I am curious to anyone’s thoughts on this, pros/cons. Our cattle lease guy is replacing about a mile or less of fencing on one border area. He knows the other land owner who agreed to pay for the fencing supplies. He is doing the labor and clearing for 2 yrs of lease credit from my family. He informed us recently the other land owner wants to replace the current bad fence that is the normal bar wire set up with net fencing 52” high one line of barb on top. He is stating it’s to keep predators and hogs out. I understand that. My question is do I need to be concerned about it limiting deer movement or having any negative affect for deer hunting. This is only a section of our fence and we are bordered by 6 different land owners all having regular bar wire fencing.. we are the owners of the current fencing. Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

If the barb wire is even with the top of the 48" net you shouldn't have problems. If the top strand is 4" above the net it can be deadly for deer. When they jump they can get their hind hooves caught and twist the wire over, catching them by the hoof. Seen many deer strung up like they were on a trotline on a ranch that had recently completed a fence like described above. Had one do it on our 48" net WITHOUT the top strand of wire added. I would definitely put the barb wire even with the netting.

It's not gonna be IF one gets hung up, it will be when,

An occasional deer will hang up, but nothing major will change.

There is a fence built for deer ...then one built for hogs and cattle. I build pens 200ft. X 80ft. for deer out of 40 inch net wire with a string of bob wire 6 in. at the top. The difference is the way the fence and wire are attached. Normally a fence built for cattle and hogs to keep deer from tangling in the wire we put 12" hardware cloth at the top. For my fence for deer ....I attach all wire with a breakaway wire. When a deer gets tangled up they just wiggle and the wire breaks or comes unwired. Most folks I know use the hardware cloth and a tightly stretched fence...looks much better than mine but I get no deer caught in my fence. Yes ...I have more fence maintenance than the fence for cattle. Fawns only a few weeks old jump into my fence and not one has died due to twisted up in the wire. I have had the pen for 10 years....I love it. Other hunters don't have fences and have to deal with hogs and cattle. Every pound of feed in the pens goes to deer and a few coons. I do recommend feeder pens.

Any time there is an 8" or less space between the two top wires, whether it is mesh/barb or barb/barb there is the potential for an animal getting a leg caught.
I think A&M or TPW did a study and said 3-6" between two top wires was the most likely to catch a deer IF they didn't make it over.
Most everything else goes around, under or thru.

A mesh fence that's not all the way around won't do much to stop pigs or predators.
The mesh fence will stop them right where it is until they make or find a hole or go to either end.
Pigs will root under it and bend it and make a hole.
A strand of aggressive barged wire close to the ground and at bottom of or just below mesh will help some.