About J. Wayne Fears

The email read like dozens of others I receive regularly: “There are so many deer where I live that I no sooner plant a food plot, get a good shower of rain on it and have the tender young plants emerge, just to have them mowed down by feeding deer. By the time the hunting season gets here, the food plot crop is eaten to the ground. What can I do?”

Add to this the many emails I get from homeowners and farmers wanting to know how to keep deer from eating up their vegetable gardens, and how to deal with bucks destroying young orchard trees with their fall rubbing activity. Back when I was a kid in the 1950s, we would have given anything to have had this problem, but that was when there were very few deer where I grew up. Now the reverse is true, and controlling over-browsing and other harmful deer activity has become a big problem.

On the surface it seems that the answer to this problem is easy – just increase the harvest of does and get the deer population back down to manageable numbers. In many cases this will be a big help, but in the real world, even a healthy deer population within the carrying capacity of the land will feed heavily on small food plots and vegetable gardens. This is especially true during periods when native foods are sparse due to drought, or where there is a short supply of agricultural crops and food plots offering tender young green foods. Also, bucks in the fall will rub their antlers on young fruit trees regardless of the deer density.

The beans on the left were planted the same time as the beans on the right. The left side is protected from deer grazing with the new HotZone electric fences. Photo courtesy of Battenfeld.

High Fence Solution

Up until recently, the answer to keeping unwanted deer out of areas such as small remote food plots, vegetable gardens, and young orchards was to construct a fence at least 10 feet high. I have worked with many deer managers in the past who kept deer out of their food plots until the season opened by erecting a high fence around their food plots during the time the food plot crops were growing. When they were ready for the plots to be browsed, they removed the lower half of the fence in several locations and permitted the deer entry into the lush plot. Many referred to this as reverse fencing.
Many gardeners and orchard owners also depended upon a high fence to give their crops protection from deer. The problem has been that high and reverse fencing is expensive and a lot of work to put up.

Finding a Better Solution

During the past few years, thanks in part to improved solar technology, a growing number of deer managers have been trying to keep deer out of remote small food plots by using standard electrical fencing. They found that it worked for a while, but once the deer figured out the system, they simply jumped the electrical barrier and entered the area in which they were unwelcome. Most of these electrical fences were designed to keep cattle in and required a good bit of work to erect and take down. They usually failed in keeping deer from ruining food plots until the crop was mature and could withstand heavy browsing.

	The solar panel and energizer go up quickly on a treated board. For long battery life, mount the solar panel where it will receive full sun all day.

Then someone started rethinking electrical fencing, and designed it specifically for deer management. If a deer could easily see a broad tape that had charged wire running through it, and his curiosity caused him to touch it with his nose, would the fence become a psychological barrier after he was once shocked? Also, someone asked if, due to a deer’s poor depth perception, would the use of two offsetting barriers confuse it and turn it away from the tempting greens? Engineers began working on deer-specific electrical fencing based on these two questions, and came up with a two- to four-strand electrical fencing system that is proving to work as effectively for a deer barrier as a high fence. It is less expensive, quick to put up or take down, and easy to expand.

Basically, the resulting fence system consists of an electrified single strand of brightly colored polytape, suspended about 30 inches above the ground on the outside, with an inner fence of two or more strands of electrified wire on post, about 36 inches high on the inside. The electric tape material is a unique blend of strong plastic fibers with interwoven strands of stainless steel wire.

The plastic carries the tension and the wires carry the electric current. Out of curiosity, deer are apparently attracted to the strand of bright yellow, white, or orange plastic. They make contact while investigating it, and learn quickly to stay away. Having one fence inside another gives the fence a three-dimensional effect, which confuses deer as well as shocks them. The fence is charged with solar power and can be placed around small food plots, gardens and orchards, or anywhere the solar panel can receive sunlight.

This fence has polytape on the outside and wire on the inside. Photo Courtesy of Buck Forage.

Here are two of the systems I have found to be quick and easy to put up. It takes two people about five hours, and so far these fences are doing a great job of keeping deer out of targeted areas.

HotZone Deer Exclosure System

Battenfeld Technologies has an excellent fence product they call the HotZone Deer Exclosure System. It comes with an energizer, solar panel, eight 7/8-inch posts and 32 half-inch posts, 460 yards of wire, 230 yards of tape, 65 post pins, three wire tensioners, one ground rod, and a voltage tester. All you have to add is a 12-volt deep cycle battery. Be sure to use a battery box, or a piece of wood or rubber under the battery to keep the battery off the ground in order to increase the battery life.

On this and all deer electrical fences, it is a must to read the instructions and follow them exactly as you erect the fence. The heart of the system is mounted on a treated 6-foot 2 x 4 wood board erected in one corner of the food plot or area to be protected. The solar panel and energizer are attached to the board, and the battery is wired in on the ground below. From here the inner and outer posts are run, and the tape and wire are installed. The instructions tell how to install the fence in various field configurations and I found this fence will cover a half-acre food plot, depending upon the shape of the field. I like the energizer because it shows voltage and battery status and automatically switches between day and night modes.

	It is best to erect the electric fence immediately after planting a food plot. Photo Courtesy of Buck Forage.

HotZone also has an additional kit for deterring other animals such as raccoons, rabbits, and so on.

Buck Forage Deer Resistant Electric Fence System

Buck Forage is well known for its food plot crop products, and now they have entered into the deer electric fence business. They offer a half-acre fence kit and can provide custom kits to fit any desired area. The half-acre kit comes with an energizer, solar panel, patented Buck Forage fence posts, polywire, polytape, grounding equipment, wire strainers, and conductors.

The unique posts come predrilled at the proper heights for each tape and wire, and are available in two versions. Version 1 has two polywires on the inner post and one polywire on the 3-foot cross member. Version 2 has two polywires on the inner post and two polytapes on the 6-foot cross member, plus one tape on the outside and one on the inside, giving a deep three-dimensional effect to confuse deer depth perception.

These fence systems cost in the $400 to $500 range, and I have learned that it pays to read the instructions carefully before you start to put the fence up. Also, be aware that this will not keep out 100% of the deer. One or two deer will figure out a way to jump the fence, but most will touch it one time and stay away, keeping browsing to a minimum.

Be sure to put warning signs on the electric fence. Photo Courtesy of Buck Forage.

To be most effective, the electric fence should be erected the day following the planting of the food plot. This gives the crop time to emerge and get growing without deer feeding on it the first critical days the plants are trying to get a start.

The instructions with all these fences include many tips you must follow to be safe and to make sure the fence is properly installed. The fencing will only work correctly if it is put up correctly. Since sunlight is the energy source, be sure to position the solar panel to have the most direct possible sunlight throughout the day. I have seen many electric fences erected with brush coming in contact with the tape or wire. This will discharge the battery at an accelerated rate.

Remember, you are dealing with a fence that can deliver an electrical shock to anything or anyone who comes in contact with it. Mark it well with warnings in several locations. Also, be sure to check your local and state laws regarding the placement of electrical fences.

Thanks to this new technology in electrical fences, it is now possible for small food plots, even in remote locations, to be deer-free until the deer manager is ready to allow the animals to have access. The same fence can also keep deer out of other areas during critical times.