Cheapest Way To Keep Out Deer

What is the Cheapest Way to Keep Deer Out of Your Garden?

With prices increasing everywhere, a lot of people are starting to garden to provide their families with fresh fruits and vegetables. With gardens, comes the biggest pest of all—deer. There are many ways to keep deer out of your garden, whether that’s putting up an entire enclosure or putting up a deer fence. But there are a lot of options out there that are marketed as “bulletproof” when they don’t work.

Constant Reapplication = Expensive

Lots of people try and use the Irish spring soap method of keeping deer away, which can work temporarily but it is not an effective way of keeping them out. The strong smell of the soap causes deer to turn away, but after a good rain or being outside for days in the heat the soap loses scent power, and the deer inevitably return. With the constant weather changes and random downpours this method gets expensive very quickly because of the constant reapplication.

Fishing Line Fences Are NOT Effective

Another way people try to keep deer out is the fishing line method. This method is ineffective; deer are hundreds of pounds and can easily walk through the fishing line. The reason this method was developed was because deer are easily spooked by things they can’t see, and walking into an invisible barrier would freak anything out. If you go with a higher strength fishing line, the deer can easily spot it and try to jump; in the end the deer break through and continue. Even though there has been some success from people in areas with very low deer populations, it takes time to “train” the deer that there is a barrier present. Which again leads to the same issue as the soap method, reapplication is pricey. Not just materials, but your garden being eaten as well!

Alternative Posts + The Right Fence = A Cost-Efficient Fence!

Critterfence is an effective mesh option to keeping deer out, and one of our most asked questions is “Can I use my existing posts?”. The answer is: Yes!

There are a wide variety of posts that you can use, most commonly people have wooden posts installed already and want to attach mesh to those. When using wood, be sure that the posts you plan to use are pressure treated or natural timber posts for maximum efficiency. The best way to attach our deer fencing to wooden posts is to pull the fence tight between posts and attach using 1-inch U-nails or thicker wood staples to avoid damaging the mesh.

Other options include t-posts (or u-posts), rebar rods, and fiberglass rods. When paired with poly fence mesh, these types of posts are very efficient! While the post spacing might need to be closer together than our post and sleeve system, this is still an effective method of creating a strong deer fence while keeping your costs down. When using these types of posts, you can use our nylon ties (or steel ties if you prefer) to attach the mesh to each post. Some posts, like t-posts (or u-posts), come with clips and those are perfectly fine to use as well, just be sure the fence mesh is effectively secured and go in with ties in places that might need reinforcement.

You can also install using trees as the “posts”! This is another common installation we see. The same installation method can be used as with wooden posts, pulling taught and attaching with u-nails or thicker wooden staples. The best way, however, is to use a monofilament tensioning system. This way when the trees move, the fence can move slightly with the wind and not snap at your attachment points!

All these methods are cost-effective and will work well at deterring deer, however the best way to deter deer is our fence kit systems!

Critterfence Fence Kits

If you really want to secure your garden or yard, the strongest and most cost-effective method is our Critterfence Poly Fence Kits! These kits utilize our poly mesh, which is the best at keeping deer out, and when attached to our fence posts it acts as a trampoline to the deer. This bounces them off the fence and keeps the fence intact as the post/ground sleeve system is much stronger than an alternative post. We have thousands of different combinations available, from small gardens with raised beds to large runs for your whole yard. Check out our Deer Fence - Do It Yourself Deer Fencing Kit sections today!