12bw fence along state road

[Yuma Archer]

I heard From my father in law,

 

Who has a 12bw tag that Utah put a fence up to stop the deer from crossing the road an getting

hit. problem is the utah rifle hunters pushed the deer to the fence line and opened fire. Slaughtering the big bucks.

 

Seems the deer did not use the underpasses installed effectively haulting there usuall migration to Arizona.

 

Is this true?

[trphyhntr]

doesnt sound true

[mpriest]

I believe the stories have been blown out of proportion. Aside from the usual road hunters that will take advantage of a buck on the side of the road I doubt that they pushed the deer into the fence to shoot them. However I do believe that a number of deer were probably visible along the fence. These kinds of fences are called "funnel fences" and are designed to funnel deer along the roadway to an underpass. since this is a migratory heard this was their first time encountering the fence and they have not pegged the locations of underpasses yet thus causing them to hit the fence and have to follow it to one. This will improve over the years as the deer learn the locations of the underpasses. There is a study going on to determine the effectiveness of the underpasses. Only time will tell but based on the success of similar projects here in AZ (US93, SR260 and I-17) I would be willing to guess that the deer will figure it out and will result in a successful project.

[Yuma Archer]

Apparently Utah game wardens tried to push the deer away from the fence to no avail, the deer kept running down the fence line.

Why not overpasses not underpasses.

The animals won't go to the other side as easily as going a different route.

 

But I have been wrong before.

Just have never seen animals actually go through the "underpasses",

 

Thanks

[mpriest]

Apparently Utah game wardens tried to push the deer away from the fence to no avail, the deer kept running down the fence line.

Why not overpasses not underpasses.

The animals won't go to the other side as easily as going a different route.

 

But I have been wrong before.

Just have never seen animals actually go through the "underpasses",

 

Thanks

Usually how these kinds of projects work is you first collar a bunch of animals and see where they cross. Then you build overpasses/underpasses in the location that you have the most crossings and put fencing everywhere else so you don't try and force animals into areas that they don't normally use. This project was done with out the pre-study work therefor animals are going to where they normally cross and there is a fence in the way.

 

Underpasses have been proven to work for deer. They are also significantly less expensive thus the decision to use overpasses. Also this type of work is relativity new so further trial and error is needed to see what works for each species. A good example is SR68 vs US93 in AZ. On SR68 they had something like 28 sheep use their underpasses in 2 years (all rams). On US93 they have had over 1500 sheep use their overpasses in the same time frame (rams, ewes and lambs). But on I-17 they have seen double the amount of elk and deer using the underpasses in the two years before and two years after fencing (~900 elk pre-fencing and ~1800 elk post fencing. Also zero elk collisions within the fenced area).

 

I think the main difference lies in the type of populations. US93, I-17 and SR260 all have resident populations of their respective species. They don't have an immediate need to get across the highway so they have time to learn where the underpasses and overpasses are. The deer population in Utah is a migrant population meaning they show up along the roadway and need to get across the roadway but encounter the fence for the first time. They lack the time to learn where the underpasses are located. It is a foreign concept to them where resident populations have time to adapt.

 

It takes time for animals to figure these things out. For some of the underpasses on SR260 it took almost two years for the elk to learn to cross under some of the underpasses. Once they figured it out the number of elk that used them grew exponentially.

[countrykid]

If the government designed it of course it's not going to work or as least makes no sense. That's like putting turtle ramps in our head walls and a few years ago I remember a job that we were bidding that had squirrel crossings in it.

[mpriest]

If the government designed it of course it's not going to work or as least makes no sense. That's like putting turtle ramps in our head walls and a few years ago I remember a job that we were bidding that had squirrel crossings in it.

 

The only difference is that these kinds of projects have been proven to actually work and are science based.

[countrykid]

I would agree with you that these under passes do work and they cut down on collisions but it also makes it a little easier to set up a stand or a blind at these forced crossings.

[Capt. Don Martin]

MPriest. Might want to check on the number of sheep that have used the sheep overpasses on Highway 93.

 

From what I understood no where near the 1,500 you refer to.

 

Don Martin

Arizona Wildlife Outfitters

[trphyhntr]

If the government designed it of course it's not going to work or as least makes no sense. That's like putting turtle ramps in our head walls and a few years ago I remember a job that we were bidding that had squirrel crossings in it.

 

The only difference is that these kinds of projects have been proven to actually work and are science based.

[EAS]

anyone have any photos of this fence? I'll be up there hunting in a few weeks, I'll post some info and pics on what i see.

maybe theres some chatter on the Utah forums or game and fish about it...

[Jcubed]

No pics but I saw it. Just got done with the early hunt up there. It is tall and has succeeded in its intended purpose. Deer were trying to figure it out when we were driving the highway.

[Jcubed]

And yes, lots of Utah hunters on the fence line.

[trphyhntr]

cant wait to hear how this affects the late 12b hunt. fricking scientists

[EAS]

http://www.muledeer.org/mdf-supports-us-89-paunsaugunt-deer-crossing-project

 

11.5 mile stretch of fence, with 6 under pass tunnels for them to use... should save about 100 deer a year they say...

We’ll see..... This might be a good year to go after the az deer coming down from the trees... instead of the Utah bucks... time will tell.

i could easily get pissed that this had to happen on the same year I drew the tag... but instead, im staying positive... or should i say hopeful