Well , I can now post this. Last Monday ,sometime, we had high winds that blew open a gate that is spring closed with a hook latch that didn't get hooked after going in and out several times on Sunday. All of my walk through gates have heavy springs (18 inches and 1" plus diameter ) attached to them to keep them closed after I go through . All gates close against a post and open into the deer areas. If a latch is missed , the heavy spring keeps it closed tight. This is helpful when carrying bales of hay , pails of water or feed. Just push through and keep going and the gate minds itself til you go out. Well, most gates are made by me out of 1" conduit welded with high tensil wire covering. This particular gate is made of heavy corrigated steel four inches wide. This is why the wind got control of it and we had 9 deer escape !!!!!! Saw one out when I got home from work Monday afternoon and got it right in , then got one more in just after dark. All of the deer were put into one of the four pens I have and the other pens were open to each other and one drive through gate opened part way to let in any that came back. The next morning , four more were back leaving just three....and which three??? My big breeder buck Spiderman and his mother that is bred to a son of Max , Maxboy , full brother to Scout, and a coming three yr old bucks . Well , lots of walking the timbers as we are 1/2 mile from the river and 1 1/2 miles from 2 hiways. The first day one was killed on the hiway , the coming three yr old , and the other two were no where to be seen til Friday , four nights out , with Spiderman home at day break and his mother after work that day. This gate was scheduled to be changed out and I almost did it on the Sunday before they got out but time didn't allow. Well , the gate has been changed out to a conduit and wire one with heavier spring and soon to have auto latch and chain and lock. Wake up call to me and this post to you to look for your weakest links and update or change them so you don't have this potential for disaster. The last two looked thin and sore of legs and after just the four days , Spiderman had to fight the next biggest buck I have to be top dog again , too. Nothing else can give you this feeling aside from family loss.....and stress. Look your pens over . Jim
Joined Apr 2009
660 Posts | 0+
Madill, Oklahoma
I wound'nt trust a spring with a house cat. You are VERY lucky. Would not be broadcasting a escape, if you have a status. In my state, It states we have to have all outside gates locked. Never know when an unwanted visitor or kid comes strolling along. We have a bottle fed buck, that even now will get pissed at strangers an throw some punches, if givin the chance. To much liability. Just my 2 cents
Joined Apr 2009
1,562 Posts | 0+
cental Pennsylvania
Glad to hear you got most of them back. I cant imagine how you felt. I worry when we get high winds, because my pens are wooded, had a tree fall on 2 different occasions but both times i got to it before the deer escaped, thank the Lord, I am going to be removing alot of trees this summer. Sorry to hear about the 3 year old.
I have talked to my State dept. of Ag. man and all is good , no status problems. He said these things happen. I notified him right away as we are instructed, so he knows all is on the up and up with me showing ,now, one less deer on my inventory and no test results. The deer was given to someone for salvage so the head was lost. It feels bad to have a loss and feel lucky at the same time....Jim