.  It generally needs to be pinned to the ground every so often.  
I would say this is superior to metal fencing where you have lots of trees 
around already.  I have used it on deer freeways in suburbia and have had no 
problems.
   
  My friend has problems with rabbits, wild pigs, and bobcats, so she's using 
three feet 2 in guage chicken wire on the bottom portion of the fence, with 
one foot of it laying on the outer portion of the ground.  It hangs from a 
wire stretched along posts put in about 15 ft or more apart.  Then she 
stretches another wire at 7 or 8 ft and hangs 6 ft or higher plastic mesh 
deer fencing (it looks like bird netting and is cheaper than the stuff 
mentioned above).  This is a very effective and cheap method.  I am thinking 
about doing something similar, only I plan to get 8 ft high plastic deer mesh 
and cut it in half, resulting in a 6ft high fence that I can string one or 
two wires above to increase the effective height.  My place is on a plateau 
so that the deer are below the fence and have to jump higher to clear it.
   
  I don't like having noisy, hungry, and stinky dogs around, but if you like 
dogs and can train one well, it can keep all sorts of creatures away, if that 
is what you want.  And if you feed it foods from the site, it could be a much 
more sustainable option than an energy-intensive fence.
   
  Good luck,
   
  Rain

                
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