Part of permaculture is working with nature, finding balance and sharing with the wildlife around us. When I first started my forest garden, I had visions of a lovely relationship with the deer and other critters as they lightly browsed the "food buffet." What I didn't realize is that deer (as well as elk, rabbits and other wildlife) can be devastating to new plants.
They love tender shoots and leaves and will sadly break the limbs off delicate trees and shrubs as they nosh from one plant to the next. Their hooves can also be destructive. Even though they don't care for onions, the deer almost destroyed my entire bed just from walking through it. So while I absolutely adore sharing my property with my resident deer, delighting in their daily visits and laughing at their funny antics, my forest garden is now off limits to them, by way of a fence. But don't worry, there is an abundance of food outside the fence that is available to them year-round. Plus, as I continue to reclaim the area outside the fence from the invasive Himalayan blackberries, I will be planting deer-friendly plants, such as native crabapples that will be fenced for protection only until the trees can handle deer browsing or rubbing antlers on them.
Before I got the fence, this deer loved to bed down next to the onions. Now she relaxes in other parts of my property.
I have learned a lot about gardening with wildlife as I've set up my food forest in Western Washington (Zone 8b). While I do have black bears, cougars, bobcats and river otters occasionally, most prevalent on my property is black-tailed deer, coyote and raccoon. Since I don't have prey living in my garden, such as chickens or ducks, none of the predators have shown any interest in getting in, at least not that I've observed. There is plenty outside the fence for them.
It's important to note that I can only speak about the lessons I've learned while gardening with wildlife on my own property. You might have different experiences based on the wildlife present on your property as well as the food sources available within the animals’ ranges.
I keep a path cleared on this side of the fence so the deer can easily and safely traverse from my neighbor's property on the south, through my land, and on to the neighbor to the north.
How to Choose Fencing
There are so many different options for fencing materials and styles, how do you choose which one works best for you? For me, it came down to two primary attributes: safe for wildlife and effective for keeping critters out, with the former being the most important.
What to avoid
Steer clear of fencing that has sharp points on top that a jumping animal could become impaled on. Avoid fencing with holes/gaps where young bucks’ antlers might get stuck (such as the very common 4x4 inch spacing on hog panel fencing).
We ended up using two different styles of fencing: a more substantial wooden surround sandwiched with 2x2 inch metal fencing for the two sides that abut the house, and metal posts with 2x2 inch poly fencing for the other two sides, which abut our neighbor’s field on one side and our “wild” area on the other. Neither is particularly elegant, but they look fine to me and were cost effective and relatively easy to install. The deer were initially jumping the wooden fence, most likely because they could clearly see the 2x4 support bar on top. We added a topper of metal fencing, and that solved the problem.
Here you can see the wooden fence with the topper and the metal/poly fence.
Consider the wildlife in your area to determine the height and style needed. My fence is only 6 feet high, which the black-tailed deer on my property can easily scale. However, since they have plenty to eat outside the fence, and now that the entire fence line has an undefined top (i.e. it isn’t easy for the deer to see how high they need to jump), they don’t find the food inside the fence worth the risk. Given our mild climate, they have food options even in winter.
As for materials, based on my experiences, I’d recommend the 2x2 inch poly fencing with metal posts. I don’t typically advocate for plastic, but the one I got is rated for 25 years and can withstand the strength/weight of an elk. It should handle extreme weather very well, though in my climate the only “extreme” we experience is the heavy amount of winter rain so I can’t speak from experience on intense heat, cold or snow.
Here you can see how the black poly looks. Up close, it's more defined, but farther away, it blends into the surroundings.
The black material becomes almost invisible, allowing me to easily see through the fencing, and it detracts little from our beautiful view. There is no top bar needed for this system as the posts on either side, as well as a wire you can install along the top and bottom, support the fencing, so the deer don’t want to jump it. And it’s sturdy but not rigid, so animals will not likely want to climb it.
To install, you hammer metal sleeves into the ground (which took some effort in our very rocky soil) and then insert the posts into the sleeves. If you ever need to temporarily remove the posts in the future, you can just slide them out of the sleeves. In theory you could use this as an early-stage fence, leaving it up only long enough for the trees to become established and able to withstand predation. Then you could move the entire fence system to another area to begin establishment. The only challenge with this plan would be removing the post sleeves, which I’d imagine would be quite embedded in the soil.
I installed a tension wire on the top and bottom to better secure the posts and then clipped the poly fencing material onto the wire. The Critterfence system that I used offers gates as well. The instructions provided by Critterfence were terrible but their customer service was helpful in answering my questions. If you have issues with rodents, you can purchase a roll of ¼ or ½ inch steel fencing (don’t go any larger) to run along the bottom of your fence and out onto the ground (or dig it in if desired).
While I would have preferred having no fence, I quickly realized that wasn’t practical in my area that is heavily predated by deer. Instead, I have found balance in keeping one section of my forest garden fenced with plenty of additional space outside the fence (I’d guess more than two-thirds of my property) that is a food and shelter source for wildlife.
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