How to Build an Electric Deer Fence

Building an electric fence may be required to contain a certain temporary perimeter, shelter belt or animal reserve area where tagged and wild deer are located. Electric fences are convenient because they come without the cost and labor of installing a permanent fence.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pliers Roll of 14-gauge high tensile wire Fence stretcher Steel hot wire rods Screw-on plastic insulators Glass donut insulator Hammer 12-volt battery High voltage, low impedance, short pulse fence charger (AC plug-in type preferred, but battery operated and solar models are fine)

Building an Electric Deer Fence

1. Put a spare piece of 2- to 3-foot wire through the hole of the glass donut insulator and tie it loosely to the corner post. Tie the end of the 14-gauge high tensile wire to a corner post glass donut insulator. Wrap it tightly around the donut and make sure it only touches the glass insulated part. Unroll wire along one side of the perimeter to be contained. You must have solid wooden corner posts to construct an electric fence. Do one side at a time.

2. Stretch the fence wire. Once you have unrolled the wire on one side, cut the wire a bit longer than the distance of the side you have just unrolled the wire spool on. Use the fence stretcher to grab the end of the wire and hook the stretcher around the corner post and begin to ratchet the stretcher and tighten the wire. Stop once it becomes hard to ratchet the fence stretcher.

3. 

   With the glass donut insulator, put a spare piece of wire through the hole and tie it loosely to the corner post. Then with the tightened piece of wire in the fence stretcher, wrap it tightly around the donut and make sure it only touches the glass insulated part. Remove the fence stretcher.

4. Hammer in the steel hot wire rods. Now that you have the wire connected and tightened you need to get the wire off the ground. To do this you will screw plastic insulators onto the 3- to 4-foot steel rods and attach them to the wire and then proceed to hammer the rod into the ground about 6 inches and adjust the wire height in accordance to the size of the deer you are containing (usually have the wire 3 feet off the ground). You can make a judgment on how far apart the rods should be depending on how low the wire is sagging. A good rule of thumb is usually 50 feet.

5. Install the voltage. You'll install the fence charger at the corner of the enclosed area that is either closest to a power outlet or is the easiest to access. There are AC plug-in (plug into a standard 110V outlet), battery (hook up to a 12V battery), and solar (allow to charge in the sun for a day before use) power operated types of fence chargers; each has its benefits and operates equally well with proper maintenance. Attach the fence charger's ground wire to an extra rod that you will hammer into the ground. Attach the fence charger's hot wire to the fence that you are going to electrically charge by wrapping the wire around it for a solid connection. Turn on your fence charger.

6. Battery-operated Fence Charger
   Clamp the black cable from the battery-operated fence charger to the negative post of your 12 V battery, then clamp the red cable from the fence charger to the positive post of the 12 V battery.

Tips & Warnings

• Practice safety when working with electricity.