Anyone here use deer exclusion fences?

[eclipseman]

I am contemplating doing about 1 acre of soybeans in a 2 acre food plot this year and interested in using a exclusion fence. Couple questions for those that do this.

1.)What kind of cost and what fence should I look into? How long of a fence do I need or how do I calculate that. I will not have power so will need to use a battery.
2.)How long before the hunting season opener (October 1st), should I pull the fence down?
3.)Once the fence is down, how long will the plot last? I know we have a low to medium deer population. I know this is all a guess but just curious how long you think it will last though.
4.) any other thoughts?

 

[yoderjac]

1) They are expensive. You can price them on-line. Gallagher style seems to be the most cost effective but still expensive. You don't need to calculate the size, just measure it. That is easier because the perimeter will change depending on the shape of the field.
2) I used RR Forage beans (Eagle) and once they canopy the deer could not keep up with them. If you are planting for QDM, I'd remove the fence as soon as the beans have canopied so deer have the nutrition in the summer. If you are looking for a hunting season attractant, you can wait until a week or so before season begins.
3) Depends on conditions. I fenced less than an acre of Eagle beans and they produced pods and lasted all winter. My deer don't use pods much unless we have a mast crop failure. Turkey used them heavily. I'm on zone 7a so things will be different for you.

Thanks,

jack

 

[Victor Van Meter]

I have no experience with this, but I read on a thread on another forum where a guy planted a couple acres of peas and ran a fence around it with cheapy string and tied a bunch of generic fabric softener sheets to hit and it kept the deer out.

VV

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

If your season opens 10/1 You can either not fence them and see what happens or (what I would lean toward if I was fencing) Keep the fence up until late November and have the best thing going for late season. Plant a cover in them mid August to aid nutrient cycling.

Deer usage of soybeans in October isn't going to be much.