Protective Fences

I admit I felt much better after we completed the installation of mesh tarps all around the inside of the welded-wire fencing of the deer pen. This not only provides a more visual barrier, it also provided a protective blanket of sorts that would hopefully keep Emma and Ronnie from harming themselves if they hit the fence. And, so far, it had even proven to help keep them calm. Emma and Ronnie deer were still at high alert if a cat, fox or squirrel showed up in the distance, but they did not go running in a panic like they used to. I imagined the mesh provided enough of a visual barrier to create a safer environment where the deer felt more hidden and protected. To provide even more cover, I also kept plenty of elm tree limbs cut and spread around for nibbling, green brier vine for munching, and plenty of grass and weeds we left to grow naturally.  With our latest efforts, Emma and Ronnie had a very nice setup – much better than what orphaned Daisy deer and injured yearling, Holly started out with. FD and I learned a lot from Daisy and Holly, and now Emma and Ronnie were furthering our education in rehabilitating deer.

View of the deer pen from the front porch.

This is the area that borders the chicken pen (left). Fresh water and a lot of good shade occupy this area of the pen.

The run between the two barns is a favorite bedding down spot for Emma and Ronnie, especially at night.

We run a sprinkler every week to help growth of weeds and grass and to keep the urine washed down a bit! Ronnie loves the sprinkler on these hot days.

Emma and Ronnie feel safe with the mesh tarps in place. It also provides some excellent shade in these unusually warm autumn temperatures.

But, with a couple of recent sightings, there was still the possibility of a coyote digging under the fence and that worried me. I was especially panicked after spotting a coyote in our yard just outside of the kitchen window, not long after we had installed the mesh canvas. After my night of “Keeping Watch Under The Stars“, I hoped the additional materials I needed to lay a bent apron fence would arrive soon.

I worked all day the next day, measuring and cutting lengths from a roll of galvanized half-inch welded wire hardware cloth to fashion bent-apron fencing around the exterior of the existing deer pen fence. The roll of hardware cloth was four feet wide and one hundred feet long. Cutting down the center would give me two foot-wide sections to work with for each fence panel. I would bend six inches up to attach to the existing fence, and secure the remaining eighteen inches flat to the ground with landscaping staples. If we continued having warm weather, grass and weeds would quickly thread through the mesh, creating a secure hold to the ground. I spent the entire day cutting 2 x 5 and 2 x 10 feet sections, working my way around the entire deer pen. It was a warm 86 degrees Fahrenheit by mid-afternoon, and I had already managed to rip the knees in my jeans on the sharp fence edges. My fingers ached and my body was fatigued, but I was determined to finish as many fence panels as possible before dark. And, when I took a short break to walk to the street and fetch our mail, I wondered if maybe there really was something to making a wish on a shooting star. While watching the Orionid meteor shower the night before, I had wished for safety for Emma and Ronnie. In my heart, I knew I would not stop worrying until the fence project was complete. Sure enough, there in the mailbox were the landscape staples I needed to complete the project! I had not expected them to arrive for a couple of days yet!

Measuring, cutting and bending in the heat!

Bent-apron fencing installed on the west side of the pen.

Landscaping staples help keep the hardware cloth anchored in place until the grass and weeds can take hold.

When FD came home from work that day, he helped me lay out each section and secure them to the welded-wire fence panels of the deer pen. I am sure the last thing he wanted to do was head out into the heat and crawl around on his knees after a day at work. But crawl around he did, securing the bent sections to the existing fence with zip ties while I hammered landscape staples into the ground. By the time we finished, it was nearly dark, but I slept soundly that night for a change. Of course I was worn plumb out, but mostly the worry about the fence did not plague me any longer.

Three days later the grass and weeds are already beginning to fill in!

The main gate probably will not fill in with grass as it is a heavily trafficked area. If the staples won’t hold we may have to staple down an outdoor mat.

The resident deer pen turtle has moved in and out of the deer pen all summer… but the new fence apron had him trapped in! So I put him in my mother-in-law’s iris beds where he can find a nice spot to hunker down for the winter!

In the days that followed, weeds began poking through the hardware cloth. I had been complaining about the heat we continued to endure over the last weeks as, normally, we would be enjoying 60 degree temperatures and an end to the mowing by now. Instead, I found myself thankful that grass and weeds continued to grow. The extended bit of summer weather had provided Emma and Ronnie with lush edibles in their pen, and soft, green grass to bed down in. I remember thinking when I mowed last that, surely, this would be the final mowing of the summer. But now, I hope for a little rain, and a little more sun to let help the grass grow into the hardware cloth and secure it firmly to the ground. That may mean I will have to mow just one more time… but it may also allow me another pleasant night to spend under the stars watching the last of the Orionid meteor shower or the Taurid fireballs, while I make another wish upon the stars! I wonder what good things that wish will bring…

© 2016 Day by Day the Farm Girl Way…