Building a High Fence?

[perfectstorm]

We're lightly debating the topic of investing in a high fence. We have low fence released some nice animals & so far have been fairly lucky with attrition but recently had a young release buck hit by a vehicle.

People who have built a high fence on their property in the past 10 years:

would you do it again?
What would you do differently?
Any words of wisdom on construction or any part of the process?

Much appreciated,
Stormi



(This is not a thread for high fence haters. If you get on this thread & gripe about high fences, I will call you out for your inability to read, process words & generally being a jack hole. Thank you!)

[JSF]

How many acres?

[Buff]

I love my high fence. It is a big investment but my property boarders public hunting land and a deer never has a chance of even making the antler restriction in this county.
They kill pretty much every buck when it is a spike

[Lucky13ranch]

We recently put up a little over 4 miles of high fence and would do it again in a heartbeat! One thing we would do over is to brace off any seasonal creek crossings with support braces. We had a rain like we had not seen on our place since we purchased it 7 years ago and had our fence get pulled down. Now that it has been braced, no issues. Another thing I would make sure and do is to put down netting to prevent coyote digging. We did not have the netting down at first and had a major coyote problem, since then, no issues. It does create a lot of work and a lot of mouths to feed, but I would not have it any other way. The deer are wild and have not noticed any behavioral differences. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help in any way I can.

[Shurshot]

I love mine. Just remember it is a commitment to keep your numbers in check. Can't become over populated or will have a die off. If any dry creeks it is better to build stronger than you might think. I have learned that by replacing mine by one of the dry creeks, for the third time after we got 9 inch if rain last year.

[DuramaxDude]

High fence is a management tool. It is used to keep things out just as much as to keep things in. It is also a good for any borders along paved roads. It does create a need to step up management especially on population control and grazing systems of any livestock that maybe on the place. Just make sure you research what type of corners, h-braces, stretch posts, line post, and water gaps you install. Line posts, h-braces, pull posts are the integrity of the fence t-posts help support. It always pays off to go the "extra mile" on any ranch infastructure especially fences. An extra kicker here or there or brace or make that h brace or kicker a little longer wont hurt anything. Try not to get any fencing made in mexico. Have seen some spec sheets on some fence products that didnt quite meet what they were supposed to or advertised to.

[Cuz]

I'd do it again.
What id do different is take out a loan or whatever I had to do to pay someone to build it for me instead of us building it. What a PITA!
Try to avoid really low spots and creek crossings.

[perfectstorm]

thanks for the advice

[drjudd]

Thinking about fencing as well. What are the legalities with the state. Permits? The deer that are caught in the fence when it s closed? Importing genetics? Thanks

[Grayson]

Thinking about fencing as well. What are the legalities with the state. Permits? The deer that are caught in the fence when it s closed? Importing genetics? Thanks

Fantastic question. I look forward to reading the responses.

[perfectstorm]

Thinking about fencing as well. What are the legalities with the state. Permits? The deer that are caught in the fence when it s closed? Importing genetics? Thanks

Me too.

Ttt for a response

[DeadEyeB]

how many acres is it? This is very important. It becomes a different operation, but with less acres a VERY different operation.

For example water and food. You'll probably have to be very diligent in providing those things..

Also if you don't have a lot of hunters plan on getting them because over population is a serious issue as well.

My buddy only has 800 acres high fenced and every few years or so they have to go in and kill off 30+ deer..

Then we went through this huge drought and their 10 acre pond dried up. He had to truck water up there because it cost less than piping his water well to the pond..

Not that you wouldn't necessarily do these things anyway, but just keep in mind the deer will begin to depend on you for survival.

If you've got massive property with multiple tanks and plenty of natural forage it's obviously less of a concern..

[UncleCharlie]

Thinking about fencing as well. What are the legalities with the state. Permits? The deer that are caught in the fence when it s closed? Importing genetics? Thanks

No permit required. If you want to pay the money and high fence then that is all that is required.

The deer that are caught are simply caught and can only be removed by game laws of the county. There is no restitution or anything else required.

You could import with a TTT permit if given permission and this requires a Wildlife Management Plan from a certified wildlife biologist.

You could also buy deer from a breeder to use as stockers. The state requires a permit before transporting deer and on the form required it gives the deer's unique number as well as the identification numbers (facility ids) of the facility shipping and the facility receiving the deer.

If you don't have a breeding facility then you have to fill out a "Request for Non-Breeder Serial Number" and obtain prior to submission of this form.

I don't know all the details of this but I would think you would have to have a WMP plan in place on the receiving ranch before they would let you bring deer onto your place.

[perfectstorm]

I'm thinking the most we are comfortable with at this time would be 100 acres. There will be thousands of acres of low fence surrounding.

[kyle1974]

You might be able to strategically place high fence in areas that have high hunting pressure in the other side of the fence. This lets you protect some deer and still have a low fence place overall.