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Deer stewardship (About fences in IA)

I found one that was still alive and its leg was broken. I just cut away the skin with my knife and it hobbled off.
 
Never have seen it around my property, though most of the fencing is not in the best shape, which probably means the deer have no problem going through that.
 
I would think most of the deer that get caught in a fence had a previous injury of some sort and couldn't quite make it over when attempting to jump the fence. Just my thoughts. That's a lot of dead deer stuck in a fence.
 
I have only seen one in the areas I hunt, and it was probably a 1.5 yr old or that year's fawn. But that's not to say it's not happening on another piece nearby, or that I've seen all that have gotten caught where I'm hunting. 15 - 20 seems like a lot, but I do not doubt it can happen, especially if it's in a higher population area (more deer = more chances). Sad that they get caught like that. Probably several reasons they can...chased, injured, fence too high, miscalculating the jump, etc.
 
I even once found a dog caught in a fence by the back leg. Probably happens to deer a lot more than people realize.
 
I've found some legs only , some dead deer and I've witnessed a few fawns hit them at full speed. If you don't have cattle on the other side I'd at least take the top barb wire down and open a few holes. Keep enough of it up for your boundaries.
 
I find quite a few, sucks to see them suffer like that. On our own farms we dont pasture any of the timber so anywere the cows are not near we lower the top barb down flush with the next barb and have not had a problem in 10 years when most of the fence was put in. I notice shedhunting on farms were a lot of deer have wintered more deer in fences. Just like accidents, the more people the more accidents will happen.
I am problably going to guess I have seen 15-20 this year hanging, I am still in cattle country so a lot of fence still up.
 
ShedHunter1 said:
I find quite a few, sucks to see them suffer like that. On our own farms we dont pasture any of the timber so anywere the cows are not near we lower the top barb down flush with the next barb and have not had a problem in 10 years when most of the fence was put in. I notice shedhunting on farms were a lot of deer have wintered more deer in fences. Just like accidents, the more people the more accidents will happen.
I am problably going to guess I have seen 15-20 this year hanging, I am still in cattle country so a lot of fence still up.
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Thank you.

Yes it seems to be the top strands that are the issue, especially on taller fences.
 
The worst stretch of fence we saw last week was armpit high hog-tight with a single strand of barbwire on top...20-30 deer crossing it every morning and night, and (if I remember right) 5 deer that got stuck at some point since last fall. That was a brutal 1/4 mile.

Ryan and I covered a TON of ground last week. If I recall the only stuck deer we found were on the smaller side and mostly in tight, well maintained fences with hog tight on the bottom. Dropping the top wire in a few different places would have saved a lot of deer.
 
I find several every year. Never seen a mature buck in a fence, usually yearlings. Actually saw a button buck stuck in the cattle panel for the first time this season! See him behind me in the panel. Remember this Bill, Matt, & Ben? We were so fixed on the deer in the fence that we missed the shed the first time around! Lucky for me! :)

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It is a problem for sure and thanks to the original poster for bringing it to the surface. The worst I see are newer woven wire fences with one or two strands of barb on the top. I have never counted but I bet through out the year it would be 10 to 15. I used to find some hung and still alive but haven't in the last few years. This is the type of loss that goes unnoticed in a year with high numbers . This is on the same lines with fawns killed in the early hay mowing.
 
With all the coyotes around I would guess some of them get dragged away and we don't ever know about it.
 
The farms I hunt if the land owner or their neighbor do not run cattle, I will twist the upper strand under the lower strand at the crossings that I come across.
 
I will be removing every single interior fence on my farms forever. There will never be another cow in there while I own it and other than keeping cows out at the road, that's the only reason I have fence. It is a problem and bothers me plus I simply hate barbed wire for myself.... All my pants, shirts, gloves, hunting gear get wrecked over the years - I simply hate the stuff and feel really bad for deer that die that way.
 
Sligh1 said:
I will be removing every single interior fence on my farms forever. There will never be another cow in there while I own it and other than keeping cows out at the road, that's the only reason I have fence. It is a problem and bothers me plus I simply hate barbed wire for myself.... All my pants, shirts, gloves, hunting gear get wrecked over the years - I simply hate the stuff and feel really bad for deer that die that way.
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AMEN!!!! Also by tearing out all my barbed wire, I spend way less time putting sutures in my own dogs. Damned sure no profit in sewing up your own animals... :rolleyes:
 
ShedHunter1 said:
I remember, and of this buck on our own farm this past winter. Sucks. 20 ft away there is no fence.

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That's absolutely crazy, really puts it into perspective at least for me. I can honestly count on one hand how many I've seen this and it's never been that rapped up. I would have to think you guys seeing this are walking a lot of "cattle ground" that either has cows on it or has had them pastured on it within the last year??? The ground around me-central Iowa it seems what fence is left, is old and decrepit and is serving no purpose other than as a property line. If a deer was to get stuck in it, it wouldn't be because the barb wire caught her. Seems we are rather lucky up here if this in fact is such a huge deal.
 
Deer and cattle do not seem to mix in MN, yet I am surprised at how many deer are on the pasture farms down in southern Iowa.

If you have cows in MN---no deer at all. Therefore it is rare that one is caught in a fence, I have never seen it in MN in 40 years.
 
I have found a few deer, or what was left of them, caught in fences over the years, maybe one every 3 or 4 years I would say. Years ago a friend and I found a young deer, still very much alive, that was caught in a fence like the one Shedhunter1 showed. We tried to get him free by pulling him out, but that wasn't going anywhere. So we grabbed him and flipped up and back over the fence and voila, he was free.

I also shot a deer on my farm once that had been caught in the neighbors fence. I happened upon a nice sized doe during the shotgun season that tried to get up and run, but it couldn't get up on its' feet and run. It kind of snowplowed all over the place and was making quite a racket. I then noticed that it was missing its' two front legs...bummer! I shot it to put it out of its' misery and then traced it back to find where it caught both front legs in the top of a cattle panel and then had struggled until it basically tore both feet off and then rolled/plowed its' way downhill to where I found it.

The places where I have found deer caught in fences have almost always been strong, cattle-tested fences that are maybe a bit taller than the norm. In most cases, a back leg, or sometimes both, goes through the fence just below the top wire and then the deer, or what is left of it, is on the other side.
 
Thanks to you shedhuntermd for bringing this up. I have seen this on one particular piece of timber I hunt. Over the last several years have found approx. 5 dead does stuck in the fence and dead/eaten by coyotes. 2 years ago I cut a live doe out of the fence but she was to far gone and died. The fence is woven wire with a single strand of barbed wire on top. If I owned the property the barb would surely be cut off! I would urge any property owners to cut the barbed wire off if they don't need/use it especially with the deer numbers down, they need all the help they can get. Thanks again and keep up the good work on deer stewardship and shed hunting.
 
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