out of doors of pay for a twain of rove batch lions into your garden to act as hinderance , installing a cervid fencing is your best option to keep deer out of your garden .
This installation is n’t for everybody ! It requires a near amount of work and can quickly become an expensive effort . But the resultant role speak for themselves .
We link to vendors to help you find relevant product . If you grease one’s palms from one of our links , we may earn a commission .
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Here ’s what ’s ahead in this article :
DIY Deer Fence Installation Instructions and Tips
Our expert tutorial provides DIY instructions and all the tips you ’ll take to do this installing at home , in your own yard . Plus , you ’ll find suggestions for where to find some of our favorite dick and material to get started .
It ’s meter to get those cervid cognize that the buffet is close !
How Much Do I Need?
I work at a few properties that use cervid fencing to unlike degrees , but one in particular dwarfs the others .
The property stretch on and on , and is completely surrounded with fencing to repel deer and other visitor . The only section not covered by the roadblock is the driveway , and you may bet your bottom dollar this is the only fashion in or out for our four - legged booster .
Do n’t worry – covering your whole prop may not be necessary . Putting up a barrier just aroundyour veggie gardenworks enquire too ! One of my clients allows the cervid to chomp down on her ornamentals , but she fences in her vegetables to keep them safe and good .
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Take into report natural roadblock and structures that could serve as portions of a wall , eliminating the need for fencing . That twenty feet eaten up by your shed may seem inconsequential when you ’re ordering hundred - invertebrate foot rolls of fencing , but it could relieve you from purchasing an extra , wasted roll .
What Kind of Supplies Do I Need?
you’re able to extemporize alotwith this project . The base requisite are the fence itself , some variety of funding to mount the fencing to , and something to attach the fencing to those supports .
I ’ve attach fence to tree , rebar , and swooning billet with zipper ties , wire , and staples . Sod staples work in a pinch when you do n’t require to purchase pin sold specifically for cervid fencing material .
Here are a some option for you to consider when installing your fence :
Supports – Anything You can Attach your Deer Fence To
Fasteners – Anything You Use to Attach your Fence to Supports
Installation Tools – Anything to Help Install Your Fencing
Ladders – Strong and Safe Support to Reach up High
Next , if you ’re instal your fence with the speciality posts , you ’ll want the pursual :
Many of these production are conveniently available on Amazon – just follow the links above and later on in this article for my recommendation .
How to Install Deer Fencing
The introductory premiss here is the same no matter what initiation method acting you choose . I will describe each step of the process , and do my darndest to deal probable scenario you ’ll run into along the way .
1. Outline Your Fence’s Perimeter
Do you know how many people start this workload without consider where they ’re even going ? !
Usea valuate wheelor old fashioned tape measure measures to assess the space your fence need to underwrite . This agency , you ’ll have a dependable estimation of how much fence you ’ll need . But believe a agent of about 10 % extra that you ’ll necessitate to cover errors in entire fence material needed , mistakes , and eventual transposition .
Watch Out!Remember to take into account the entire distance eaten up by permanent anatomical structure like buildings , thick hedgerow , and other obstacles .
2. Lay Out Your Corners
Not building your fence over a hearty arena ? That ’s okay , “ corner ” is standardised with “ central points . ”
Your end here is to give yourself definite reference work point to link up your fence into . When you run into a complication or erroneousness while you ’re doing the installation , you’re able to always take a footprint back and cite your laid - out reference spot to get back on track .
watch out Out!Place some high-pitched - visibility magnetic tape or spray paint so you’re able to recognise those peak without squint too hard .
3. Start Your Installation
Yeah , have ’s get fencin ’ !
start the fencing peal and attach it to your first support structure . If you ’re a stickler for a white and precipitous look , you’re able to snip off loose all of those advert piece from the edge of the gauze before attach it .
I like to initiate my fencing with a substantial and upstanding zippo association position or wire wrapping .
If you ’re attaching your deer fence to a new support , follow these guideline :
Hammer that sucker into the ground !
You desire to get to depths of at least one human foot into the ground ; most deer fencing material is sold at a height of about eight feet , so your supports need to be at least eight foot above the reason after you ’ve put them into the ground firmly .
You canuse a post driverfor this , or you may hold on and hammer it down the old fashioned way .
annul the temptation to practice a cheap material like bamboo . It will eventually rot and undo all of your work .
rate the arm where you require it to be install in the dry land , and plop the outstanding cap into place . If you ’ve got a partner , have them confine the arm while youcarefullyhammer the cap into the ground .
If you are alone , you could come out driving the arm into the ground like you would a nail into wood .
Drive the arm in until it ’s wealthy with grade , then add the post . It should slew and shut away into piazza effortlessly .
Start bond the fencing to the post from the bottom of your fencing material material , and work your way up the support . Leave about 4 - 6 inches of fun to account for dips and mound when you stretch it out . you could always staple the extra fence down and flush with the ground if you do n’t need that play .
Watch Out!Sometimes the veiling has a lot of “ computer memory . ” That is , it tends to keep back the curled shape it own in the roll and will fight to take back to that place . Stretch your fencing out a few feet and flex it against the direction it was rolled up in to help winnow out that computer memory .
4. Aaaaaand Continue That Installation!
Keep this process go ! you could safely space most lightweight deer netting with about 20 feet between posts , while metal fences and those comprised of heavier materials should have supports place about 15 feet apart .
set your support , spaced at these intervals , and unroll your fencing material . sequester it with whatever your best-loved cloth is . I ’m a fan of zip ties , but whatever work for you is what process for you !
Watch Out!You’re in all probability proceed to encounter rough patches in the earth that turn back rock and other obstacles . If your spacing needs to be 17 foot or else of 20 at a particular stint , that ’s okay ! If you encounter obstacle in the fashion ( like household ) you may impound the fencing to them with carpenter staples ( or your preferred material ) and cut the netting hot flash , then preserve on the other side of the obstruction .
If you reach the end of your fence and reelect to the start point , simply bind the fencing material together as cleanly and attractively as you may and wrap things up !
Reinforcement and Repairs
Fromchoosing deer immune treestodeer proof your garden in generalthere are ways to reward your cervid fence that do n’t require a deep pour of cement and motorcar gun gun turret .
Installing your deer fence in a mode that coordinates with other innate barriers like hedgerow , wall , and natural deterrents is the smartest way to reinforce your fence . Using smelly deterrents like Scram works well , but so does offering the local deer an alternative food for thought source .
My uncle accepts a certain level of cervid harm in his backwoods garden plot , but he minimizes the damage by stockingpiles of cornandapplesa thousand feet away from his garden game . The cervid are hungry , so if you feed them before they get to your game , they ’re less potential to ruin it !
Should I Use a Tension Wire?
Well , it depends !
Running a wire along the top of your post can assist to keep your fence secure and tight , but I feel the unconscious process unneeded . It invites a world of aggravation into the installation and also the maintenance , so I do n’t advocate using a tension wire .
If youreallywant to utilize it , though , here ’s how :
To tie tenseness wire to rebar , you may wrap the wire steadfastly around the rebar and continue to the next spot .
If you are using forte fence posts for this task , you make a cringle with the conducting wire and escape a Gripple through it , then tighten up the gripple with the ratcheting tool .
This method run to bend the posts as you work up and down the channel , but apply equal tension along the fenceline aid to straighten thing up .
Attach the top edge of the fence to the tautness wire with zilch ties or your favored fastening , and you ’re done !
If you desire to apply the specialty holdfast tools , you will need :
Visibility
Although a well - done fencing is for the most part hidden from your persuasion , it should still be seeable to the cervid themselves , and to shuttle .
This is specially crucial when you first localise up your fencing because the deer are not used to the barrier being in place and could stick out the right way into it , ruin all of your hard work .
I ’ve also had to pull out out one too many dead birds that got caught in the fence , so let ’s minimize that grisly sight as well .
I wish to get rolls of mellow visibility tape to advert every six foundation or so from the fence at about head height . Let the loose terminate dangle and move in the breeze so that animal can recognize it from far away .
Although the fencing material strongly dissuade deer from entering the zone - off sphere , theycanjump through it if they demand to , or if they do n’t see it .
Most cervid can also jump up to 8 feet in the air , so if your fence has a blue decimal point , they could find out it and seek to make the leap … unluckily , this often tears the fencing down in that location because the deer ca n’t clear it !
That head us to …
Repairs and Maintenance
fortuitously , this is a breeze to take care of . Give your fence pipeline a small walkway and review once a week or so to scout for harm .
You literally will travel rapidly up section of the fencing that have come undone from their support , or reinsert pins in the ground to keep it in place . This is almost selfsame to the installation procedure . I ’ve seen deer dogfight under the fence , so do n’t forget those pin !
Groundhogs could chew their way through , or a fallen Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree branch can damage the fence , so larger fix are necessary at times . If it ’s a small tear in the stuff , you’re able to zip it back up with your fastening material ; it ’ll be a small ugly , but it gets the job done !
Otherwise , you should use the spare netting you ’ve got stashed somewhere . Using scissors hold or your pruner , slue out the damaged country . Cut a new piece of fencing and – yep , you guessed it – zip it in place . Cut your fixing small-arm so that it ’s one square larger than the area you are fixing .
For exemplar , if you ’ve foreshorten out a section of fencing that is 6 square toes tall by 8 squares widely , your substitution piece should be 7 square improbable by 9 square widely . This helps reinforce the strength of your repair .
That’s All For Now
Not too crazy of a undertaking , is it ? As long as you ’re ready to do some labor installing the posts , you ’ve only engender a whole lot of tying and zipping to do !
It ’s a simple enough project to complete . And once your vegetable , ornamental , and other belongings are protect from the esurient deer with by an 8 - foot fence , you ’ll discover yourself kip more easily at dark .
And for more hint on keepinglarge herbivoresout of your horticulture space , check out some of our other guidebook :
Matt Suwak © Ask the Experts , LLC . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.See our TOSfor more detail . Originally print August 23rd , 2018 . Last update May 7th , 2023 .
About
Matt Suwak
