They leap our 6' fence like it was nothing, but never the 8 ' fence. And remember they have to have a running start. They seem to have enough sense to know that a square of fenced garden is a no-no. They know they won't be able to get back out.

LOL, John! That would be awful, huh?!

I've also heard that they can jump very high or very wide, but not high and wide at the same time, so building a five foot fence and a slightly shorter one about three feet or so out from that would keep them out. Of course that would look funny, but if you have a view to preserve in that direction, might be handy.

Last Monday (24 Feb) evening at dusk when I finished feeding the animals, there were 14 deer in our west field. On Wednesday evening there were 11 in the front field. They had to cross a fence to get out of the front field. Even the little ones cleared a 4 1/2' fence from a standing start right beside the fence. Amazingly agile and graceful.

I don't worry about fences to keep deer out of the garden as we have a Great Pyrenees patrolling the yard which contains the garden. I can hear him barking right now warning off whatever might be out there.

Yeah, I'm thinking about getting some of those Great Pyrenees.

8 feet to stop deer.

We also have a Great Pyr and no more deer problems -

I have an English Mastiff and he keeps the animals out of the yard.

I've heard that a single wire strung above the main fence (say you have a four or five foot fence, then you extend the posts and put a wire at the eight foot height above the fence) will do the job, or, alternately, you can increase the total width by adding another row of shorter posts about four feet high with a single wire about four feet outside of the main fence. Again this is to increase the height or the width, but you do not need to do it with expensive fencing wire mesh when a single wire will do the job. It interferes with their jumping and apparently really confuses them. But note that I haven't tried this myself, I just read about it somewhere.

It depends a lot where you live. All the deer in the South look like baby deer (just kidding). The further North, the bigger the deer and the higher they can jump. Up here in Montana it is definitely 8 feet. In record buck territory like Saskatchewan...then ....hey, what's that brown object in the sky?

Eight feet of vertical fence boards. They'll scramble over horizontal boards.

I've been told a story that happened to a friend living in BC. He came home one day and noticed he had forgot to close the gate of his 8 foot fence. A deer was inside and got scared by the car. The deer ran and jumped the 8 foot fence. The deer had a slightly down slope to its advantage and it did touch the fence with its back legs while jumping over.

I have heard that about the double fence keeping deer out - it's also a good place for the chickens to get the bugs without digging up the garden.

close to were I live the city makes you either install a 4' fence or an 8' fence only. To many deer were getting hung up on the 6 footers.

Living out in the high dessert of AZ we have just recently had a problem with the deer. I tried the wire thing, only I used rope instead. It worked for a couple days, that was it. They are eating and destroying my flower bed as there isn't much up here for them to eat until you plant something. Does anyone know if a light on a motion sensor would help? To put up an 8' fence around my garden would not be very pleasing to look at, and quite costly to say the least! We don't see the deer around here in the summer, so I hope they don't stick around after winter!

Our garden fence is 6', and they've never jumped it--yet. But I'm aware they can--8' would be better. BTW, they can jump really high without a running start. It's the spring, not the velocity...

i've seen a deer jump an 8 foot fence to get into the apple orchord.

The only fence I know of that a deer can't jump is 9 feet high.

Fusion

Most fences to keep deer or elk in/out are at least 8'. Some States have laws requiring deer farms to have fences 96 inches or higher. A frightened animal will jump higher to escape than a calm one searching for food.

Most of the time you just have to make your garden more trouble to get into than it is worth. 6 1/2 foot T post corners with green plastic mesh deer fence around your yard should make the neighbors yard more inviting. Dogs usually help. Motion sensors connected to lights, noise makers, and/or water sprayers are supposed to work, too.

I use the fence and dog method. 5' fence 2' dog. Dog has a 70' cable run for at night and the run of the yard during the day so her scent is everywhere.

Ben

A 6' solid board fence works better than a 6' wire fence, and the deer are leery of what they can't see into. A solid 6' with dogs behind it is even better. They know the dogs are there "sometimes," but can't see if they are there at the moment. We haven't had a deer inside the fence in over eight years of living here.

Our garden security has been provided by a German shepherd and two English shepherds (farm collies) for some time. No deer, ever. No moles, no bunnies, no voles, no raccoons. This summer we were raising a litter of English shepherd pups, and a groundhog started making trouble for the first time ever, really going to town in my green beans and salad greens. Because I was closing the pups in at night, their momma and auntie weren't able to run out the dog door and patrol. One day, when I was down to the last four puppies, I came out in the early evening to find the two big dogs eviscerating a 15 POUND whistle pig while the little ones lined up like the cheering section. So they went to their new farm homes having already had a lesson on security concerns. My German shepherd is the most lethal of our three, but the two English shepherds are much more alert, better deterrents, better for unfenced properties, and are more territorial than predatory. I highly recommend them.

Adults can clear 6' from a short run up but 8' is very difficult. In winter mos. snow pack can reduce clearance. Solid fences are best..won't jump if they can't see other side..also not comfortable going up driveways/ashphalt re footing. animals are good deterent during the day! If there is a ditch or obstacle they have to span in addt' to fence they most likely won't make the 8'H clearance. Even if you trap them inside the property and they panic and slam against the fencing they will return if there is a good food supply. If you put up netting (black plastic commerical quality ONLY) it's important to stake the bottom of the fence so they dont lift it up with their horns. Check out www.deerfencingassoicates.com for examples..

I used to have a big deer problem on my property here in Maine. It's a young fruit orchard. For a couple of years I had a 6' hot tape fence that I was told when I purchased it would keep the deer out. Not a chance. Ultimately I ended up taking the advice from a couple of other orchard folks, bit the bullet and put up an 8' high-tensile wire fence, mounted to 5" posts spaced 16' apart. It took about 2,350 feet of it to fence in 7 acres of orchard. I'm happy to report I've had absolutely no deer.

I've attached a photo below to give you an idea of the kind of fence you'll need:

Good luck!

John

For our garden, we are doing like Faith_LA describes above. Fence is about 5 feet high but then we run 1x2's up along the fence posts to raise it to about 12 feet. Then we strung regular old string in two rows around the extended part. And then tied silvery shiny bird tape hanging from the string. It gives the illusion of a higher fence. No deer so far and we are gardening in a place where we do not live every day (come on weekends/holidays) and there is a herd of deer that regularly cuts through the property. No dogs and so far, after 4 months, no deer.

I just put up a 4 footer around my small 20X16 veggie garden.
The deer must have been in the bushes laughing while I was doing so because the next morning I went out to find my beets, tomatoes, beans all nibbled flat. Tell tale hoof prints all around. I would have loved to have seen them do it because there is little space to get a running start.
Must have some genetic link to Michael Jordan.

I alone can kick a BUCK in his ass and make him jump The Empire State Building. Deer can jump up to 8 foot. Fact. So all you fattys with to much time on your hands take the dozen of doughnuts from in front of ya's and go "JUMP" out of that nasty ass stretch mark road rash looking B-Day suiet you were born with..WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Will mule deer go into a ditch and then make a standing start jump? Figure a four foot fence.
Will mule deer scale a hillside (cut for a road) and make a standing start jump from a narrow ledge of about 3 to 5 feet before the earth slopes into a cliff? In this instance, deer could climb the hillside from a perpendicular point where the hill has sloped down to the road. In other words, no one expects the deer to go up the cliff-face of the cut hill.
Is there terrain that deer don't want to enter because their footing is compromised?
I'm asking these questions because a security fence was put up at our local recreational lake, a large lake, and at various spots along the impassable security fence there are quasi animal friendly spots with fencing four feet high. (Wire strands spaced a foot apart, some barbed). The idea is that deer and other wildlife should be able to reach the lake to drink water. The spots for passage are either at drainage points that drop down from a two lane highway or are up from where the road cut through hillsides.
Many people are concerned that the deer and other wildlife (Bobcat, mountain lion) won't be able to reach the lake for water. I'm one of those people.

"They leap our 6' fence like it was nothing"

Another post had a similar question. You don't have to raise the six foot fence but to angle it outwards. Here's the original advice:

"...a short metal extension at 45 degrees and carrying several monofilament cables will provide far better deer control in open spots than raising the deer fence two or even three vertical feet"

I hope that helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deer Fences

I put up a 6 foot fence with a 2 foot out leaning top. i used 4 feet range fence then 4 feet on top. I put 11/2 inch pvc over post then 45% on that and another foot pvc. as deer haveto be close to jump the 45 acts as deturent.

I have a 3 foot fence in my garden which was an absolute waste of time. It only keeps out ground hogs and bigger rabbits (the babies get in). Thankfully though the deer don't mess with my garden too much. They ate my beats once in the 2 years I had the fence. I guess I got tastier stuff in the yard

I put up a 7 foot fence and still had problems until I shot one jumping my fence since then they go around and leave my apples alone

I saw them jumping my 8ft fence at my orchard further north. It was not electric. I had to put it at 10ft to keep them out. I had an existing problem with deer there so I had to break them of the habit.

Here at this new orchard I have 2 great Pyrenees and 8 ft high tensile 8 wire electric fence and it has worked so far. Here it is a new orchard so they don't even know about it, hopefully I can keep it that way.

I had a problem with deer eating the garden produce, so had to fence in the garden and orchard. I published a description about how I went about it on my web site: www.jaschwartz.com

I have not had any deer get into the garden since the fence, and we have deer coming through the yard all the time. Unfortunately, we no longer have a dog to keep the deer away.

I personally put a 8 foot fence around our 15 X 55 foot Veggie garden think yes this will keep them out. NO THEY GOT IN making my wife mad. So I extended 3/4 of the fence to 10 feet which is on the flat areas of the garden and left the 8 foot fence with a 21 inch over hang which was covered in deer fencing on the slope side. Did they get in YES. Now my wife is furious, how is this possible she even found foot prints from one of the fawns that was hanging out in our back yard. Do mule deer seriously have wings and fly?? Now I have to either extend the 8 foot section to 10 feet or make it into greenhouse.

HELP! HELP! HELP! hey! please help me! Am new to deer. ive never had them before. im buying a house and my land is agricultural. i want to keep a buck and 3 doe to start off with. i love deer. im not allowed to keep white tail as pets because they are native to where i live. i live in Tennessee USA. i would like to know what to have as a fence to keep them in. i tried contacting my local co op and tractor supplies but with no luck they don't have it. i want to keep fellow deer or manjat deer. please send me any info you know about what kinda fencing i should use.I know i need to use the 8 ft fencing but where do i get it and how much would it cost. i need to know if i should use the 4inch by 4inch squares

Hello all, I know a family that raises white tail deer for agencies that reintroduce deer where deer use to live but populations have declined or absent all together. Its a 50 acre deer farm. It has 4 sections with internal and external fenced roads running in between each none are accessible by the public. It started when a baby doe's mother was killed by a car and the baby doe was brought to the farm where the owner was ask to keep it a few days but no-one showed back up up to retrieve the baby deer and the family had been bottle feeding the baby deer and it was very healthy and they had fallen in love with the baby deer in-which the family petitioned the local gov for the proper paperwork and permits to keep the baby doe. They were granted the paperwork. Three years went by and she got pregnant. They did not try to jump out (6ft fence) but no one knew how the dad buck got in or out. Then the next year she was pregnant again in her forth year. So it came to be a problem that these new babies grew up and mated, So the owner went to find out if he could buy some deer elsewhere to introduce in his now growing heard of deer and was granted a permit to move some buck he bought from northern VA and they were added to the herd, that night those deer all ended up in his front yard (about 40), the northern deer showed the southern deer that they could jump the 6ft chain link fence, so with deer corn and apples and some 4 wheeler action all were lead back into the enclosure and the next day had a crew come in and added fence to 10ft and this keeps the deer in, none have jumped out. Now to keep them thinned down some go to be introduced in areas where needed. All deer are tagged when young and tranquilized for their shots and recorded. They do not jump the 10ft fence but one buck has made it in the enclosure and joined the herd and has not left or can not jump back out, no one knows where he got in or if someone put him in there but was found in good health untagged, unrecorded and may have actually been there before it was fenced in and/or is the original daddy buck that stayed hidden for years until recorded 7-8 years later when it was very old. Every year or so they buy some other deer from another farm to add to theirs so genetics do not go bad, they also have natural streams and ponds for water. Back to the Moral of the other topics. IMO you need a ten foot fence. I once worked on his farm for 5 years. For knowledge sake you cannot catch, keep deer legally without the proper permits/approvals and even then it took a long time to get approved for the farm ( just to keep them there) The land set aside for the deer are theirs until they are gone no building ect. and they have to be kept up/cared for by a professional vet for or from the local GOV that can legally tranquilize them, record them, move them, tag them, give then shots every year, take samples for testing, count the herd, basically keep track of each deer, all has to be done, documented, fees paid and are the only ones that can transport them or permit anyone else to. They are not for food ever nor to be hunted there and are safe. Do not think a deer can be a pet and approach them, the baby fawn was about a week or so old and was never around any other deer until it was 3yrs and even then sometimes played rough.

I have a twelve foot fence around my garden and no deer has gotten in.