The game changer for anyone that is interested in protecting your hard work such as food plots and tree plantings from being over browsed by deer and other wildlife is the Dual Perimeter Electric Fence. This is a relatively new way of protecting your investment in the hunting world. I would like to tell you my experience without the electric fence setup and with the current electric fence setup I have today.
As a wildlife and habitat manager for my consulting business and my family’s property, it was always a dream of mine to be looking over a stand of soybeans for the late season. I did my research and found out if I over seeded the soybeans at a 100 pound rate compared to the normal 50 pounds per acre I would have stems left over for the pods to develop for the deer to feed on in the hard winter months. I did all the work by preparing an acre of ground and seeded the soybeans. Weeks later I had a good stand that ranged from 10-12 inches
tall, well that didn’t last long.
Underestimating Over-Browsing
It was June, and the food plot was cleaned up and eaten to the ground. I was so upset and thought I’d try again the following year with a new idea that a local farmer told me to try since he had success with the idea. It was the following year and I did everything perfect for this plot of soybeans once again. I prepared the plot, sprayed the weeds, fertilized and was ready to seed the soybeans.
Once again I over seeded and mixed in buckwheat with the soybeans to act as a nurse crop and to protect from over browsing and also to act as a camouflage. Deer will tend not to put their heads down very long when feeding in higher vegetation due to looking for danger of predators.
It was late July and the soybeans were 20 inches or so tall and the buckwheat was doing its job to some extent. The soybeans and the buckwheat were being browsed on, but there were soybeans that I thought would make it and become mature with pods for the late season. I was wrong once again and had to prepare the plot for a brassica planting instead.
All-in-all the brassica plot worked out well for still seeing lots of deer in the late season, but I still wanted a better food source that was high in protein, fats, and oils for our deer herd. This is when I did my research on a dual perimeter electric fence for food plots.
how to successfully prevent over-browsing
Its now the current times of 2020 and I have high hopes for the science project of designing and setting up the electric fence. My father thought I was doing this all for nothing and wouldn’t keep the deer out, but my father in-law helped me and had faith in the idea. With many hours of watching YouTube and reading articles it was time to buy all the supplies and setup the electric fence. Here is a list of supplies we used to protect 3⁄4 – 1 acre food plot.
Electric Fence Parts
• Solar Charger Fencer with 6 volt battery (make sure to face South for best sunlight)
• Poly Wire Tape
• Poly Wire String not Tape
• 3/8 inch Fiberglass Fence Post
• Fence Post Insulators to hold the wire and tape on post
• Grounding Rod
With everything listed we setup the electric fence and put the inside fence up first and that consisted of the two wire strings. The next part was to measure out three feet from the inside fence and place another fence that had the poly wire tape on the outside fence. The fence has a two layer setup that is why it is called a Dual Perimeter Electric Fence. The purpose of two fences is to mess up the depth perception of the deer and that intrigues the deer to come take a closer look. A whitetail deer’s nose has a lot of moisture for gathering scent so a deer investigates with its nose and touches the fence and gets a pulse of electricity throughout its body. This then teaches deer not to get any closer to your food plot or fruit trees until the plot or trees have matured to take the browse pressure.
The success rate between the control soybeans compared to the fenced in soybeans ranges 85%-90% success in the electric fence and 10%-20% success in the control plot due to over-browsing.
To bring everything together, on my third attempt for planting soybeans, it was a total success and me and my family will have a great stand of soybeans to hunt over and get our deer herd through the hard winter months.
To see more of what Tyler has going on or if you are interested in getting any consulting done checkout
https://www.facebook.com/Jacks-Mountain-Wildlife-Solutions-584615761900096
