Author Topic: Electric Fences.............  (Read 768 times)

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Offline Lawdog

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Electric Fences.............
« on: October 16, 2004, 12:59:13 PM »
I was talking on the phone to my brother in-law in Alaska and he was telling about the failures they were having with electric fences around the camp for protection against Grizzly Bears.  Seems the bears are walking through the fences and on into camp to get into whatever they can find.  What are your thoughts on “Electric Fences” for protecting camps?  Lawdog
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Offline oso45-70

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« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2004, 01:21:44 PM »
Lawdog,
Do they have electricity or are they using batterys ? if they are using batterys they arn't getting enough juice. Seems that if they had multiple
wires it would stop them. Although i've seen some domestic stock wade rite through an electric fence.

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Offline talon

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Electric Fences.............
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2004, 03:15:53 PM »
Two of my neighbors have (had) electric fences to keep deer and bear out of their gardens (and bear bait stocks). They were driven by 120VAC with "large" chargers. Kept  the deer out. Not the bears. 8)

Offline Lawdog

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Electric Fences.............
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2004, 09:20:01 AM »
I should have added that they were using a gas generator to power the fence.  Didn't even seem to phase the Grizzly Bears.  The bears would knock the fence down and walk on into camp.  They ended up hanging pots and empty cans from the fence so at least at night they would know when an un-invited visitor was around.  The last days of their hunt two of them would stay in camp to keep the Grizzly Bears out while the others went hunting.  The wife and I were supposed to be on this hunt with them but job constraints kept us home.  Lawdog
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Offline IntrepidWizard

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Electric Fences.............
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2004, 09:27:40 AM »
Got to have Amps,volts don't mean squat.Had a Bull problem and used a large transfomer to increase the amps.
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Offline Lawdog

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Electric Fences.............
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2004, 11:04:23 AM »
IntrepidWizard,

My brother in-law is an electrician.  The fence had plenty of amps.  Lawdog
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Offline Sourdough

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Electric Fences.............
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2004, 04:53:29 PM »
Electric fences don't turn hogs, why think their cousions the bears would do any thing differant.  My neighbor uses an electric fence to keep the Moose out of his garden.  He uses a reguler transformer just like a farmer uses for cattle, with three strands of wire.  When a Moose contacts it they jump forward tearing the whole fence down.  Then they run off, and don't come back.  He usually has to rebuild the fence two or three times during the summer, but it saves his garden.  

On my hunting trip this fall, we had bears in camp almost every night.  They never bothered anything, just nosed around and left.  A friend who has a cabin down in the Alaska Range kept losing meat from the meat pole at night.  They finally discovered the culperate, an 8ft Grizzly.  Since none of them had a tag he's still there.
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Offline Dand

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« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2004, 12:01:21 AM »
Interesting stuff.  Electric fences have caught on here in Dillingham to keep bears out of dumpsters and smoke houses.  A lot have been put up just this summer.  I'm sure a determined bear won't be bothered at all, and maybe this time of year some of the bears are REALLY determined to get their last few calories.

Lawdog, it sounds like your crew is pretty knowledgeable so maybe they just had tough bears.  OR, was the ground real dry and how was the grounding of the fence?  I hear they recommend multiple grounding points for larger areas or dry conditions. I am impessed considering a gas generator was used.  This time of year up here clouds, dark and cold can make the solar/ battery chargers ineffective very quickly.

Also, in my experience, the fence has to be very carefully set up and maintained.  Even a few blades of grass touching the fence will render it pretty ineffective. We carried a weed whacker to clear a wide swath all around the perimeter of the fence and used a lot of those little fiberglass stakes.  We also had a problem with dry conditions and a low spot under the fence.  One bear took to sliding under the wire.  But when conditions got damp, a couple bears were observed to sniff the fence then took off running and avoided thereafter.  We used that wide black and yellow plastic tape type stuff with the wires braided into it for a good visual barrier (for bears and public). At that time and place there was lots of alternative food in the form of spawning salmon to divert bruno.

I've seen where moose got into the single strand aluminum wire fence - heck they broke and dragged the stuff all over the place.
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Offline gdolby

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electric fences
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2004, 08:09:21 PM »
When training weanling calves to a electric fence in the corral it seems that if the ground is a little damp they pay a lot more attention to the jolt may not be possible in your situation but a tarp on the ground may catch enough dew to help.