Winter finally loosens its grip. You and your dogs are shaking off “cabin fever”. However, you’re not home alone. Beasties from the forest, or even wandering pets from your neighborhood would love to tramp and camp-out on your property. Solution? Low impact, environmentally safe, visually discrete perimeter deer fencing.
6 Great Reasons To Install A Deer Fence This Year
* Economical. At just over $1.00 per linear foot, plastic fence materials offer you a practical and low cost fencing solution for keeping your critters safe… on the inside… and the other critters outside where they belong.
* Virtually Invisible. Plastic fencing, colored black, and manufactured in long continuous rolls… individual 1″ – 2″ squares… is meant to be virtually invisible! A deer fence “blends in” with your environment. You’ll keep all your natural views… and your neighbors won’t complain.
* Long Life No Rust. Environmentally safe, Earth friendly, low impact fencing can give you up to 20 years or more of reliable fencing protection. High density, impact resistant plastic fence won’t show rust stains like metal fencing.
* Simple Installation. Flexible, easy-to-use, light weight rolls of meshed plastic fencing are a cinch for you and your partner to install on a weekend. Even heavy gauge 200 feet plastic deer fence roll only weighs just over 50 pounds… un-rolls easily. A comparable roll of chain-link fence could weigh-in over 150 pounds… and think of the ‘kinks” and unwieldy metal fasteners!
* One Height Solution – How To Install Your Deer Fence. How high, or low, should your fence be? Here’s the simple solution! While you have height choices from 5-foot on up, select the 7-foot high plastic fence. Why? Unless your property is pancake-flat, you’ll have natural elevation rises and drops… rocks… bushes… trees or other irregular features. The 7-foot plastic fence gives you enough height “above the ground” plus a reserve of around 12-inches or more “lying flat on the ground” which you’ll use for staking or securing the fence from digging animals.
Adds Fun New Use Living On Your Property. Surprise! Your fence creates new living space. Add a water bottle-dish for your doggies… consider building a 1-step-up platform 8-feet X 8-feet… locate your family dome tent with bug screens and you’ve just made a great new outdoor room for the entire family.
The “Downside” Argument Against Deer Fencing – 4 Considerations
* Annual Maintenance. Your fence requires annual maintenance… mostly to check that your stakes remain secured into the ground… or that a tree branch has not come down and tore a gaping hole in your fence… or that a burrowing “beastie” like ground hogs or rabbits or dogs have not excavated an “access” hole under your fence line.
* Corner Bracing And Anchor-Securing May “Loosen”. While easy to install initially, plastic fencing requires just the right amount of “tensioning” during installation. Yes, you’ll be simply nailing the plastic fence material to posts or trees… but, unless you’ve properly anchored your corner posts, you could wake-up in the spring with a seriously sagging fence.
* Repairing Tears, Holes Breaks. Unlike metal fences, which might last decades, your plastic fence is vulnerable to heavy tree limbs, or even vandalism. Result? You may have the messy task of cutting out sections of your fence… digging new replacement brace posts… and then zip fastening ties to re-tension your fence.
* Passive Non Fence Solution For Real Deer. Are you the type who doesn’t want any heavy lifting, and you actually have wild deer grazing your property? Alternative to a plastic fence? You can always select from the range of liquid fence repellant products, which you spray over your property… creating an aromatic noxious fence.
Bottom Line. Weigh it all up. Fencing gives you a mix of cost savings, low impact, environmentally safety and protection for your pets… but you’ll have to do some work in order to gain the benefits.