Deer Fence Idea

Mac Gills wrote:Hello - I have a design idea for a deer-proof garden fence. I haven't seen anything like what I'm proposing and I was hoping for some feedback, even if it's "you're crazy, dude".

In short, I am working on designing our garden fence that is cost effective, handsome, and deer proof. Our garden will be near where we host people and I'd had to ruin our beautiful view with an overly utilitarian fence if possible. Deer run all through my property so whatever we build has to keep them out and anything with tall posts gets expensive quick.

So, in my learning about deer, I read that they have poor depth perception and therefore a useful way to discourage deer from hopping a fence is to build a redundant fence 2-3 feet off. The gap in the fence confuses the deer as they cannot tell how far apart the fences are and they will avoid jumping in between. So, with this in mind, I have wondered if the following design would accomplish the same thing:

The garden fence would be a typical split rail fence along the perimeter of the garden. Immediately outside of the fence would be a row of bushes, possibly evergreens that grow 18-24 inches high (not sure exactly what, TBD). Immediately outside of that would be a row of medium-sized rocks, 12" or so high. The attached pdf shows the design better than I can explain. I can source a lot of the rocks from neighbor farmers and get young bushes to grow up.

My thought is that this would "fatten" up the fence and, in the mind of the deer, giving it a bit of depth that would discourage getting into the garden and peaking around. In theory (aka in my head) it works, but I'm an engineer! Most things work only in my head!

Has anyone done something like this before or seen something like this? Would it work? Anything else to suggest?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Lorinne Anderson wrote:The best, inexpensive, good looking, effective fence I have seen was in an HOA area, with a ton of restrictions. They used very large "shepherds hooks" every 6-8 feet, that were 8 feet high, then attached black, monofilament, "bird netting" stretched very taut, to the full height of the hooks (with the smallest, black cable ties/zap straps, neatly trimmed), and hung massive hanging baskets off the hooks, on the inside.  The black of the hooks, with the black of the mesh was deceptively "see through", especially with the stunning hanging baskets that over flowed with bright flowers grabbing your attention.  Now, I am not sure what those shepherds hooks cost, but the actual fencing cost peanuts and looked remarkably good.

Thanks. This is an interesting idea and see how it's not obnoxious. Those Shepard's hooks are ~$15/each, which isn't bad but we're looking at a large enclosure (~2800sf). I think I'll have to grow a living fence and make something less than aesthetical in the interim, however I like this idea a lot and may incorporate it.