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Fishing line to keep deer out

pollinator

Posts: 940

Location: Stevensville, MT

posted 13 years ago

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Just read this article in Countryside mag, Vol 5, No 2. This woman used fishing line between fence posts around her garden to keep the deer out and it has been effective. The deer can't see it and are startled when they walk into it. They also will not jump over anything that they can't see. It is not effective against rabbits though. Best part is it only cost her $16.

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Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 13 years ago

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i have a string fence, works for deer, sucks for smaller critters.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Posts: 13

Location: Lockhart, TX

posted 13 years ago

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I've been trying to find an inexpensive way to keep the deer out of my gardens. I'm tempted to try it, but I'm pretty sure the wild boars around here would destroy the fishing wire pretty quickly. It may be worth a shot though.

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 13 years ago

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will it stop deer yes....boars no it wont.

you can also do half string fence. in areas where we need it most, we have normal fence up to 3ft, then string fence above that. this keeps the low lying critters from getting in, and the deer from above. only thing is it costs a little more that way.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Suzy Bean

pollinator

Posts: 940

Location: Stevensville, MT

posted 13 years ago

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That does sound ideal.

www.thehappypermaculturalist.wordpress.com

Posts: 13

Location: Lockhart, TX

posted 13 years ago

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hubert cumberdale wrote:
will it stop deer yes....boars no it wont.

you can also do half string fence. in areas where we need it most, we have normal fence up to 3ft, then string fence above that. this keeps the low lying critters from getting in, and the deer from above. only thing is it costs a little more that way.

That sounds like a great idea. Short fencing and fishing line would be much more cost effective than 8' fencing! How high did you put the string over your 3' fencing?

Dom

Paul Cereghino

gardener

Posts: 864

Location: South Puget Sound, Salish Sea, Cascadia, North America

posted 13 years ago

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I am imagining the deer sniffing the 3' fence and then prancing into the fishing line, ending in aerial hysterionics, and some level of destruction? Reassure me it won't happen...

Paul Cereghino- Ecosystem Guild
Maritime Temperate Coniferous Rainforest - Mild Wet Winter, Dry Summer

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 13 years ago

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That sounds like a great idea. Short fencing and fishing line would be much more cost effective than 8' fencing! How high did you put the string over your 3' fencing?

you can also use the 4 ft fencing.

I have a line 3" above above the fence, 6" above that then a ft above that and so on all the way up to about 7.5 ft. i used some tall 4" spindly oaks i thinned for posts and they vary in height so its hard to say exactly. used to have lots of problems with deer. now i only have problems when i leave the gate open on accident.

and even still they don't do much damage to a forest garden compared to a regular row or raised bed garden, i actually let them in on purpose at the end of summer to clean the place up for me. for example they go for my ugly over-summered kale plants that i wont eat, they much em down and i get fresh clean kale in the early fall.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Tyler Ludens

pollinator

Posts: 11853

Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8

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posted 13 years ago

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Thanks for all those details, hubert.

I'm definitely thinking about trying some string fences around places where I'd like baby trees to be protected from deer.

Idle dreamer

Brenda Groth

pollinator

Posts: 4437

Location: North Central Michigan

posted 13 years ago

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after a half dozen bad wind storms that have been bringing down fences on my property I'm in the process of salvaging a bunch of lattice fencing..it is somewhat damaged but reusable..

I also had thought that I would keep the posts tall, and put some netting or line above the 4' tall lattice between the posts..to deter deer, a lot of people seem to have success with that..

I'll use the lattice for the bottom 4' and then above that use the line, wire or netting..up a few feet..

really would hate to see a deer get tangled up in it though..so I did think about flagging it so they would know there was something there even if they couldn't see it??

Brenda

Bloom where you are planted.
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

Posts: 3

Location: zone 3 wisconsin, nw

posted 13 years ago

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we tried the fishing line last year and our brave deer just went thru it.

we are looking for more ideas

Permie Newbie

Mary James

Posts: 145

Location: NW MT Zones 4/5 Rollins Mt

posted 13 years ago

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We wrote about this in Natural homes as well when our house was featured.My grandmother used to use string my mom used fish line in their days
But there is a but here..If deer are causally grazing along or walking they bump into it yes and do not come through.We do as the above chest high and another one about a foot off the ground.
However after years of using this I can tell you that a spooked deer will run right through it.Snapping the line.Regardless of which pound line you choose to use.
We found that for durability as well as having to look at the stuff we put out for the higher quality braids and even kevlars.These hold up for many more seasons and are less noticeable

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 13 years ago

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A spooked deer will jump into just about anything(except a living hedge of osage orange ), we used to have the metal 4 inch fencing. spooked a deer one day it knew i was blocking the way out and before i could move it just broke the whole fence down with as much force as it could make up stumbled on the other side and took off.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Mary James

Posts: 145

Location: NW MT Zones 4/5 Rollins Mt

posted 13 years ago

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Well after the other night of yet another deer attack on vehicles I can say they can also not quite jump through a large tool trailer being towed..Why or why could it not have decided to jump and hit the already being replaced pick up box..

ops: Better yet it could of waited until we were totally past it..
Deer and turkey damage to the house(flat roof) and garden is so much less expensive then damage to our vehicles,,sheesh.

Suzy Bean

pollinator

Posts: 940

Location: Stevensville, MT

posted 13 years ago

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For folks who are up for sturdier, more solid fencing, there was a pretty good article in Living Woods on building stock fencing (they used chestnut wood). The issue was Sept/Oct No 12, 2010. They give a lot of helpful details on the how-to doing it yourself.

www.thehappypermaculturalist.wordpress.com

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