Building my setup...

Start with what you need. You can add on later. Always keep in mind of additions when starting your first pen. My $.02

When we started, we had four pens. We quickly found out that was NOT enough. I have 10 pens total at our current location. The new place is 20 breeder pens on 100 acres. Plan for the future. They do multiple...lol

always plan for expansion, started with 2 and 1 year later have 5 and could use 5 more b4 long

If you will not have a handling facility, be sure your pens are constructed such that you can get easy shots with a dart gun.

OklahomaDeer said:

Im about to build my pens...



What would you build "each pen" 100 x 300?



How many pens for starting with a few deer...a buck and a couple of does...

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Most times people would think more pens is for more deer. Really more pens means more options.

If you will start with 1 buck and a couple of does I think at a minimum you will need 4 pens to start with. Because 1 buck and a couple of does today means 1 adult buck and a couple of adult does and a few fawns come spring. Fawns come in 2 sexes and if they are left together they will breed. So you need at a minimum a pen for the adult does and the 1 adult buck, a pen for the doe fawns, a pen for the buck fawns, and a pen for rotation.



That said I feel 7 pens are the actual minimum for my herd.

1. doe fawns

2. buck fawns

3. adult does

4. 1 yr old bucks

5. 2 yr olds

6. 3 yr olds

7. empty and avialable for rotation.

The adult doe pen can be used as the breeder pen in fall, and the breeder buck after breeding goes with the buck fawns from the year before.



Now the number of pens a farm has varies with the number of head vs the size of the pens.



Attached is a layout plan I just made earlier today of our place. This is not to scale.

Pen #1 is about 200'x400'

Pen #2 is about 150'x500'

The rest are about 100'x500'

Between pens 2 and 3 is about a 7 foot space, and between pens 1 and 2 is a wooden wall. These 2 things prevent fighting between the bucks.

All the pens have the posts on the outside of the wire except pens 4 and 6. Those pens are then pens I will keep the bucks out of so they don't have to be concerned about hooking an antler on a post. This also allows us to not have bucks sharing a common fence.

All the x's mark a gate. All the pens are connected by the alleyway, and all the pens can be run to the 2 corrals. The alleyway in most places is 12 feet wide, but in areas where the alleyway makes a jog it is wider.

The corrals are solid wood walls 10 feet high.

The entire farm is inside a 8 foot perimeter fence including a gate at the end of the driveway.

This pic don't show it but almost every corner of the pens are what we call "clipped corners" meaning they have 45 degree angles to them. No 90 degree turns. And all those corners are made of wood. This provides shade, wind break, and stops deer from running into the corners when scared or playing.

Hope this helps give you some ideas.

Go visit farms, there are PLENTY in your area. When we started, we would go to farm to farm, and my dad would carry a tap measure, and measure everthing then go home and we would draw pen designs. This went on for weeks --------then we built our place. Those that have seen it know how well it works. I MIGHT loose some hair running ANY deer through the barn. Your about 3 hours away, but my wifes family lives in Bartlesville, and the next time we go up, I will stop by and give you some advise.

Roger - nice, practical design. Thanks for sharing the diagram.

Robbie said:

Roger - nice, practical design. Thanks for sharing the diagram.

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Robbie, thanks for appreciating the time that went into making the diagram and the design of the pens.

The layout is simple but effective. After rebuilding our farm this last fall this is what we ended up with. Prior to this new layout we could only shift animals from one pen to the other until they were in a place we could move them to the corrals. But just a couple of months after this being built I needed to move the fawns in pen #1 to the shed for vaccinations. We had lost 2 fawns and I wanted to try and stop what was going on so we ran them and it worked. Without the alleyway we might not have been able to do this. So I feel the alleyway cost has been paid for in 2 months time.

I can't say enough about having a full functioning handling facility.

I can say that an alleyway is the most important part of any layout.

Tundra Ridge Whitetails said:

I can say that an alleyway is the most important part of any layout.

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I have to agree it's the make or break on the design!

Extremely helpful Independence Ranch - thanks!

astark5551 said:

Extremely helpful Independence Ranch - thanks!

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Sure thing, glad it helps some.

I prefer pie-shaped pens, myself. Let all red on this map represent a gate or deer-door. Deer gates are about 22" wide and 3' tall, the rest of the gates are all 12' wide. I wouldn't make an alley wider than 12' unless you don't intend to run deer down it. The pen in my facility in the upper right-hand corner holds my handling facility and 10 (not all shown) solid-steel pens outside the building. Hope this helps. PS the pens here average 1/2-3/4 acres per each. I would also recommend having an alley other than straight, and with some sort of shade or barrier on it so the deer will feel hidden as they run around a corner as you are pushing them.

22"by 3' why so small Phill

dearjohn said:

22"by 3' why so small Phill

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My deer gates were intended for water tanks, which I pulled from the plans after it was built. I felt it wasn't worth trenching power to each tank and lying in bed, worrying about the sub-zero temps and the cost of rural water; therefore, the holes are just used when necessary for deer to travel from pen to pen. As it turns out, some bucks (breeders) cannot go through them and the does can get away from them easily. Also, when it comes time to pull breeders out, when the situation is right, the does are on one side, the buck on the other, and when closed, the buck can be driven out and put in the pen with the other bucks. It all happened by accident, but seems to work pretty well.

OK thanks Phillip

I'm starting me new pens next week. I have 200 x300 to make two pens. How would you do it? I will build a handling facility this spring. How would you do runways, shape of pen?

Richard, If I understand your question you have an area that is 200 feet by 300 feet and you want to have a total of 2 pens in that area. Without seeing the area in question and whether it is an addition to an existing area or if this will be your only pens that you have, I guess I would make them 100'x300'

I would not have any 90 degree corners if possible.

As to the shape of the pen? I know some like pie shaped but I actually prefer square or rectangular. Again with no 90 degree corners. Anyplace with a sharp corner is a place that can be smashed into or a deer can be cornered and get hurt. Especially a doe during the rut when the buck is chasing her.

Runways shouldn't be made too wide or the deer will come back on you instead of going away from you if your trying to "push" them down the runway. It is always nice to have them with "jogs" or slight turns in them so the deer feel they are always escaping from you by going around the jog away from you. If your runway is in an area where you will be putting a lot of pressure on them to move then you will want to have some kind of solid surface so they don't try jumping through the fence. Either a wood wall or plastic or at the very least shade cloth.

Richard you are welcome to come look at my breeder pens and handling facility.

I am in Clanton not to far from you if you want to come by you can give me a call.



Joe Headley

205-755-8246

www.AlabamasFinest.com