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January 16, 2003
Fence adaptation eases pain in the neck for pronghorns
Mark Henckel, The Billings Gazette
Most times, in most places, antelope go under barbed wire fences to get to the other side.
Pronghorns evolved over eons without these obstacles on the open prairies they call home. Since the arrival of fences, few seem to have learned how to leap over them as deer have.
Antelope crawl under fences normally. If they're fleeing, and the bottom wire on the fence is high enough, they'll hit the ground at about full speed and slide under.
But antelope hide is relatively thin compared to the hide of a deer or elk. And those pointy barbs sticking down will sometimes gouge into the skin, pull out hair and even cut the animals.
Search for a solution
Bob Hiaring, who lives north of Billings on the antelope country of the North Fork of Alkali Creek, noticed the situation.
"Our house is above a coulee and we get a lot of antelope that go down that coulee. I could see the bloody furrows on their backs," he told me. "When I saw your article in The Gazette last year and that (John Potter) drawing of the antelope going under the fence and saying 'Ouch!', it all came together."
Hiaring began trying to figure out a way to make going under his barbed wire fences a bit easier and less painful for the antelope.
"My first idea was to just cut the bottom wire between a couple of posts, but you still have the issue of keeping the rest of the wire tight," he said. "I wondered if I could put something on the bottom wire to protect the antelope.
"I thought of the foam insulation that goes on pipes. Along the way, I looked at the price on that. But right alongside of the foam, they had 10-foot lengths of PVC tubing that were less than two bucks."
Plastic works
Hiaring took a length of that PVC pipe home. He cut it in half to make two 5-foot lengths. Then he ran a table saw down the length of it to split one side.
"It cost me less than a buck apiece. One of them I put on the bottom wire of the fence with duct tape. The other one, that's just hung over the fence wire and it doesn't seem to matter which way you do it," he said.
"The antelope pretty much cross at the same places. I know there were other crossings in the general vicinity," Hiaring added. "But it seems as though they've quit using those crossings and use this one now."
He said the whole operation was pretty easy to do. The toughest part was setting his saw so that it would just cut through one side of the PVC pipe. "The pipe was just large enough in diameter to accommodate the barbs. It just popped onto the fence when you started it.
"It protects them and it facilitates their movement," Hiaring said. "Anybody who has watched antelope enough knows that they have patterns of movement. They're pretty much creatures of habit."
John Ensign, regional wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Miles City, agreed.
"Antelope crossing fences is pretty much dependent on topography and ease of their getting under," he said. "They look for those places. As far as trying to figure out where those are, that's a different matter. You just watch where they go. Whether it be a low spot in the ground or just the height of the wire at that point, they tend to choose the places with easiest access."
Ensign said the Bureau of Land Management recommends using a smooth wire for the bottom strand of a fence. "That makes it so they don't nick their backs and it's easier for them to get under," he said.
"The BLM has been doing some renovation work in parts of Eastern Montana where they've been trying to replace all their woven wire fences with strand wire to try to improve antelope access," Ensign added. "Those sheep-tight fences, they're pulling those where it impedes antelope movement. It's going to be a several-year process to get that done."
As to why antelope haven't learned to jump over fences as deer have, Ensign said, "They do jump fences - rarely. In some areas, they do it more than others. Whether that's a learned behavior that mom teaches the babies or is genetic, I don't know."
Right now, on the Hiaring place at least, it won't really matter whether the antelope go over or under the fences. It'll be easy on them either way they go.
Bob Hiaring used PVC pipe to modify a barbed wire fence and make it more attractive to antelope, evidenced by the number of tracks. Bob Hiaring photo
Mark Henckel is the outdoor editor of The Billings Gazette. His columns appear Thursdays and Sundays. He can be contacted by phone at: (406) 657-1395, or by e-mail at: henckel@billingsgazette.com
Fence adaptation eases pain in the neck for pronghorns
Mark Henckel, The Billings Gazette
Most times, in most places, antelope go under barbed wire fences to get to the other side.
Pronghorns evolved over eons without these obstacles on the open prairies they call home. Since the arrival of fences, few seem to have learned how to leap over them as deer have.
Antelope crawl under fences normally. If they're fleeing, and the bottom wire on the fence is high enough, they'll hit the ground at about full speed and slide under.
But antelope hide is relatively thin compared to the hide of a deer or elk. And those pointy barbs sticking down will sometimes gouge into the skin, pull out hair and even cut the animals.
Search for a solution
Bob Hiaring, who lives north of Billings on the antelope country of the North Fork of Alkali Creek, noticed the situation.
"Our house is above a coulee and we get a lot of antelope that go down that coulee. I could see the bloody furrows on their backs," he told me. "When I saw your article in The Gazette last year and that (John Potter) drawing of the antelope going under the fence and saying 'Ouch!', it all came together."
Hiaring began trying to figure out a way to make going under his barbed wire fences a bit easier and less painful for the antelope.
"My first idea was to just cut the bottom wire between a couple of posts, but you still have the issue of keeping the rest of the wire tight," he said. "I wondered if I could put something on the bottom wire to protect the antelope.
"I thought of the foam insulation that goes on pipes. Along the way, I looked at the price on that. But right alongside of the foam, they had 10-foot lengths of PVC tubing that were less than two bucks."
Plastic works
Hiaring took a length of that PVC pipe home. He cut it in half to make two 5-foot lengths. Then he ran a table saw down the length of it to split one side.
"It cost me less than a buck apiece. One of them I put on the bottom wire of the fence with duct tape. The other one, that's just hung over the fence wire and it doesn't seem to matter which way you do it," he said.
"The antelope pretty much cross at the same places. I know there were other crossings in the general vicinity," Hiaring added. "But it seems as though they've quit using those crossings and use this one now."
He said the whole operation was pretty easy to do. The toughest part was setting his saw so that it would just cut through one side of the PVC pipe. "The pipe was just large enough in diameter to accommodate the barbs. It just popped onto the fence when you started it.
"It protects them and it facilitates their movement," Hiaring said. "Anybody who has watched antelope enough knows that they have patterns of movement. They're pretty much creatures of habit."
John Ensign, regional wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Miles City, agreed.
"Antelope crossing fences is pretty much dependent on topography and ease of their getting under," he said. "They look for those places. As far as trying to figure out where those are, that's a different matter. You just watch where they go. Whether it be a low spot in the ground or just the height of the wire at that point, they tend to choose the places with easiest access."
Ensign said the Bureau of Land Management recommends using a smooth wire for the bottom strand of a fence. "That makes it so they don't nick their backs and it's easier for them to get under," he said.
"The BLM has been doing some renovation work in parts of Eastern Montana where they've been trying to replace all their woven wire fences with strand wire to try to improve antelope access," Ensign added. "Those sheep-tight fences, they're pulling those where it impedes antelope movement. It's going to be a several-year process to get that done."
As to why antelope haven't learned to jump over fences as deer have, Ensign said, "They do jump fences - rarely. In some areas, they do it more than others. Whether that's a learned behavior that mom teaches the babies or is genetic, I don't know."
Right now, on the Hiaring place at least, it won't really matter whether the antelope go over or under the fences. It'll be easy on them either way they go.
Bob Hiaring used PVC pipe to modify a barbed wire fence and make it more attractive to antelope, evidenced by the number of tracks. Bob Hiaring photo
Mark Henckel is the outdoor editor of The Billings Gazette. His columns appear Thursdays and Sundays. He can be contacted by phone at: (406) 657-1395, or by e-mail at: henckel@billingsgazette.com
