Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Fence Attack

We've had a lot of deer on our property lately. They like to come and graze on the new shoots that are just coming up in our little hay field. We regularly see groups of 5-7 of them chomping away like cows on pasture.

A few have even been jumping the fence surrounding the pond and poultry yard. They come right up to the front of the chicken house where they snarf up any leftover grain on the ground.

We had been casually glancing out at the deer off and on yesterday when about 3 o'clock I looked out to discover the whole section of fence along the west side of the pond missing. Well, it wasn't missing but rather lying flat on the ground.

One of the deer must have jumped the fence going out of the poultry pasture, misjudged its height and got tangled in it. I don't think the webbed fencing could have hurt the deer at all (it's very soft and pliable and not electrified) but it probably gave him a little scare when he went splat down on his chin and had a couple of feet/legs tangled up.

Hubby went out and didn't have much trouble at all (ground wasn't frozen) putting the fencing back up.

I wanted to get a shot of the fencing lying down but the Homestead Handyman was too fast for me and had just about finished the repair job by the time I got situated with my camera.

So far today, no deer have been spotted in the poultry yard. Do ya think the one who had the fight with the fence told all of his friends and family of his hair-raising, awful, terrible, very bad experience?

9 comments:

Sparkless said...

Poor deer. LOL! I'm sure he/she forgot all about the fall a few minutes later. If you put some of that bright tape tied on the fence they can see it better and it also moves in the wind so it keeps them away from the fence. But then you may not want to scare the deer away.

My Mother in Law has a 7" fence around her vegetable garden with all sorts of things tied on it to scare the deer away. It seems to be working for her.

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - We've never fed the deer because we want to keep their comings and goings on more of a "normal" or "natural" level. And it doesn't really harm anything to have them pop into the poultry pasture 'cause there's nothing in there they can eat/destroy. We do have a 7' high fence around all of our gardening area and if they ever start hopping over that there will be venison in the freezer!

Anonymous said...

I'd have loved to watch that happen... Probably was a "What the heck" moment for sure!

mtnchild said...

Since my new chicken coop with inside feeder and waterer, there have been a lot less deer in my yard. Now they just seem to pass through which is a good thing. I've tried putting wavy things on my fence - doesn't work here at all! The deer seem to get use to all the shenanigans that we humans can do, so I gave up chasing them with pots and pans ... LOL
Yvette

Sue said...

Hopefully he spread the word not to mess with Mama!!!
:D
You didn't get any snow yesterday???????????? I see ground! Ack! We got over 5". And it's STILL coming down! But, they're calling for upper 40's today....woohoo!!! We haven't been anywhere close to normal temps this month--running about 15-20 degrees below norms. I see a "flannel shirt" summer ahead. Good for Sue- Not good for the garden!

judy said...

oh lord ,those naughty deer.nice handy hubby tho .my son,Dan, took over for mine since he landed in the wheel chair. but its just not the same-hubby's are on top of what needs done-others need to be told. and how about that easter bunny and his whole family ,been hiding under the deck all winter. I don't have to be "CSI" to know that trail everywhere isn't "cocoa puffs"
evan?that 10 pointer would have been good venison-should get me a stun gun,but if I coaxed him in the garage -he might kick down the walls first.I guess I will stick to container gardening---TOPSIDE

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

Trust me, the deer do not remember the tumble with the fence. They take mine down daily. If they remembered they would at least jump once in a while. I have the fence taped and it is very visable. I am going to send them a bill.

Erin said...

I hate dealing with fencing! I better get used to it :)

Mama Pea said...

Ruth - I was wishing the same thing. And I'm kind surprised neither of us saw the "tangle" happen because we'd both been glancing at the deer convention all morning.

Yvette - Dumb animals they are not!

Sue - No, no snow! We've had the happy good fortune to have missed all the recent droppings of the white stuff. So you think it's gonna be a cool summer? Well, since I can't garden (waahh) that would be better for all of our physical remodeling work. I'll take a flannel shirt any day over sweaty humidity!

judy - Uh-oh. That rabbit family under your deck could do real damage to any of your plantings! Darn wabbits.

Jane - Your deer must be treating your fence as a turnstile . . . it's just something they have to go through!

Erin - If you're gonna live in Minnesota and garden, you must learn to love fencing! ;o}