Oh Deer!

I’d happily shoot more and donate the meat to a food bank. But the regulations around food are so restrictive that no organization will take a carcass, and also there’s no team of certified butchers prepared to process the meat. There’s only a very limited crowd prepared to butcher for themselves, which is what I do. As you know, it’s a lot of work and required some basic knowledge and skill.

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Deer destroyed too many of our young trees so I bit the bullet and had an 8’ fence put up around the area I wanted to plant trees. Flat out works. (Wish I had made it wide enough for additional rows.). Even had a deprivation permit, but never caught any of them. Knew one grower who put up a massive fence but did not verify there were no deer inside first. Other thing is to use hardware cloth (wire) around base of trees to keep rabbits from stripping the bark when you have a cold winter with snow cover. Have also had coons eating apples along with ground hogs. But, of course the worst is the birds that do one peck (or more) and destroy apples just before harvest. Then you get wasps in the peck holes. Always said raising apples and pears is hard work. From animals to rain after spraying against bugs and fungus, to a lack of early sun, challenges abound.

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jrd51
I had a discussion with the folks at our local Salvation Army soup kitchen a couple of years back (before we sold the herd, we used to donate an entire cull cow, in the form of several hundred pounds of ground beef, to them, every year or so)… they indicated that they’d be glad to accept venison if I’d process it for them… maybe they were kind of skirting the ‘public health’ regulations… but if I’d gotten off my butt and harvested a couple of big does this past season, I’ll bet that if I’d dressed them out and presented the cooks with fresh, clean, deboned cuts of meat, they’d have cooked 'em up and fed the crowd of homeless folks with them (unbeknownst to the PHD) - and been thankful to get it!

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In many states where whitetails roam, the organization Hunters for the Hungry help turn deer into venison that is donated to food shelters.

Admittedly, CWD has made donating venison more difficult in many areas.

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I have used the 7.5’ black deer fencing to encase everything. I love that stuff. The deer stay away, never had one try to get in. The black blends in well so it isn’t an eye sore. I put an electric fence about 5’ up which also keeps the raccoons and opossums out. I’ve seen one squirrel squeeze through but I disposed of him before he could tell his friends, mostly they hop around the outside of the fence.

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Beautiful! Maybe this is the way we will go. Easy to bird net, too, if done in sections. I love the door.

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I agree. This is starting my wheels turning. More pics if you get the chance.

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Here’s some more pictures. It’s hard to get a good picture because the fence is just hard to see. I have a raised blueberry bed, the garden, and the orchard. I buy the fencing in 100’ rolls at 7.5’ though the garden and blueberry patch are cut down to 6’ to comply with local regulations of fences visible from the road.

The gates are pretty simple, 2x4’s on a bunch of hinges, large enough to get my lawnmower and wheelbarrow through.

Edit: I have no idea why these are upside down or how to fix them lol

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I used to have 4’ welded wire fence with some baling twine strings higher.

I replaced this month with 6’ welded wire fence, thicker gauge. Also put 2’ chicken wire with 1" holes on the bottom 2 feet. Re-used from previous install. I’d use the plastic deer netting, but I like to mow as close as possible on both sides of the fence, and I’m planning to use a propane torch for the base of the fence.

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That upside down thing happened to me a few times. I don’t remember how I fixed it, either!

And that keeps deer out? I would think they could jump it. I doubt they’ll jump mine, because there really isn’t space to land. But I do expect they’ll try to crawl under mine. We added wire - but saw where they got to one of my grafts, anyway . . . and nibbled it a bit.

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I will be interested to hear if squirrels become more of a problem when they see/smell ripe fruit inside Ft. Knox.

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I think it will keep them out. They certainly can jump it, but I don’t think they will. They have plenty of things to eat in the open, and easier to jump into areas.

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I think you took pictures with your camera holding it different. I keep my camera always the same, bottom on the right, always.