I’ll say. And a pain to have to move out as the trees grow. I think I’m gonna try your method, @Paddy. Thanks.
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Here is what is working on my farm for the past 3 years. It is located in a high deer pressure area. No irrigation. Zone 3a USDA or 4a Canada.
Given brutal winters, short seasons, no irrigation and good winds I wanted trees that I did not have to baby. So I planted Bud118 with the goal of pruning to keep then about 12’ tall and a diameter of 10 feet. They are planted 20’ in row and 25’ between rows. That is about 90 trees per acre.
I got quotes of 18k for 8’ deer fencing of 2 acres!!!
So what I do now is plant the tree and returning sod UPSIDE down in a 6 foot diameter circle centred around the tree. 2 bags of compost on top of soil. Then a landscape weed barrier fabric. Then 3 bags of cedar mulch giving 2-3" depth on top of the landscape fabric.
I then put a 6’ metal T post next to the planted tree and hammer 1-2’ into the ground. At home using an angle grinder I cut 36" wide, 1/2" galvanized hardware cloth into 5’ lengths. I then roll that into a tube and secure with wire. Makes a 1’ diameter x 5’ tall barrier. I then slide this over the planted tree and wire it to the metal T post.
I then let the tree grow, cutting back side branches each year until it grows above the fence tube and then I let it start branching (eg. at 5’ is the first lateral branches).
Works 100%. The weight of apples on the lower branches will drop them to deer browse level and you will lose some but above that are fine. Also keeps the rabbits for eating your trunk and I find the 1/2" is surprisingly enough to keep the voles under the snow away too.
Main issues are as the tree is growing I need to put wood or thin sticks to hold the tree in the centre of the tube to avoid it rubbing against the metal in the wind. When the tree is above the tube and starting to form branches but is still not rigid I need to do the same to avoid the trunk rubbing against the top of the fence and wearing through the wood.
Here is a photo in year 2:
Here is a photo in year 3:
Here is a close up showing the laterals starting above the fence. Not this is rusting because it was during covid and I could not get galvanized ones.
I got the hardware cloth for $50 cdn for 25 feet so about $5 each. The 6’ metal T posts in bulk were about 5’ each (since covid have doubled in price). So this cost me about $10/tree. If you are doing a higher density planting proper perimeter fencing going to be more economical and easier. But here other than mowing/weedeating 1 day per month, 3-4 times from June to Sept, and pruning late winter my trees are so zero extra work and growing great despite not being babied at all. I started trying larger diameter fencing (6’ diameter" but it was expensive and a major pain. Very hard to mow/weedeat around and the freeze/thaw of the snow in the winter would pull them down. This current technique works way better for me.
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Looks similar to my setup. I got a good deal on t post and bought 100 right before the cost went up. Sometimes you can find fencing on Amazon cheap. I had two rolls of what we call hog wire. Just used the last of it yesterday.
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I agree, that’s an impressive fence setup! I am doing a similar thing but with the cheap plastic deer fence. The fence itself has worked fine in terms of not breaking but since it is more flexible it needs better stakes than some of the ones I was using … I had too much damage with the netting getting moved so the deer could munch stuff. So I bought a bunch more of those metal T posts and all of them will be anchored like rocks next year.
When I first started fencing trees the deer would pretty much give up before the fight started, but it seems like each year they get a little more persistent in terms of spending time looking for weaknesses. I’ll be very happy when all my apple fruits are out of their reach laughing down at them.
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I don’t have very many fruit trees/shrubs so I surround them with a ring made of a 5 foot section of hardwire cloth and secure them to a t post. this summer I could only get my hands on tiny t posts but will swap them for bigger ones at some point. Michael Judd posted a video on YouTube a long time ago suggesting that standard welded wire fence allows deer to put their hoof in and reach higher on the tree. thats why I went with hardware cloth. my rings are a bit big but I plan to keep my trees small so I can harvest by hand from the ground and I didn’t want them to be all bare trunk up to the top of the fence.
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I’ll add that as a kid growing up on long island I loved seeing them on drives up north. always a big deal to be the first one in the car to spot a deer. I still enjoying seeing them, especially antlered ones. beautiful majestic creatures.
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Deer have been hunted since the Pilgrims and certainly kept many alive that have ancestors 175 years later in Oregon and California.
And by American Indians before that.
Some reason ‘enlightened’ men (doesn’t include those far out in the sticks) think it’s criminal to shoot a deer and eat it.
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Red meat can’t get much better than an inch thick slab of venison backstrap cooked to medium rare, medium at the most. Lightly coated with olive oil, seasoned salt, screaming hot pan, sear on both sides for 2-3 minutes, done. Wrap it in par cooked bacon before cooking and it’s even a bit better.
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One of my neighbors feeds them. Last count? Around 24 or more. But what about our place? Every day we see this.
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I am not a fan of feeding deer. It is unnecessary almost always (I do support supplemental feeding of deer in areas like northern MN in January-March when winter severity is high) and artificially increases their numbers.
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I keep deer off like this. 2ft hardware cloth 5 foot of chicken wire. Antonovka roots planted on a hex pattern with trees 20’ spacing.
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Is it not illegal to feed nuisance/dangerous species of wildlife such as deer/bear/racoons in most places.
If it is illegal in your locality I’d report the offender to your local wildlife dept.
I tried plastic fencing but we have repeated freeze thaw cycles with intermittent snow and freezing rain. So the top of the snow pack freezes sold while holding onto the fence, then there is a thaw and the lower area of the snow pack drops and drags/tears the plastic as the ice crust moves toward the ground.
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I’ve been deboning my deer and freezing only boneless cuts for over 45 years -long before I’d ever heard anything of CWD… no need taking up freezer space with a bunch of ol’ bones…it’s not like deer bones are useful in seasoning, like a cured ham hock.
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Most deer bones are prone to splintering or breaking in sharp, pointy pieces, so I’m disinclined to purposely allow our dog access to them. Back home, Dad tossed ribcages and assorted backbones/leg bones with any meat left on them to the chickens, and one year, fattened a hog on parts & pieces of the 25+ deer he, my BIL, and I harvested off the farm.
Deer fat - because they are primarily browsers, will contain numerous ‘aromatic’ compounds associated with that browse material (leaves, buds, twigs, spicebush berries, etc.), and is a prime source of any ‘gamey’ flavor folks may find disagreeable. I attempt to trim away as much deer fat/tallow as possible. I’ll continue to prefer pork shoulder or ham bones as a template for bone broth/stock.
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Yes deer fat is terrible lol henceforth why people mix deer with pork or beef. It is very lean meat that is not overly tasty unless great efforts are made in the cooking. An old friend of mine loves elk, beef, moose, buffalo, but when discussing deer he joked a lot about the flavor. He asked friends once how they cooked it. One friend said he soaked it in the sink in milk and 7 up. Another friend cooked it in the crockpot with cream of mushroom soup. Another friend said he mixed it with sausage to take out the gamie flavor. Another friend made it all into summer sausage and jerky. The old guy said i like to beat it with a tenderizer for hours, season mine really good in a marinade of spices and wine overnight, cook it on an open fire on a wood shingle until its totally brown. When the deer is done cooking i throw away the deer and eat the shingle. That was what he thought about deer. Keep in mind most Kansas deer are not bad because they eat grain. A colorado deer that fattened on sage brush i would agree with him about. Have eaten a really bad deer in my life that’s favorite meal was osage orange and i see why he would prefer shingle. The shingle is more tender than that old buck was. Yearlings are pretty tasty in chili and other things. Honestly with enough spices i would be hard pressed to tell the difference if prepared correctly. Mostly i just eat beef and buffalo.
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Problem with being in a CWD zone is such that a deer has to be tested before eating it. If the deer is butchered by the hunter, the deer head is placed in a freezer for collection for testing. If a processor is chosen the processor sends the deer head in. The result from testing will come back (in either an email or on the TWRA site) in about 3-5 weeks. If negative, there is no problem and the deer which has been frozen is eaten. If positive the deer which has been frozen is thrown out. In either case it is a big hassle.
What I have done in the past if I was processing the deer myself is to freeze the quartered-up deer and place it in freezer and wait on the result. When hopefully it came back negative, I would then thaw out the deer and process it normally. If it came back positive, I threw it out and well, at that point I had at least saved myself work.
This year I changed up because of lack of freezer space. I killed a spike and butchered it 5-6 days after and placed it in freezer. But being absent minded I did eat a little tenderloin. Luckily it came back “not detected”.
Being in a CWD zone is not fun. If CWD ever jumps to humans, I will quit eating venison. The hassle will at least end.
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I debone mine as I clean. Only thing that comes off the carcass is meat. We then cut off all fat, sinew, anything white. Freeze in chunks and process later. Most processors are not that careful, that’s the reason it is tough or gamely tasting. Or they mix it with someone else’s deer. I’ve watched different processors over the years.
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Cwd is a big problem in central michigan, slowlh radiating outward. Lately been seeing such deer on tictoc displaying no fear, and headless deer along the roads. At first i thought idiots were finding bucks and wanting trophy racks. Then I thought about testing and confirmed with an officer that they were being tested for cwd.
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