deer in my garden
 

i have tried everything! now, i am ready to put up an electric fence
to keep them out. any advice would be greatly appreciated. how high
does an electric fence need to be? 4 feet? 6 feet? 8 feet? and
how far apart do the strands of wire need to be? 6"? 12"?

thanks in advance.

wayne

deer in my garden
 

On Thu, 03 Apr 2003 16:57:19 GMT, Wayne wrote:

i have tried everything! now, i am ready to put up an electric fence
to keep them out. any advice would be greatly appreciated. how high
does an electric fence need to be? 4 feet? 6 feet? 8 feet? and
how far apart do the strands of wire need to be? 6"? 12"?

There is no point putting strands of 'hot wire' above about four feet
since the deer will have its feet off the ground and will not get
shocked. I have three strands of tape (instead of wire) because it
has better visibality and flutters in the breeze. They are placed at
approximately 16", 32", & 48" from the ground. {You can also run a
ground wire between the strands of hot wire and that will allow
'airborne' animals to get a shock (though they may wreck the fence the
first time, they probably won't try it a second time)). I then have
a strand of twine at about 60" (above the last hot strand). I also
run a single strand of twine (not electrified) at 24" high on separate
posts about two feet outside the electric fence. The purpose of this
strand it to make deer 'uncomfortable' standing near the electric
fence where they would gather themselves to make a jump over the much
higher fence.

I found this approach much cheaper than constructing a sturdy, six
foot wire fence (folks in elk country need an even taller, stronger
fence. Don't know about keeping out moose...

This has worked very well for me. We have lots of deer and in the
autum when things get dry they eat everything that isn't protected
(except the juniper bushes).

Best of luck. Remember, YMMV.

Jim

deer in my garden
 

Jim wrote:
On Thu, 03 Apr 2003 16:57:19 GMT, Wayne wrote:


i have tried everything! now, i am ready to put up an electric fence
to keep them out. any advice would be greatly appreciated. how high
does an electric fence need to be? 4 feet? 6 feet? 8 feet? and
how far apart do the strands of wire need to be? 6"? 12"?


I'd suggest checking with your local officials, having an electric
fence may well be illegal. Put up a fence high enough and made so
that the deer can't see through or over it and they won't jump it.

--
Steve

deer in my garden
 

On Thu, 03 Apr 2003 18:52:31 GMT,
(Jim) wrote:



I found this approach much cheaper than constructing a sturdy, six
foot wire fence (folks in elk country need an even taller, stronger
fence. Don't know about keeping out moose...


I think moose pretty much go wherever they want to....

Pat

deer in my garden
 

An easy solution might help, depending on how large your garden is.

I was having a lot of bites an hoof-marks in my 15' x 25' garden.

Then I put up poles around the perimeter, and strung white cord around it,
leaving as much as 9 inches between each winding-around. They go up about 3
feet high... and since I've had no bites or any hoof-marks.

the strings also don't block much sunlight at all, and are pretty darn
inexpensive.

my belief is that the deer don't think they have enough space to run and
jump in, because of the height of the fence and the small-size of the garden
in which to land


voles/moles are my next issue, hopefully done by relocating them

jon
PA zone 6b



"Wayne" wrote in message
...
i have tried everything! now, i am ready to put up an electric fence
to keep them out. any advice would be greatly appreciated. how high
does an electric fence need to be? 4 feet? 6 feet? 8 feet? and
how far apart do the strands of wire need to be? 6"? 12"?

thanks in advance.

wayne

deer in my garden
 

I have 6ft with 3 strands barb above totaling 8ft above ground, when they
"want" in they jump between the barb ! :-(,,, told ,, add 2nd fence
inside,,, am putting 4 ft fence 4ft inside will put 2" tape (visability) on
it,,,, 50-60% of harvest is NOT theirs!
FWIW,,,, good luck!,,, ed sitting in Sac Ca,,, zone 9

"Wayne" wrote in message
...
i have tried everything! now, i am ready to put up an electric fence
to keep them out. any advice would be greatly appreciated. how high
does an electric fence need to be? 4 feet? 6 feet? 8 feet? and
how far apart do the strands of wire need to be? 6"? 12"?

thanks in advance.

wayne

deer in my garden
 

I have one strand at about 24 inches, and another at about 42 inches. In
theory, deer could easily jump over this, but in 10 years they never have.
I also put two wires down low at about 3 inches and 7 inches for groundhogs.
This also works quite well, although it's absolutely essential to keep grass
off the lower wires for fences that aren't powerful enough to kill
vegetation.

Every now and then some poor little skunk blunders into the lower wires
during his nightly grub run. The results are both memorable and
spectacular. :)

Go to a good farm supply store, and take a look around. It's not too hard
once you see the parts involved. You will need a controller, and something
to mount it on. Also some kind of fence posts or rods, insulators, fence
wire, maybe a grounding rod & clamp, and perhaps some hookup wire. You
don't have to build a gate - they have a nifty spring loaded insulator to
open and close the fence.

Good luck! Wacko!


"Wayne" wrote in message
...
i have tried everything! now, i am ready to put up an electric fence
to keep them out. any advice would be greatly appreciated. how high
does an electric fence need to be? 4 feet? 6 feet? 8 feet? and
how far apart do the strands of wire need to be? 6"? 12"?

thanks in advance.

wayne

deer in my garden
 

Hi Jim & All,
I would like to add that I also have a set up like Wacko's. I use off the
shelf electric fencer posts and use wooden posts (with insulators) at
corners, in 4-5 years not one deer have I had in my plot. It's interesting
to see them walk round the boundary of the fence, at a respectful distance.
They could almost just step over these fences but it seems that when they
have had a shock, they keep their distance!
Best Regards
Stephen
~

Wacko! wrote in message
.. .
I have one strand at about 24 inches, and another at about 42 inches. In
theory, deer could easily jump over this, but in 10 years they never have.
I also put two wires down low at about 3 inches and 7 inches for
groundhogs.
This also works quite well, although it's absolutely essential to keep
grass
off the lower wires for fences that aren't powerful enough to kill
vegetation.

Every now and then some poor little skunk blunders into the lower wires
during his nightly grub run. The results are both memorable and
spectacular. :)

Go to a good farm supply store, and take a look around. It's not too hard
once you see the parts involved. You will need a controller, and
something
to mount it on. Also some kind of fence posts or rods, insulators, fence
wire, maybe a grounding rod & clamp, and perhaps some hookup wire. You
don't have to build a gate - they have a nifty spring loaded insulator to
open and close the fence.

Good luck! Wacko!


"Wayne" wrote in message
...
i have tried everything! now, i am ready to put up an electric fence
to keep them out. any advice would be greatly appreciated. how high
does an electric fence need to be? 4 feet? 6 feet? 8 feet? and
how far apart do the strands of wire need to be? 6"? 12"?

thanks in advance.

wayne

deer in my garden
 

How tall is a sheep fence?


On Sun, 6 Apr 2003 23:54:12 +1000, "Mike Stickney"
wrote:

Wayne,
In case you do not get any replies from more knowledgable people I will
relate my observations while working on a small farm in the Hebrides many
years ago. Deer would jump the sheep fences and walls to get at the turnips
grown on the inbye land. The farmer had great success by running one strand
of electric wire above the sheep fences.
Mike Stickney
"Wayne" wrote in message
. ..
i have tried everything! now, i am ready to put up an electric fence
to keep them out. any advice would be greatly appreciated. how high
does an electric fence need to be? 4 feet? 6 feet? 8 feet? and
how far apart do the strands of wire need to be? 6"? 12"?

thanks in advance.

wayne

deer in my garden
 

In article , Steve Calvin
wrote:

I'd suggest checking with your local officials, having an electric
fence may well be illegal. Put up a fence high enough and made so
that the deer can't see through or over it and they won't jump it.

Where do you live? Around here it is a very common method of keeping
farm animals in their place.

--
--Chip
remove dots in prefix to fix email address


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deer in my garden
 

Chip G. wrote:
In article , Steve Calvin
wrote:


I'd suggest checking with your local officials, having an electric
fence may well be illegal. Put up a fence high enough and made so
that the deer can't see through or over it and they won't jump it.


Where do you live? Around here it is a very common method of keeping
farm animals in their place.


grew up in NW PA but in upstate NY for the last 29 years. If I put up
an e. fence around my garden and some little kid got shocked, they'd
"own" our house.

--
Steve

deer in my garden
 

In article , Steve Calvin
wrote:

grew up in NW PA but in upstate NY for the last 29 years. If I put up
an e. fence around my garden and some little kid got shocked, they'd
"own" our house.

Post your yard as "no trespassing" ... then if the kid gets shocked you
own their property.

--
--Chip
remove dots in prefix to fix email address


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----

deer in my garden
 

Chip G. wrote:
In article , Steve Calvin
wrote:


grew up in NW PA but in upstate NY for the last 29 years. If I put up
an e. fence around my garden and some little kid got shocked, they'd
"own" our house.


Post your yard as "no trespassing" ... then if the kid gets shocked you
own their property.


Not in this "right wing" state.....

--
Steve

deer in my garden
 

Chip G. wrote:
In article , Steve Calvin
wrote:


grew up in NW PA but in upstate NY for the last 29 years. If I put up
an e. fence around my garden and some little kid got shocked, they'd
"own" our house.


Post your yard as "no trespassing" ... then if the kid gets shocked you
own their property.


Not in this liberal state... believe me. They'd say, "But a child
can't read..."

--
Steve

deer in my garden
 

In ,
Steve Calvin wrote:

*Chip G. wrote:
* In article , Steve Calvin
* wrote:
*
*
*grew up in NW PA but in upstate NY for the last 29 years. If I put up
*an e. fence around my garden and some little kid got shocked, they'd
*"own" our house.
*
*
* Post your yard as "no trespassing" ... then if the kid gets shocked you
* own their property.
*
*
*Not in this liberal state... believe me. They'd say, "But a child
*can't read..."

Wow. I got shocked on a neighbor's electric fence (which was keeping in
farm animals) in suburban Philadelphia PA, about 20 years ago. No one
thought to do anything except reprimand me for touching the fence in the
first place!

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
newly minted veterinarian-at-large :)