Deer Fencing

[slingshot]

Anybody got any ideas on a cheap way to fence deer out of a garden? Danged white-tailed rats are all over the place. I have a new garden spot I'm going to plant and know that it is a waste of time and money to plant anything before I get it fenced. It's 100 X 30, and I need a 7' fence to go around it. I've studied on it for a long time and everything I can come up with costs an arm and a leg! Any slick ideas would be much appreciated!

[Tofu]

Shooting them out of the question?

[Cimarron]

We have good results with tying plastic bags around the garden, like the ones you get grocery shopping. We usually have two t-posts in the middle with a couple strands of wire run the length of the garden for the climbing plants. Then add some more posts at the corners. You tie a plastic bag to the post and the wind will move it around making a "crackling" noise. I guess it annoys or scares the deer cause we have had a lot less deer problems in our garden. It doesn't do much for the little critters though and we have on occasion added electric fencing.
if the bag has been out for a while it will break down some and won't give off enough racket to work. So you have to replace them but those bags are cheap (free) enough that isn't a big deal.

[eeyore]

I have been told that if you lay chicken wire around the perimeter, on the ground. The deer will not walk on it and don't jump it. Never tried it before. Hope it helps.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

You place about 4 of me on each corner and wolla no deer! They have a way of not showing up where I see them all year. LOL
I dunno, I never even thought about trying to keep them out!

[Lowdown3]

A couple of our garden areas are fenced in 5' and 6' "dog wire" fencing. Never had a problem with deer in any of the sections fenced in this manner.

[slingshot]

I have been told that if you lay chicken wire around the perimeter, on the ground. The deer will not walk on it and don't jump it. Never tried it before. Hope it helps.

Good new one! Thanks! That's a new idea that I haven't heard before. I know cows don't like anything strange under their feet, maybe deer are the same way.

[slingshot]

A couple of our garden areas are fenced in 5' and 6' "dog wire" fencing. Never had a problem with deer in any of the sections fenced in this manner.

What kind of posts did you use, lowdown? I'm thinking 8' t-post right now. Expensive. I make my own 4x4" posts out of cedars on the place, but don't have any cut, much less seasoned, right now. A 330' roll of 4' web wire ($160,) 30 8' t-posts ($180,) plus about 3 or 4 strands of barb on top of that, plus corner brackets, and misc., comes out to over $400 to fence that garden. I keep hoping to find a cheaper way of doing it.

[slingshot]

Shooting them out of the question?

LOL tofu! All of my freezers are full of beef now. I look at those deer as "preps on the hoof" right now. Don't want to get rid of all of them, just don't want to share my garden with them. We usually put a little dent in their population every winter, but not enough to matter.

[slingshot]

You place about 4 of me on each corner and wolla no deer! They have a way of not showing up where I see them all year. LOL
I dunno, I never even thought about trying to keep them out!

LOL Matt! I've heard of a lot of people with that problem! I've come to believe those deer can read a calendar and know when deer season starts! I keep these deer pretty much tamed down to the point they are a nuisance. The only time they get stirred up is when the boy & his buddies work on them a little bit each year. "Preps on the hoof!"

[slingshot]

We have good results with tying plastic bags around the garden, like the ones you get grocery shopping. We usually have two t-posts in the middle with a couple strands of wire run the length of the garden for the climbing plants. Then add some more posts at the corners. You tie a plastic bag to the post and the wind will move it around making a "crackling" noise. I guess it annoys or scares the deer cause we have had a lot less deer problems in our garden. It doesn't do much for the little critters though and we have on occasion added electric fencing.
if the bag has been out for a while it will break down some and won't give off enough racket to work. So you have to replace them but those bags are cheap (free) enough that isn't a big deal.

Thanks Cimmaron! I'm planning on tying stuff that's reflective and makes a racket around the fence when I finally settle on what kind of fence. I've heard of aluminum pie pans, but your idea on plastic shopping bags sounds good too. If I have room in my freezers, at the right time of the year, I've got one type of racket in mind that will be last thing one, or two, of them will ever hear. The garden sits about 150 yds downhill from my covered back porch (North Deer Stand.) I'm trying to conserve those critters for bad times, but still work in about a 5-minute deer hunt every year.