Battling Bambi - Page 11


© Marge Talt
Page 11

You can use bent wire coat hangers or earth staples to do this, if your ground permits. If it does not, as mine does not (roots, rocks, etc.), then you will need to use another ground level barrier. I put logs up against outside of the fence around the entire perimeter since I had a large number of logs unsuitable for firewood from the clearing operations. They will eventually need replacing, but they work. Anything that is too heavy for a deer to shove aside will work....rocks, bricks, broken concrete. You can also use short pieces of rebar, pounded in where you can and wired to the fence.

Since my fence is solely to keep deer out and not other, smaller wildlife, I made a few critter arches where the fence crossed obvious trails. This was accomplished by cutting the chickenwire and bending it back in a rough curve about ten or twelve inches (25 - 30cm) wide and off grade. The opening was reinforced with a double thickness of hardware cloth, wired to the chicken wire. Each side of the opening was secured to short lengths of rebar pounded into the ground with wire.

These openings are well used, plus wildlife have made their own little openings by digging under the fence in spots between logs.

Gates

There are four gates in the deer fence. Three are pedestrian gates that give me access to the other side for maintenance and to reach the rest of our property, which extends into the woods on the east side. I built the first fence of bamboo and hardware cloth and my son built the other two from treated lumber and hardware cloth. His are much more satisfactory. The bamboo gate is rickety, but it hasn't rotted yet. All the gates were wired to the adjacent bamboo and metal T-posts and are secured with loose pieces of wire that are simply twisted shut. The netting runs across the tops of the gates, which are about seven feet (2.13m) high.

We had a fence company install seven foot high (2.13m) high black chain-link gates at the driveway. Since the drive is on a fairly steep slope down to the road, the gates are eight feet (2.4m) from the ground on the outside. The end bamboo poles adjacent to the gates are wired to the metal gate posts, using black foam plumbing pipe insulation to protect the finish on the gate posts - all secured using self-locking metal cable ties.

 

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

6.   Feb 9, 2004 1:21 PM
In response to message posted by biogardener:

Good; you're ahead of the game there, Traute. Once your willows get mature, the ...


-- posted by Marge_Talt


5.   Feb 8, 2004 11:06 PM
Yes, I have been watching the wire mesh and snipping it where necessary to make sure that the trees can grow normally. I have even pulled some of the wraps off and used them on younger trees. I got ...

-- posted by biogardener


4.   Feb 8, 2004 10:38 PM
In response to message posted by biogardener:

Yes, Traute, wire mesh will keep the blighters from eating trees. You may have ...


-- posted by Marge_Talt


3.   Feb 8, 2004 3:46 AM
I have a lot of deer on my 20 acres of country property where I have been planting trees. Three years ago, they discovered my willows which I had grown in the low-lying areas by simply sticking branc ...

-- posted by biogardener


2.   Feb 7, 2004 12:36 PM
In response to message posted by Howie:

LOL Howie...your traveling tag - eat venison - totally cracked me up!

Well, like I ...


-- posted by Marge_Talt





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