I’m looking for a low cost per foot solution to reduce deer browsing. I think I’ve settled on the following as possible options.
The challenge for my area of interest is that I’m allowed 8’ fencing except for the ‘front yard’ where I’m allowed 4’. I also don’t want a terrible eyesore for the new neighbors.
I am leaning towards a double fence, with 2- 4’ systems in parallel. Inside would be a wooden post line with 8’ spacing, woven wire field fencing, and stainless clips and screws to hold on the fence.
Outside would be t-posts with an electric fence run on solar + battery.
Alternatively, I could pound 12’ pipes into the ground and string 2- 4’ wire fences where I’m allowed.
Any better ideas?
I can find treated posts for $850/100 pack (FB marketplace), wire is $250/ 330’ at TSC, and clips + screws were about $8/ 100 set (Temu). This works out to about $1.73/ft plus my labor to install.
I figure if I get the good stuff for posts, with ground contact I have at least 10 years before major maintenance challenges. I can auger a hole and push them in with either an excavator or sds max drill with a custom cup attachment (I’ll weld something).
Any thoughts? I want to get something in quickly and efficiently but not be penny wise and dollar foolish.
Lowest cost option I can think of is the tallest T-posts I can find + plastic bird netting. I don’t know if that is a viable solution for more than a year or two.
I have a similar restriction on fence height for the front yard, but 4 foot fences aren’t going to keep an even slightly motivated deer out. My solution was to cheat a bit and install 6 foot posts with 4-foot deer wire. And then I strung cables every ~6 inches above that to bring the total height to almost 6 ft without adding much visual obstruction. I actually used some poly cord that almost looks like metal wire instead of real tensioned wire. Cuts down on the cost a lot and with the much lower weight it doesn’t need nearly as much tension to prevent sagging. Holding up well for several years now but probably won’t last as long as steel.
At first I had the whole fence made just out of this tensioned cord, but the deer eventually learned to push through the bottom sections of the fence. But with the 4 foot solid section of welded wire at the bottom they’ve been deterred completely.
It looks pretty decent, nobody has complained, and if there ever were an issue I could just pull down the wires and leave the rest of the fence up without too much trouble. I think having the whole fence pretty easy to look through helps prevent any neighbors from wondering about how high the fence is allowed to be.
Maybe you can cheat by creating height with a trellis in the front? The more charming/interesting it is the less chance of people complaining and it technically is not a fence! Plant it with a deer resistant cash crop,(kiwi?)
I have used 7ft high plastic deer fence that looked exactly the same as the stuff on the link you posted. At first it seemed to work, then the deer figured out if they stuck their heads under it and pushed upwards they could rip the plastic fencing from the zap straps used to secure it to the fence t-posts. The deer simply went under it once they figured out they could force their way under.
How much spacing are you proposing between the two fences? I think you would need at least 5’ or at least my deer would just jump over both, and you would need a way to make sure the deer know the inner fence is there and it is scary.
There is also a real problem that you put up the fence and the deer then eventually figure out they can jump it. I have had countless deer deterrents work great for two months. Three months though, forget it! Once they figure it out all the deer learn and you are munched to bits. I haven’t heard of any 100% reliable deer fence other than a very tall very impenetrable one.
I wrapped my apple tree with it using zip ties to hold it to the branches. It worked pretty well until the deer figured out how to sneak under it. This year I’m going to put several stakes around the tree and attach the fencing to the stakes starting at ground level. I was able to remove and roll up the fencing to use again. I’ll probably have to do the same thing with my little plum. A pain to mow under the tree, though -I’ll have to provide for some kind of door, and if I get to it I’d like to remove much of the sod and replace with rough stone over landscape fabric.
I appreciate the input from you all on the plastic mesh. I’m not opposed to it as an option but it’s good to hear about the possible shortcomings and how to address them. It sounds like a steel fence down low as support might solve that challenge.
I was planning on a 5’ offset between them. The fear factor has to be real… I’m almost considering full war and havahart water cannons if I can figure out their patterns. I need to research bow hunting options too, it seems like an agrarian friendly area and is probably sympathetic to crop protection. I’ll check.
I was thinking about mulching between them, or putting down some kind of barrier. Removing weeds from mulch shouldn’t be too hard with a wide enough gap between fences.
Many location limit the front yard to 4" for privacy fencing, so you may want to call the city and ask. In Milwaukee it allows for 4" in the front and 6" in the back, then an additional 2" if only 50% occluded… like the top 2" can be lattice. Milwaukee also requires a permit for all fences, but the city is easy to deal with, the suburbs are much harder to deal with.
My orchard is in the country were I don’t need to worry about permits. I have used the bird netting and it works temporarily, it is hard to see and dogs will run through it. It seems to break down in the sun but I have a little area that it has been in place for about 3 years… with some patching.
For my apple and pears orchard I put 1/4" hardware cloth on the bottom 2" and loop of chicken wire to cover to about 6ft. I am growing this for cider though and I want the branches to start at 6" to allow grazing when the trees mature.
In my nursery/garden/vineyard I’m planning on using green-treat and field fence like you show in your pictures. I’m currently using chicken wire and posts from trees I have cut. It looks awful and is really only meant to be temporary, (as my garden grows) but it works. Electric is not needed for deer, but bears.
The picture shows the 3-year old standard apple tree (about 1" thick) and the stake which is like a 3" maple branch. For scale - the dog is 3" tall. I got this idea from Claude Jolicoeur, though my implementation is much lower quality… but works
