I use tape only because it's more visible. I think rope has better conductivity. What matters is how much bare wire is on the outside of the rope or tape where the animal hits it. Since the ground here is usually very dry during hunting season, the animal might not be in conductive contact with the ground so it doesn't get much of a shock. I had to train my llamas to respect it by setting it up at home when the ground was wet and letting them learn what it does. I haven't had a problem in the last 5 or 6 years.
I also had to go to 3 wires. I had 1 llama that would lay flat on his belly, put his chin on the ground, and belly crawl under it. The fleece insulates their backs and necks. I had to add a wire about a foot off the ground that would hit his ears. They aren't dumb.
Yeah, when I was running drift fences for a ranch I worked for the dry ground was a bitch. Both for grounding the charger and hoping the cows'd be zapped. Tape was visible enough you hoped twixt the 2 it'd work. But for toothy critters that DGAF I still wonder.
