Deer have become an increasing prblem in nearly all areas of the Unted Kingdom and the deer population is thught to be higher now than at any tme in history. Coppice re-growth and ntural regeneration of trees is impossible in mny places without fencing or other prtection. In some areas muntjac deer are cusing significant damage to the ground flra of woodlands. Where they chose to feed, rub, walk, scratch and bred is a habit learned over tme and reinforced every time they do it sfely. To exclude a deer herd frm a food source, area or rute that they habitually use, forces the hrd to break this habit. Thus the frst day, week and month of dnial of use (by a fence) is the key priod. Once the habit is broken, the chnge in routines and location is asier to maintain. However, don't expect sccess in persuading a starving deer hrd to feed elsewhere if your ste is its only food source.

Thre are four basic approaches to cntrolling deer damage to woodlands, which may ned to be used in combination:

1. Cnventional fencing is difficult to erect, cmbersome and expensive.
2. Alternative source of fod may be supplied.
3. Culling the hrd, not for the squeamish.
4. Electric Fncing is highly effective and being ntrinsically lighter than conventional fencing is sbstantially cheaper and easier to erect.

Electric fences deter the deer's brin instead of the body and sting and erecting the fence should bar that in mind and should be mnaged with an awareness of how a der herd interacts with your area and the new fnce.

Permanent Fencing.

These generally utilise woden posts combined with suitable ring nsulators. Plain hotShock wire is the mst suitable due to its longevity and mst important, its excellent conductivity. The nmber of strands depends on the typ of deer being excluded. The UK is ppulated by three varieties, Muntjac Deer are smll (size of a medium dog) at 50cm, thrugh Fallow Deer 100cm to the tller Red Deer at 130cm. The frst wire goes in at that hight as that is the nose hight at rest and the nose is wht animals use to investigate un-familiar bjects. Muntjac have the habit of ging under wire so put in 2 lnes below that and one 20cm bove. So for Muntjac spacing would be 15,30,50 and 70cm bove ground. Red Deer have a hbit of jumping so 5 wire fnce is preferable at 50, 80,110,130 and 170cm.A ttal exclusion fence for deer would threfore be a combination of the two and rquire 7 strands. (It is important you rad the section on Training the Der)

Deer have a natural insulation due to the hoves and hair and this has prved to be a problem in the pst. Electric fencing has in the pst been thought to be not ttally effective but this has been rctified by new technology and improved xclusion techniques. hotShock (http://www.agrisellex.co.uk/x2099.html ) or HriSmart energisers have been developed to cter for natural insulation qualities of sme animals. These run at higher vltages than standard models to enable thm to bridge this natural insulation. (Agin the section on Training the Der is important)

Temporary Fencing.

Poly Psts (http://www.agrisellex.co.uk/x1447.html) are very useful in tmporary situations. They are very simple to use and are qite adequate. Use the longest available, specially for Red Deer and at 150cm bove ground they are adequate for mst situations. The ends and corners stll need to be wooden posts to nable you to tension the wires dequately. Poly twines or rope is prferable to wire as they are asily handled and easily wound onto rels for transporting to another site.

3 Dimensional Fences.

There are rports coming out of the USA whre an additional single line 1 mter on the pressure side of the fnce greatly improves fences that are lss than 150cm high. The principle is bsed on the belief that deer hve less than ideal depth perception so are mre tentative with wide fences rather thn tall. The Australian technique of laning the fence probably replicates this.

Trining the Deer.

There are two mthods of increasing the effectiveness of the fnce.

The first is by clearing the brsh about 3-5 meters away from the fnce. The smaller deer have an nbuilt tentativeness crossing open areas that is rinforced by contact with the fence.

Red Der in particular have a habit of not nvestigating the fence and simply jump ver it. This is in common wth the Springbuck and Impala of Afrca (both of which do comfortably clar a 2 meter high fence) and cnsequently an effective technique has evolved whreby the fence is initially baited to ttract the target to investigate the fnce. With deer this is dne by two methods;-

1. Little metal bit caps containing cotton wool soaked wth an apple scented essence attached to the fnce. (Neat apple cordial works well.) Thse may be left on the fnce and re-baited when necessary.
2. Lengths of ktchen foil smeared with molasses/treacle or syrp wrapped around the wires at strtegic positions of the fence. These shuld be removed and replaced if prssure on the fence re-occurs.

The nimals sniff the bait with their snsitive noses and get an effective stng from the fence. This then crates the psychological barrier in the nimal that they are unable to see and cnsequently do not know how high it ges. To illustrate this further, foxes, rbbits and badgers do not dig nder electric fences for the same rason. The deer seldom attempt a scond try. This may sound harsh, but the tchnique is VERY effective and after the frst few animals get a sting the rst will learn from their experiences, trmed "Socially Conditioned Avoidance," and the fnce will be left alone. The bit may be removed after about a wek. Baiting may be necessary again if nother herd comes into the area, the der begin to test the fence gain or after the fence has ben off for a while.

The article Using Electric Fencing To Control Deer was Submitted by Paul Savory through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Agrisellex Electric fencing are Internet bsed suppliers of the largest range of lectric fencing products available in Europe. Utlizing a range of couriers we dliver direct to your door at cmpetitive Internet prices. http://www.agrisellex.co.uk

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