DEER CONTROL FENCE INSTALLATION: EARLY STEPS 1
EARLY STEPS: POST AND FENCE SETUP The Advantages of Trees for Deer Fence Trees make the best supports for deer fencing, because they are both strong and natural. When you set up a deer control fence you want to keep things looking as natural as possible, so that the deer fencing fades into near-invisibility for both deer and people. Trees are admirably suited to this purpose, and if the deer control fence zig-zags a bit as it goes from tree to tree, so much the better. Trees are also the best supports because they are strong, durable, and well-anchored. Select only healthy trees that have bare trunks, or at least no major branches from the ground up to the top of the fence (usually seven feet) on that side of the tree facing outward toward the deer. Polypropylene deer fencing, which is light, can run as much as 30 feet (in extreme cases) from one tree to the next with no intermediate support, though 20 feet is the maximum recommended and 15 feet is the norm. Our metal hexagrid deer fencing, a product developed by the Deer DeFence Company, is heavier and needs to be supported every 15 feet. So if you are setting the metal fence into a place where trees are, say, 30 feet apart, you can attach the fence to the two trees and then come back and set up a support post halfway between them. Attach both metal hexagrid and polypropylene fencing to trees on the outer side of the trees (the side facing the deer). Do this loosely with U-nails (items 17-01 and 17-02), using no more U-nails than necessary–something like 5 per tree. Be sure (this is very important) to leave a flap of deer fencing at the bottom of the fence on the ground, extending outward toward the deer. This flap should be 6 inches long, which means that a 90-inch (7.5 foot) section of deer fencing will yield a deer control fence with a final (finished) height of approximately 7 feet. If a hole, ditch, or dip causes a flap-consuming space to appear under the fence, you can simply add a piece of cut fence to the bottom. |
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