Comparison of Fencing Designs for Excluding Deer from Roadways

Abstract

We evaluated the efficacy of several fencing designs for restricting movements of 18 captive, female white-tailed deer (Odocoelus virginianus), including standard wovenwire fencing (1.2-m, 1.5-m, 1.8-m, 2.1-m, and 2.4-m tall), opaque fencing (1.2-m, 1.5-m, and 1.8-m tall), and an outrigger fence (i.e., 0.6-m outriggers attached to a 1.2-m-tall wire fence angled at 45º). We recorded the number of successful fence crossings for each deer and characterized behaviors associated with each failed crossing attempt. No deer crossed the 2.4-m fence, whereas all deer crossed the 1.2-m fence. We observed no differences in crossing success between woven-wire and opaque fencing at heights

Keywords

• deer–vehicle collision
• fencing
• human–wildlife conflicts
• odocoileus virginianus
• white-tailed deer