Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Bear Fences

I am looking into a electric fence for Base and Spike camp for this falls Elk season. Base camp will be accessed by vehicle and spike on foot.
What fences have you guys used and which one do you suggest.
Thanks,
Koot

Before you invest an outrageous amount for a kit from an outdoors company, check out farm suppy stores. You can put together the same kit for MUCH less money. Here's one example online : www.premier1supplies.com . They're not the cheapest around but they carry good stuff. Any of your local farm supply stores will have wire, posts, etc.

To get an idea of what to use, check out Premier1's trailer paddock kit PADDOCK. Their page shows how to set it up. You can vary it get what you need.

This energizer commonly sold for backpacking puts out .03 joules. The 2d one, carried by Premier1, is the same money and puts out 4 times more soup. It runs on 4 D batteries. When it comes to bears, you can't have too much juice in the wires.

Thread from awhile back: Bear Fences

I was just looking at that one for an example. It sells for $250 and used the SG50 energizer I just posted about. You can put together your own for a lot less money.

BTW - use highly visible wire. It really doesn't pay to not know where the fence is when you take your 2AM pee.

Some more options for you koot.

http://www.electrobearguard.com/Product.html

One thing that you might not find at a farm store is poles that will collapse short enough for a pack.

The UDAP runs off D batteries and looks just like the unit in the picture.

I have the 2.5 pound 20'X20' bear fence and have used it on Kodiak as well as a couple times for moose camp. I really never worries about bears when I am in camp. Its when I am away for a couple days is when I am nervous about bears attacking my camp and at 2.5 pounds its cheap insurance to protect my camp while I am not there.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll check out some of these when I get off work tonight. Like most are saying, it will be good to know that our base camp will be safe ( hopefully ) while we are away or in spike camp. Truth be told I'll sleep better knowing that my dad will be safer while solo in base camp while the rest of us are in spike camp.
We plan to leave our old wall tent up most of the season so the fence will get put through its paces.
Depending if our group gets drawn for Moose, we could be hunting out of this camp from late Aug till the end of Nov.
I can hardly wait!
Koot

I have UDAP's light model now for three years, only problem is the poles are too short. Specially in soft ground they go way too low to run the wires really. For this year I'm planning to make extension for poles out of aluminium pipe, almost a feet more deeded IMO

Thanks Guys,
I ordered a UDAP and will test it out for the season before bringing it into my shop.
Koot

I was looking at their big fence, 8 - 4' posts and 45 x 45 fence. That would be great for llama or horse packing. With the llamas, I could put the camp inside the fence and just turn them loose. They wouldn't bother the camp...to much. Horses might be another story. I'd like to find those 4' posts by themselves without the other stuff. I can come by all the rest a lot cheaper. I might have to see if I can rig some folding tent poles with insulators.

I've been doing some reading on bear fences and have come up short on info. The weak spot is the charger - how much is enough? All of the ones made for backpacking have an output of well under 1 joule, sometimes only .1 to .2. That's not a whole lot of juice when you consider that a pasture fence charger puts out 20 or more times that. These little chargers won't get through a bear's hair. That applies to most long haired animals. I've watched sheep and llamas lean into a hot wire without getting shocked at all. They have to hit a nose or ear to get zapped. I have electric fencing around some trees to keep my llamas from eating them. One 4 month old just walks under it, dragging it over his back. He never gets nailed.
With the low powered bear fence chargers, they ONLY work if the bear touches the wires with his nose or maybe an ear before he gets through the fence. One article I read suggested baiting the wires with something like bacon fat to make sure he tries to lick it. Another article, written by a university researcher, suggested hanging short pieces of plastic tape on the top wire to get his attention and to make him nose it. Bears can take a lot of shock, but that's not saying they like it. If they get a tongueful one time, they're gone, even a large griz. However, their padded feet are good insulation and it takes a good jolt to get through them, especially on dry ground. In addition, plain steel or alum wires are very hard to see. A bear can walk right through one without getting shocked if he doesn't see it and touch his nose or tongue. Most commercial bear fences use wide white ribbon just for that reason. Beside, you really want to know where it is yourself during the 3 AM pee call.

Another weak spot in a fence is the ground. Just sticking a 4" rod in the ground isn't nearly enough if the ground is dry. Here in the Rockies, during the summer and fall, the ground is normally too dry for a short ground rod to work. In that case, you need several, and the deeper the better. One supplier recommended a foot of buried ground rod for each joule of charge. However, that would mean on a inch or two for a .2 joule backpacking charger. You need a lot more than that unless the ground is wet. At home, I just hook the ground to my woven wire fence since I use steel posts which are very well grounded. Needless to say, I'm not packing steel posts anywhere in the mountains, though. But, since a fence is useless without a good ground, there's no such thing as overpenetration.

So, I'm still wondering how much juice is enough, especially on dry ground. I didn't find any specifics for bears.

Check this website. They have some very good info online about choosing a fence system. They don't sell bear fences specifically at this time, but they do sell a number of battery operated charges. They have a comparison chart of all of their models. PREMIER 1

Rock Chuck, I agree there are many variables and specially those light fences are far from 100% protection. Dry ground is one big issue specially in Rockies but not so big issue in Alaska. For me fence is just one thing try to prevent bear going to camp when away for spike camp but far from perfect. I also think nose contact will be needed and that's why UDAP recommends to hang those pieces of surveyor's tape on wires. I have purposefully taken many shocks from my fence into my arm (elbow to fingers)and it's surely unpleasant but nothing hard. I wouldn't like to get that shock into my mouth though. I think light fences are good for curious bears who are looking for food and might smell or lick the surveyor's tapes hanging on wires.

Grounding is other issue and must be done properly to several grounding points when needed. Next somebody should start selling portable irrigation systems to make sure the ground around your camp will stay wet:))

They're already on the market, under several brand names - Folgers, Tasters Choice, Nescafe, etc.

run a second wire and make it a ground wire. Just like a real electric fence.