First off thanks for any help or advise. Going to high fence ranch next year sometime, wanting to build some deer pens now and buy some bred doe to get a head start. Anyone give me so help on do's and dont's on design of the pens? Again thanks.

Therancher, on here, is the only one I know of that has HF, but I'm sure there are others. May find him and send a PM if he doesn't see this thread.

If you know where your going to purchase your does though, the seller should be ablle to show you his pens and will be able to tell you what he likes or dislikes about them. I know several breeders will also do the same for folks interested in getting into it, at least that's how it use to be.

Use 2" spacing so fawns don't get out of the pens. Make gates fit tight to posts again to minimize escaping spots. Bury a section of fence on the outside of the fence to keep coyote from getting in.

Might want to contact Dr. Scott Bugai DVM he is pretty close to you. He raises deer on his place out of Seguin. I am sorry I dont have his number, he has always been very helpful to me and great to have as a friend when a deer or farm animal becomes ill.

Deer pens built right are not cheap. we used predator wire on the bottom four feet. The other thing to keep in mind as you build pens later on know how you want to expnad. Alley ways, water ablity to fill protien feeder ect.. The other leason we learned was leave some shade and cover on at least one half of the pen. You also have to design them to be able to work the deer whether is is darting or opening gates and moving them thru alley ways.

My suggestion would be see as many pens as you can before starting to build your own. Ask a lot of question to the owner about what he likes and what he would do different. I would use the 3" spacing 8' tall hi-tensil wire to build pens. Do not build them to small.

Like Ranchman said built a good sized pen. Look what others have built. And probably the most important thing is. Make sure what you buy has been penned before. It gets real ugly putting wild deer in a net wire pen.

I looked into this a lot a few years back, wanted to do it myself learned a lot at:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/permits/land/wildlife_management/scientific_deer_breeder/

http://www.deerforums.org/

Another thing that was on the top very everyone's list I talked to was, DO NOT stretch the fence to tight, you want some give in it, so when (not if) a deer goes crazy and they run into it, there is some give, and its not like hitting a brick wall, that breaks their neck.

Like Ranchman said, 8' tall, if your ground is un-level, or on a slop, you need to be 8' from about 4 to 6 foot off your fence line, this is where a deer will be when they start their jump. If you have a hump with in that few feet, your 8' fence is no longer an 8' feet fence.

Do not put shade net on the inside of your fence, only on the outside, buck will get it wrapped up in there horns.

Im no expert, just had a great plan until the ex had a plan of her own.

D