White Tailed Deer PressureA more general concern of fence builders is the degree of pressure from white tailed deer or other deer species (most notably black tail deer and elk). The presence of lots of white tailed deer in the neighborhood of a deer fence makes it more likely that deer will periodically bump into the deer fence, become familiar with it, and try to penetrate it–not so much by jumping as by punching a hole in the deer fencing or more commonly by finding small available holes made by rabbits or ground hogs that they can then enlarge by pushing through (see The Deer-Small Animal Combo). Of course, white tailed deer pressure tends to get focused when the deer have an established path cut by the line of the deer fence. If a small rarely used white tailed deer path crosses the path of your intended deer fence, that’s not a major problem. But if the path looks like it was made by a herd of buffalo (but you know it was made by white tailed deer) then the path is a big factor you must respect–even to the extent of letting the deer have their path and erecting your deer fencing on either side of it (see Installation: Dealing with Deer Paths). Getting back to deer fence penetration (something that mainly afflicts polypropylene deer fencing), the bucks with antlers generally are no problem. They usually aren’t around–typically being very reclusive and wary of both human habitations and unfamiliar territory. The problem is the does and fawns. They are not so wary (perhaps because they are less hunted), so they are much more likely to be near the fence, to lunge at it if frightened, or to punch right through a plastic fence with their noses They do this relatively rarely (they are much more likely to enlarge and ease through established holes made by small animals), but occasionally they take this more direct approach. |
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