With a lot of people hunting around fenced feeders,what are the odds of hitting a wire or part of the fencing when you go to shoot a deer in the feed pen?

When I took my feed pen down this past winter, whoever hunted my blind while I wasn't there hit the panels in 2 different places...wasn't me since I fill my replenish my feeders each time I went and the breaks were on the panel to drive in to.

Deuce12 actually hit one in the 07 season. He was taking a shot at the biggest buck of his life. Well, that cattle panel that got in the way caused him to miss! Funny thing is, the buck came back the next weekend and Deuce got him!!!!!!!

I can't quote the odds, but from what I have seen it happens more than most would like to think. I have hit a panel shooting at a coon, with a 17hmr, that was in the pen and I've also hit feeder legs shooting at coons.

I can't begin to count up all the panels I've seen that have been hit or the feeder legs that in some cases have two holes in them even.

If there's anything between you and your target, I think the odds are pretty good you'll hit it. At least, I will.

IMO the odds are always the same ....50 / 50 you either will or you won't!

Hunting near Bracketville about 10 years ago, a guy hit the top barb wire on a large feed pen shooting at a nice buck. The next day he said he hit the second wire shooting at the same buck.....missed both times. What are the odds that you could hit a wire if you were trying?

im guilty of putting a couple holes in feeder legs but ive yet to hit a pen.

A few years ago my BL hit the t-post for the pen. Said it was the biggest buck he had ever saw on the lease. Told me something made it uneasy and it started backing up. He tracked it with the scope and shot. I was going to cut it off and give it to him for Christmas but couldn't find anything to cut a t-post. Had a nice 270 hole in it.

Missed a nice buck on this one.

i used to have a video up where I shoot a squirrel in a feeder pen, But i shoot through a gap. You could see it well! YOUTUBE took it down, jerks!

As for rifle, I usually try and take the shot to and fro a feeder pen as to avoid shooting a panel.

I have done it twice and it caused a miss. It was the heavy ga. hog panel wire.

To mathmatically answer the question...

say you have 4" by 4" squares on the panel (16 square inches), the wire is 4" x 1/4" on four sides (4 square inches). You have a 75% chance of hitting the space and 25% chance of hitting the wire.

OMG, how'd he do that...

Easy, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Guys like you make my Temples hurt!!! LOL!

I am not a Doctor but I play one on TV!!!

All of these hit fences? This is the exact reason I refuse to use one. I will tollerate cows all day long over putting up a feeder pen. They cows will eventually leave and the deer will come in. I have seen the hogs run the cows off, the cows run the hogs off, and have seen the deer and cows eat at the same feeder.

I could see hitting one with an arrow. I really can't see hitting one with a boo-lit.

save yourself the heart ache and hunt in a pasture that doesnt' have cows or goats in them.


i've hid the top of a wire when shooting at a hog, now i hunt ranches that don't have livestock or keep them in seperate pastures

There is an almost infallible axiom call Murphy's Law...

BTW, you COULD improve your odds by using a smaller caliber bullet. Small frontal area would decrease the possibility of hitting a random ojbect almost in the bullets path.

Hit the top strand of my barbed wire fence last year...
Wire broke... found blood but never could find that deer

This past season, I was hunting a particular buck and really wanted a shot at him. I took off work one Thursday night and went to the lease and got a shot at him on Friday morning. He would always come into one side of the feeder that I could not see particularly well. Finally he stepped out under the feeder and I took a shot. He dropped like he had been hit with a sledge hammer and naturally I was excited. I watched him for a long time and kept noticing that his spread was not nearly as wide as I had thought. I kept thinking, oh great another ground shrinkage problem that seems to affect deer I shoot. I got down to the deer and I had hit him in the ear, not my holding point which had been on the deer's shoulder. The bulllet broke the horn plate and the horns had fallen together, which accounted for the spread shrinkage. There was really only 2 possibilities, either I hit the fence or the buck started backing up about the time that I shot. I could have pulled off a little bit, but to go from the shoulder to the ear when the gun shot true at the range after that and was used to kill numerous does later in the year with no misses, makes me think that I hit the fence. The fence is older and contains many breaks in the wire wire, so there is no way that I could figure out exactly what happened. I did notice this buck backing up numerous times previously when he felt uncomfortable, because he would back out from underneath the feeder and spin around to jump out of the feed pen.

My brother hit one shooting at a hog. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. We both went.. "what the hell?" in amazement. I shoot at the pins so ofter I don't even see them in the scope, just the posts.