Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The high fencing of the Western USA

As many of you know me here, my business and profession, the discussion on multiple forums has come up regarding the high fence hunting concessions in South Africa.

I have an interesting observation from some experience over the last two years of my travels across the Western Half of the USA. My wife and I have driven 14,000 miles this year pulling a 22' travel trailer across 18 western states and 2 Canadian provinces. 2015 was similar although a slightly lower mileage total.

During these miles of 4 lane interstate and 2 lane " backroads" across the more remote areas of Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, etc etc. we have been surprised to see the hundreds if not thousands of miles of 8' high fence lining both directions of the highways. In some cases as in Montana these are along I 90 and I 94 on the south and then on Highway 2 and 12 in the north.

The game in this area of the state is fenced from leaving freely north and south. In technical terms its still free to depart to the east or west. However in many of those cases a town, city, or developed area, or natural geography would block the travel. So the game is not completely fenced with a 360 deg high fence, although the effects are mostly the same. They cannot run free out of sight and be gone with a high fence that disappears into the horizon in both directions.

I know this is not apples and apples perfect comparison, however it is closer now then it was 10 years ago With the amount of road side High fencing increasing by dozens if not hundreds of miles a year across the western USA. It's becoming a nearly identical comparison to hunting game behind a fence. When you have a fence that is 10 plus miles long, that game is stuck there. It's not as if it's going to be chased into a corner in either RSA, on Texas high fenced properties, or "free range" elk and mule deer in any of the western states.

Does it really matter if you fence 10-30-50 miles of fence line to a side along an American Highway in the Western USA or Canada, or the same length of Fence to a side in Southern Africa?

I'm not trying to stir the pot with a aggressive debate on this. Just that the situation seems so obvious now with these highways being high fenced for safety in the USA. This is also the same reason for plenty of fencing in RSA.

I worked on a farm 25 years ago in RSA that was fenced along two property lines. Both along main thoroughfares ( both gravel roads for heavy truck traffic) . The fencing was done for the safety of vehicles 70 years prior to this being a game fenced ranch. The third side of the property was fenced along a railroad track for about 20kilometers. This left the south eastern boundary open, for about 30 kilometers.

Three sides of this 50,000 plus acres was fenced for protection of lives and property, not originally to be a game fenced property. That remaining side was fenced by the neighbor to keep his livestock safe from hoof and mouth transmitted by wild game. This accidental or coincidental set of conditions created the RR fence, and a state built roadway fence on two sides which completely made captive all the game inside.

When you have about 5-10 miles per side or more, and on many properties much more. It's not as if your able to hunt or shoot game in a pasture. I don't see this as a huge difference. In some cases no different then the way the western USA is building fencing along highways in many remote areas now.

I don't particulary care for the looks of the fencing along US 191 between Jackson Hole and Pinedale in Wyoming but I will say that it has cut down on the absolute carnage that was being inflicted on the mule deer and antelope that migrate through that corridor. However, they also installed cross overs for the game, both under the road and over it and trail cams have proven that the deer and antelope use them.

I'm sure you didn't notice them, but many of those areas have highway underpasses specifically designed to allow wildlife and cattle to pass under the highway and get to the other side, these things resemble culverts and you probably thought they WERE culverts if you saw them at all.

Those fences are a necessity to keep people and animals alive. In Wyoming, death and serious injury, along with property damage and destruction are everyday events from folks hitting animals on the road. In addition, the single-vehicle rollover at night is one of the most common fatal accidents in Wyoming, due to people trying to dodge the critters and losing control.

I have noticed the one way gates, many with unique and clever designs. Also the return passage along the highway from the Utah Idaho line to Ogden on hwy 84/15 has dirt ramps to a jump down back inside.

It may allow game to return, however I do not think that these clever gate style or jump down passages are used for natural routes. The big culverts are ideal, but only work in unique locations. It's not a possibility to dig up an interstate to put a 10 foot diameter pipe under the road.

I have seen a few photo's of game crossing in those big culverts. An interesting way for game to learn of these routes from early in life until maturity. It reminds me of the Earth first folks crying about the pipeline in Ak from Prudhoe Bay south. Today the bears and caribou walk under them the same as a boulder, tree, or hillside. That overhead pipe has been there now since birth. No animal up there today has ever know that pipe to be a new development. It's older then any big game living there today.

Built specifically for migrating game.

Not near as immense a project but similar. We(TxDOT) had to install toad channeling devices to channel the endangered Houston Toad to culvert pipes along State Highway 21 here in Bastrop county ( lost pines area) so they could make their yearly migration across roadway like the chicken crossing road.
They were a 1/2 cut, length-wise piece of 12" or larger plastic pipe 1/2 buried in the right of way that prevented the toad from jumping out on the pavement.

When I was talking to one of the fellas in the enviro section (thanks Fed gov) if they worked they said "oh hell yeah! Too well!!"

Seems all the snaked and birds that dine on said toad learned to wait at the other end of culvert for a meal!! LOL!!!

The big Labor Day fire here several years ago just about rang the death Nell for that toad! Dunno if they will ever recover. So goes the life of a toad.

High fences along highways are a good thing. Most, if not all, high fences along roadways here have wildlife corridors. Safe passage for animals to cross the road.

Toad Wranglers!

(Not many people can say that!)

Roll 'em, roll 'em, roll 'em - keep them toadies movin', Rawhide!

The pass-throughs east of Havre on U.S.2 apparently get a fair amount of use, at least I've seen deer use them several times when I'm driving that section.

Between Plains and Thompson Falls the bighorn sheep herd was getting hit hard by trains, until they put in the high fences and pass-throughs; last I saw the sheep herd looked to be doing better.

They just finished up a huge section of Hwy 9 between Silverthorne, Colorado and Kremmling, Colorado. The situation for game strikes there had gotten so bad they had lowered night-time speed limits to 50 to try to save both people's and critter's lives. They built overpasses, underpasses and high fences. Evidently it's working.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/01/...dlife-overpass-is-being-used-by-animals/

Here's an aerial of one of the crossovers.

Interesting topic, thanks JJ for starting it.

I'm thinking as long as there are crossing points established to allow migration it's not quite the same as a high fence intentional "keep the game in" operation.

Only real experience I have is with the highway between Kingman AZ and Las Vegas NV. They discovered the sheep had real issues with going thru culverts, their natural enemy the cougar could hide in there or above them. Apparently, the over passes they built are allowing the sheep to cross the highway easier, based on their observation over time.

No doubt, the tall safety fences will have some effect on the animal that just wants to go eat that weed "over there", but would now have to walk a ways to get to the crossing point. But as long as they don't affect trips to water or summer/winter grounds, they might be a good thing for us and the animals.

Geno

Correct Geno. Most of the high fences are built and the crossover points chosen to meet as closely as possible to the main transit points.

JJ is wanting to intimate that these individual stretches of high fence along mostly interstate highways are akin to high fence operations in SA. Not even remotely similar. The fences are strictly to minimize car/animal meetings. I know of no "high-fences" installed by landowners in the western US with the exception of fencing off feed storage areas. Cost alone is prohibitive enough to make it wholly untenable for landowners to try and install on their own.

Since the subject came up, I've got a story...

Where we hunted, when I was growing up, there was a very large culvert under a highway. This culvert was 10' or so in diameter. Although there was no fencing on either side of the road, the deer learned it was easier to walk thru the culvert, than climb the hill, to cross the road. I took advantage of this funnel, several times.

It's the same with holes in fences. Game funnels through the holes. A good place to set up on.

Those crossings have other benefits too..

The high fences serve a dual purpose. They can be used to herd humans to the nearest "residential facility".

<<<<adjusting foil hat>>>>

That aerial shot is awesome!

I'm sure there are some ingenious and very expensive solutions to this problem. However the vast majority of miles are not equipped with these crossings. I have seen a few of the jump down ramps, and the one way gates. The underpass requires a perfect storm of a location that can handle this without shutting down highway traffic for construction.

The over pass however is brilliant! There would have to be a massive amount of earth moved for this. I think it would also have to be a special location to create this. Certainly not the kind of thing you would have every few miles. So even with this you're still looking at massive barriers to natural free range travel. It is by far best idea I've ever seen though!


I think I must not have written the original post as articulately as I should have.

The Country of RSA began the fencing operations along main roads and Railways identically to the way the USA is doing this now, and for exactly the same reasons. Collisions with game at high speed by all sorts of vehicles and the train travel.

In some cases the roads were high fenced on multiple sides of large 10-50 thousand acre ranches. This was entirely due to the routing of roads across country.

In addition to this, many cattle ranchers would deliberately high fence to keep wild game out of their lands. During the era of history that this massive fencing operation was done because of hoof and mouth disease.

So it was in fact the origin of high fencing operations. Few ranchers could have ever afforded to put up 100-200 miles of 8' fence. However the province was pressured to do so to protect the travelers and the game crossing roadways. Once the sides of a property were fenced it was not as big a job to complete the remaining sections.

I have seen this having lived through much of this era in RSA. it's a nearly identical model to what is being done now in the USA. It's not until you drive for hours across the western states and see the many miles of eight foot fence that you see the identical application and for the identical reasons.

regardless if your hunting "free range" game that has an 8 foot fence as a boundary, on any side, it's no longer free range. This fence which runs into the horizon while looking at it in either direction cannot be defined as anything but a barrier. Regardless if it's a fence along Interstate 90 across Washington, Idaho, or Montana. Or if it's a 10-30 mile section along the N-1 in South Africa.

That's funny. A proposal for a bridge in Southern California was mentioned here and was seen as a huge joke.

I think I posted this link in the past, but these overpasses are a pretty good funnel for predators to use as well.

http://www.thecragandcanyon.ca/2016/02/24/photos-wolves-kill-elk-on-rail-overpass-near-banff

SS