Deer Fencing

S

ssgpiv

Guest
Hi does anyone have any knowledge on deer fencing. The kind to keep them in, rather than out. The cost, any suppliers, does it have to be mesh or can barbed wire be used. Anything really.
 
Try the British Deer Farmers Association (www.bdfa.co.uk) - they should be able to help you out. The problem with most fencing guidelines is that they are to keep deer out as you say - a very different matter from enclosing them!
 
Thanks Mole. Am looking at it now. I was wondering if it was possible to leave existing sheep neeting in place and put barbed wire above. Thanks for the link.
 
I've read about this in the FC books. It may be a better ideal to put the deer fence to its full height as well as having the mesh infront of that.
To keep deer in and encourage other deer outside the fence in, how about a deep trench and earthen bank topped with a deer pailing fence. Throw in the occasional deer leap and a deer haye and your away! Mind you its a little bit expensive and time consuming but at least its traditional! The area I look after still has the earthen mounds and ditches that go back to the time the Order of the Hospitalier Knights owned the land.
I'd love the re-instate the pailing fence and put wild boar and Fallow back in the wood. That would keep the mountain bikes out! :lol:
 
Hi Beowolf hope ypu had a good christmas. Yes I agree with all that but it does sound a tad expensive and very labour intensive. I was hoping to add to, rather than replace, what we already have.
 
Hi Ssgpiv,
Thanks but I had a really bad Christmas! I was in bed for most of it with a swollen jaw. I had the tooth out that had been troubling me for sometime now. It had already infected the surrounding area, once the tooth was removed it just got worse! 04.00am Boxing day I finally got some antibiotics from the NHS walk in centre. I'm going to kick my dentist right up her 'Arris' when I see her! The three times I have had this major infection, she refused to perscribe antibiotics. So I have missed work = lost revenue, missed out on stalking opportunities and had a crap crimbo! All because of one silly little tooth butcher!

Anyway I'm getting better!

I hope your Christmas was alot better my friend! :D

'God bless us.....everyone'!
 
hi B

That sounds truly miserable. Why is it other peoples misfortune can be such fun to listen to. I imagine with the recent news about your dog you are looking forward to seeing 2007 disappear into the rear view mirror. I understand a little bit of what you have been through with your teeth though. I went a while back and had a filling. All was ok till the anaesthetic wore off. Then I had two weeks of the kind of pain that makes you sweat to be told by my dentist who is a mate and a fellow rugby fan that the pain would probably have gone by the time we go to the next world cup. Great. :cry:
 
Deer fence heights, for those that are not aware, these are to keep them out.

MINIMUM HEIGHTS.

ROE; 1.2mtrs
FALLOW; 1.6mtrs
RED; 1.8mtrs

Beowulf, I think you would have to look at the 1.8 mtrs to be on the safe side.
 
Hi Waders,
I'm not going to fence off, I'm looking at using dead hedges along the old ditches to minimise deer movements in fresh coppice and then sit up and wait for my next meal! :D Its not prefect I know but it doesn't have to be really. I'm going for a nap now, I've been reading various articles by A.S Cooke about muntjac populations in Monks Wood (Cambs). I'm very tired now! :confused:
 
Hi Ssgpiv,
Yeap you got it! I'm still in pain, I've just got my dogs ashes back, I can't have a drink because of the antibotics and I'm in work tomorrow! :cry: Any idea what liquidised venison taste like through a straw? :confused:

It could be worse, Benazir Bhutto has had a really bad Christmas. I don't think she will get over it in a hurry! :eek:

Rob Mac,
The site is still putting the posts in the wrong order! Ho well just in case this goes wrong again. I think that 308 is better than 243. Please back date this post to April 2007 please! :eek: :lol:
 
Now then Beowulf, i have shot loads of munty around monks wood in cambs. My mate lives within spitting distance and has access to some good ground across the road and around the edges of there. Also shot a few CWD there aswell.

wadashot
 
ssgpiv said:
Thanks Mole. Am looking at it now. I was wondering if it was possible to leave existing sheep neeting in place and put barbed wire above. Thanks for the link.

Sheep netting is what - about 4'? That leaves you a lot to add. I'd personally start from scratch and do a proper job - and avoid barbed wire like the plague.

Let us know how you get on - interested in what more professional opinion says.
 
Hi
Sheep netting is no good at all. As stated start from scratch. We fenced our reds in with 6ft mesh fencing that came in 100m rolls. Its about 6x8" mesh, 10" fence poles driven 4ft into the ground every 5M & the fencing attached to them then tension wire attached to the fencing to tighten things up. This enables the fence to be tightened up as & when needed.
Weve had no escapees as of yet.
If your fencing more than 1 paddock with a walk through area between them then this area needs to be wood fenced as well inside the wire fence. This gives the deer a more visual way through & they will pass to & fro without crashing into the wire if there in a rush. Same goes if your putting up any gates. Wood fence it either side. The last thing you want is a 160kilo stag crashing into it.
 
Hello again Wadasot,
I'm reading all I can find on Monks Wood because its very similar to the woodland I am trying to get permission to manage from the Wildlife Trust. They keep quoting Monks Wood management plans at me! "there is no need to cull muntjac, they don't do it at Monks Wood!" Is what they tell me. I get the impression from what I have read that they do! I don't suppose you know who does stalk it do you?
I could do with finding out and getting some back ground. Its a battle between me and the green cardigan brigade again! Face painting lental eating wildlife experts! Meanwhile the gypos are poaching the deer with alasation X lurchers. So I'm playing the long game, getting the info approaching some people to endorse my management plan and then I'll make them eat it! I think I'll get there, I just don't think I'll stay there long! No offence to A.S Cooke, its just spending all day reading about deer management from someone who doesn't actively manage them.
 
I don`t know the guy personally who does the stalking in monks wood, but my mate knows his name, and if i get it i will PM his name to you. He keeps a check on the deer there i`m told and it`s noticable too, as when we used to drive through there we would see quite a lot stood on the side of the road. On one side of monks wood they have paint ball games and clay shooting, wether this has had much impact on them i don`t know but i am told that the stalker has been hitting them pretty hard.

Monks wood is a SSSI and was once featured on countryfile as it was one of the only places in the country which held a very rare beatle. A bit of useless info, but there you go.

wadashot
 
Cheers Wadashot,
I'd be very interested in any information you have or can find out. The woodland I'm after is very much like Monks Wood but it is the rare butterflies that the Muntjac are endangering due to their love of honeysuckle and hazel coppice.
If I could get in touch with the stalker and ask him about his management plan or even visit the site I'd stand a fighting chance of getting a foot hold on the woodland I'm after. I know there is easier ways of getting land, but its become a personal mission. I'm going to be a professional deer manager, this will be the foundation I need to build onto all that follows.

Thanks again.
 
Hi Mole. The general concensus at the moment appears to be, dont p**s about trying to make do and do the job properly.
 
Hello Beowulf. you have a PM. Sorry i can`t get any more info but i spoke to my mate this am and thats as much as he knows.

Good luck with the job prospects as a deer manager. Don`t want to put you off, but i have been trying for years and have found that it is a case of not what you know, but who you know, so hope you have some good contacts.

wadashot
 
Hi Beowulf
I went on a guided tour of Monks Wood a couple of years back with the BDS one of the guys with us was in charge of the stalking there, from my memory he stated they had culled over 400 in 4 or 5 years and they where still facing an up hill battle. The areas that the muntjac couldn't get to had a noticeable difference in the amount of fauna, but these were only small penned off sections a few metres square, the large area that was supposed to be deer proof had been breeched by the muntys, and whilst better than the areas unfenced, seemed to be taking a fair amount of browsing.
 
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