Deer fencing

Eight feet, or a fence they cannot see over

A deer can clear seven feet from a standing start. That is why the standard figure for a conventional deer fence is at least 8 feet tall, and why it has to reach the ground, because a deer that cannot jump a fence will happily duck under it.

There is one useful loophole. A solid six-foot privacy fence is generally not jumped, because the deer cannot see where it would land. Deer will not jump into a space they cannot assess, so opacity substitutes for a couple of feet of height.

That single fact decides most garden fencing choices. If you need to see through the boundary, you need eight feet. If a solid fence is acceptable, six will usually do.

The two-tiered fence, which is the good answer for a garden

Clemson describes a two-tiered electric system as perhaps the best and most cost-effective method for home gardeners, and the reason it works is psychological rather than physical.

Two low fences offset from each other create a depth perception problem. The deer cannot judge the distance needed to clear both, and it will not attempt a jump it cannot calculate. Neither fence is anywhere near eight feet.

1. Outer fence: a single strand of polytape

   Set 18 to 24 inches off the ground.

2. Offset the inner fence by 4 to 5 feet

   The gap between them is what creates the effect. Closer than that and it reads as one obstacle.

3. Inner fence: two strands

   One at roughly 5 feet and a second between 2 and 4 feet.

4. Electrify it

   The current is what makes a low fence a boundary rather than a suggestion, and polytape is visible enough that deer learn it quickly.

5. Keep the line clear

   An electric fence shorting out through grass or a fallen branch is a fence that is not there.

Electric systems need less structure and more attention than a solid physical fence. That trade is the real decision: cheaper to build, and it fails quietly if nobody checks it.

The double fence, and other variations

The two-tiered system above is one of a family, and the choice between them comes down to what the site allows.

• A double fence is the same depth-perception trick built in solid materials rather than electric wire: two parallel fences of moderate height, set 4 to 5 feet apart. Deer will not jump into the gap because they cannot judge the second obstacle from outside the first. It costs twice the fencing and half the height, and unlike an electric system it does not fail quietly when a branch falls on it.
• A slanted or outward-leaning fence works the same way with one structure, presenting a horizontal depth a deer will not attempt.
• A solid 6-foot fence, as above, where opacity substitutes for height.
• A conventional 8-foot fence where you need to see through the boundary. Nothing shorter is reliable if it is see-through and single.

Whatever the design, the failure points are the same three: the ground line, the gate, and the corner. A deer that cannot jump a fence will go under it, and a gap of a foot at the bottom makes the height irrelevant.

Materials, posts and what fails first

The designs above describe geometry. What the fence is made of decides whether it is still working in five years, and it is the part most people specify last.

The mesh

• Woven wire is the durable answer. High tensile steel at eight feet is the standard agricultural specification, and it is what a permanent enclosure is built from.
• Polypropylene mesh is cheaper, near invisible at a distance, and much easier for one person to install. It is also the material that fails first, to falling branches, to a deer that hits it at speed, and to rodents chewing at ground level.
• Keep the openings small. Fencing suppliers specify two inches or less, and the reason is not containment: larger openings entangle deer, which is both an animal welfare problem and a destroyed section of fence.

The posts

Height is worthless if the posts lean, and a deer fence carries more load than its appearance suggests because it is tall and catches wind.

• Steel of any reasonable thickness, or wood at least 3 inches in diameter.
• Anchor posts set a minimum of 3.5 feet into the ground, line posts 2 to 2.5 feet. Corners and gate posts are anchor posts and carry the whole run.
• Pin the bottom edge into the soil, six inches or more, angled outward away from the enclosure. That defeats both the deer that ducks under and the rabbits and groundhogs that would otherwise use the same gap.

The counterintuitive one: do not build a visible top rail

A wooden top rail looks like the finished, tidy version of a fence and it works against you. It gives the deer a clear sight line to judge the height, and this whole page rests on the fact that a deer will not attempt a jump it cannot calculate. The same logic explains the rest of the visibility rule: the more see-through the fence, the taller it has to be, which is why six feet of solid board does the job that eight feet of mesh does.

Terrain works the same way. Wooded ground, dense planting and uneven footing make a landing hard to judge and hard to survive, so a fence in that setting performs above its height. An open lawn on both sides is the easiest possible jump, and a fence there needs its full specification.

Maintenance, which is where fences actually fail

Every design on this page fails at the same three places, and none of them is the middle of a run.

• The gate. A fence is as good as its worst opening, and the gate is almost always the worst opening. Check the gap at the bottom and the gap at the latch side.
• The ground line after weather. Heavy rain, frost heave and mowing all lift a pinned edge, and none of it is visible from a distance.
• An electric line shorting out. Grass growing into it or a fallen branch across it turns a working fence into a decorative one, silently. That is the trade against a physical fence: cheaper to build, and it needs somebody to check it.

Deer resistant plants, and what resistance means

The page so far is about exclusion because exclusion is what works. Plant choice is the other half, and it is worth understanding what it can and cannot do.

No plant is deer proof. Every extension source that publishes a list says so on the same page as the list, and Clemson puts it plainly: the only solution that is fail proof is exclusion. What plant lists describe is preference, and preference collapses when food is scarce, which is exactly the February situation that does the worst damage.

Rutgers publishes the reference list for the Northeast and rates plants on a four-point scale rather than as a yes or no, which is the more honest structure.

The ratings were compiled from nursery and landscape professionals, extension staff and master gardeners rather than from a controlled trial, which is worth knowing: they describe observed behavior in one region, and deer in a different state with different alternative forage may behave differently.

The specific plants people ask about

• Coleus. Clemson lists coleus among its deer-resistant annuals, alongside annual vinca, cleome, cosmos, dusty miller, marigold, mealycup sage, pentas, petunia, purple heart, wax begonia and zinnia. So deer generally do not eat coleus, with the usual qualification.
• Ligularia. Rutgers rates bigleaf goldenray, Ligularia dentata, as A, rarely damaged. That is unusually useful, because it is one of very few bold-foliage shade perennials in the top category, and shade planting in deer country is otherwise a short list.
• Podocarpus. Recorded as particularly resistant to deer damage, and it grows as a large hedge or screen, which makes it one of the few plants that is both the barrier and the resistant planting. It wants rich, slightly acid, moist, well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade, and it is a southern plant rather than a northern one.
• Potentilla. Shrubby cinquefoil, Dasiphora fruticosa, is named among deer-resistant options and is a tough, drought-tolerant, compact deciduous shrub. The limit on it is climate rather than deer: it does poorly in the humidity of the Southeast and belongs in zones 3 to 7.

Among perennials, the lists converge on a recognizable group: anise hyssop, bee balm, blanket flower, butterfly weed, coreopsis, purple coneflower, Russian sage and yarrow. The pattern in it is aromatic foliage, coarse or hairy texture, and milky or bitter sap, which is the underlying reason rather than the species names.

Deer resistant landscape design

Plant lists work better as a layout than as a shopping list, and the principle is simple.

• Put the A and B plants on the outside, where deer arrive, and anything they like in the interior of the garden, closest to the house and to human activity.
• Fence the small area rather than the property. A vegetable bed or a single border inside an 8-foot enclosure is affordable; a perimeter fence around an acre usually is not.
• Protect individual plants where only a few matter, which is covered below.
• Accept the winter exception. Whatever the layout, hungry deer in late winter will eat things they ignored all summer, and that is when bark and evergreen damage happens.

Repellents: honest expectations

Extension guidance on repellents is unusually candid, and worth quoting in substance rather than paraphrasing away.

Results are variable. What works for one grower may not work for another, and success differs from year to year. Some repellents do not weather well and need reapplying repeatedly through the season. And if deer are hungry enough, they ignore them.

That last clause is the important one. Repellents work on a deer choosing between your hostas and something else. They do not work on a deer in February with nothing else available, which is exactly when the worst damage to shrubs happens.

So repellents belong in the category of reducing damage rather than preventing it, and they are most useful on high-value plants during the growing season, reapplied on the schedule the label states rather than when you remember.

Scare devices, and the rule that makes them work

Scarecrows, reflective tape, flags and noise devices all work briefly and then stop, because deer acclimate quickly.

The extension recommendation is specific: move them every few days to prolong the effect. A device left in one place for a fortnight is part of the scenery. The same device moved twice a week keeps working for much longer.

This is why motion-activated sprinklers tend to outperform static deterrents. The trigger is unpredictable, which is harder to habituate to than a fixed object.

Protecting individual plants instead of the whole garden

Fencing an entire property is often disproportionate. Fencing what actually matters is usually cheaper and works better.

A cylinder of wire mesh around a young tree, a cage over a vegetable bed, or netting over a favorite shrub through winter addresses the real losses. Young trees deserve particular attention, because deer damage there is not browsing but rubbing: bucks strip bark from trunks with their antlers in autumn, and a girdled young tree dies.

Winter is also when plant choice stops helping. Deer-resistant lists describe preference in a season of plenty, and a hungry deer in late winter eats plants that appear on every resistant list published.

Frequently asked questions

How tall does a deer fence need to be?

At least 8 feet for a conventional see-through fence, and it must reach the ground so deer cannot duck under. A solid six-foot privacy fence usually works instead, because deer will not jump into a space they cannot see.

Is there a cheaper option than an eight-foot fence?

A two-tiered electric system, which Clemson describes as perhaps the best and most cost-effective method for home gardeners. Two low polytape fences offset four to five feet apart create a depth perception problem, so neither needs to be tall.

Do deer repellents work?

Variably, and honestly so. Extension guidance notes results differ between gardens and between years, that many need frequent reapplication, and that hungry deer ignore them. Treat them as damage reduction on high-value plants rather than as a boundary.

Why did the scarecrow stop working?

Deer acclimate to static deterrents within days. The guidance is to move them every few days, which is why motion-activated devices with unpredictable triggers hold up better than fixed objects.

Should I fence the whole garden or individual plants?

Individual plants, usually. A wire cylinder around a young tree, a cage over a vegetable bed and winter netting on favorite shrubs cover most real losses for a fraction of the cost. Young trees matter most, because autumn antler rubbing girdles and kills them.