Plot Saver fence appears to be working.

Just wanted to report on my experience with the Plot Saver fence. This “fence” is designed to keep deer from browsing on food plots, unlike an electric fence, the Plot Saver uses a scent solution that deer allegedly hate and therefore, in theory, they should avoid the plot like the plague.

Well, I needed to do something to protect my Eagle Forage Soybean plot. The good news was that the deer LOVED the Eagle beans. The problem was that 10-12 deer were packing themselves into the 1.2-acre plot every morning and night and they were eating it to the ground. Yes, Eagle Forage Soybeans can withstand much greater browsing pressure when compared to standard ag beans, but there are limits! My trail cam on this plot was taking dozens of pictures per day of deer hammering this plot.

It was looking like the plot was going to be down to soybean stumps by September 1 if I did nothing, so if I wanted to continue to bring deer in for the bow season, it was time to do something.

So I decided to try the Plot Saver. I was skeptical, to say the least. Really? So a smelly solution is going to keep deer out of the plot for 7-10 days at a time between my visits to the farm? And this is AFTER the deer have had over a month of browsing pure candy out of that plot.

I bought the 1-acre Plot Saver kit that includes the scent “fence” cloth tape and a small bottle of the scent solution. 1 week ago yesterday, I installed the fence and spread on the scent solution. I used the quick set plastic electric fence posts with a steel 5-foot post at each corner.

I went to the farm yesterday to check and I fully expected to find the deer had ripped down the fence and left me a note telling me exactly where to stick it.

I was SHOCKED to find not only was the fence still standing, but there were new leaves on the Eagle Forage Soybeans and they were growing again. Clearly, browsing had almost totally stopped. The trail cam confirmed that the deer were avoiding the plot like the plague. I went from dozens of pictures of deer in the plot per day, to 6 total pictures of deer in the plot for the entire week!

I refreshed the scent solution yesterday and hopefully, this keeps the deer out because this is really awesome. I’m totally impressed with the Plot Saver system. I thought that at best this system would slow the deer down a little, but I did not expect what the trail cam shows–the deer have almost stopped using the plot completely.

Thought the food plotters here would like to know because over-browsing is a very common issue for food plotters.

Grouse

Great product report and solution to a very real problem with food plots. Am always skeptical with products like that, but if it works, am all for giving plots the best chance possible. Sure there’s limits to its effectiveness, but even if it curbed use by 50% it’d be nice to have another tool in the arsenal.

Where did you get it and how much?

How often does it need to be restunk with stray?

Any clue what’s in the spray? Is it like deer be gone or whatever it’s called?

Glad that it worked out for you. I tried a similar product last year on a one acre plot, but I only fenced half the bean plot. Like you, the beans inside the fence were a foot or so taller than the beans outside the fence. I only got up to stink up the fence twice during the summer, but it was still effective.

First off, I had to correct the name. It was the Plot Saver fence system. I have corrected it.

I had a tough time finding any place that had it in stock. Amazon carries it but they were out of the 1-acre kits when I wanted to order, so I got it through an ag supply place that I won’t recommend because the shipping was way too high. The SRP on the 1-acre kit is $49.99 and that’s the price most places have it at. The key is finding it in stock with reasonable shipping.

basseyes wrote:

How often does it need to be restunk with stray?

Any clue what’s in the spray? Is it like deer be gone or whatever it’s called?

Reply

The manufacturer says the scent solution is good for 30 days regardless of rain or weather.

I’m up at the farm every week to 2 weeks at most, so I plan to refresh the scent solution every trip. I figure no sense having the fence if it’s not working as well as it could.

No idea what’s in the solution, I’ll take a picture off the back of the bottle next time. It’s got what I believe to be lavender or rosemary oil, that much I can smell. It also has a vague sulphur smell.

The one downside is that they charge PLENTY for the scent solution. I’ll probably need another small bottle to get me to the bow opener. $29.99 for a pint bottle of concentrate that makes just over a gallon of solution.

Sticker gave me an excellent tip. Mix solution in a small plastic tub. I used a gallon ice cream bucket. Then apply with a sponge keeping the bucket underneath to catch the solution so nothing hits the ground. Takes a while to refine the technique, but I can coat the whole fence with about 12 ounces of mixed solution.

Grouse.

Grouse, you should have said something. I have a brand new one acre kit sitting at home that I haven’t opened yet

Please update us of when you take it down. I am curious as to how many of those deer will come back and how long it will take them to get back into a routine of showing up.

Cabela’s is showing it for $29.88 for the 1 acre starter kit. 16 oz bottle of concentrate for $24.99.

rkd-jim wrote:

Cabela’s is showing it for $29.88 for the 1 acre starter kit. 16 oz bottle of concentrate for $24.99.

That’s a steel, I bought my kit 2 years ago for $49.99.

Oops
That was for the other thread.

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Eric Rehberg wrote:

Please update us of when you take it down. I am curious as to how many of those deer will come back and how long it will take them to get back into a routine of showing up.

X2

Eric Rehberg wrote:

Please update us of when you take it down. I am curious as to how many of those deer will come back and how long it will take them to get back into a routine of showing up.

Will do.

Since I’m in an area where almost all corn is cut for sileage starting soon, I generally have very hungry deer flocking to the plots in September after all the corn has been vaccumd up. We’ll see how long it takes them to notice the plot is open for business again.

In the meantime, I just hope it GROWS a little more. I had not had rain at the farm for 20 days up to today when I got over 1.5 inches, so here’s hoping that I can put 6-8 inches of growth on the beans yet this season.

Grouse

Plot Saver Fence Update. How long does it take for deer to return when you take it down?

Well, I took the Plot Saver fence down on Thursday, September 20. BTW, it does what it says on the box! It saved my soybean plot. Before I put the Plot Saver up back in August, the deer were tearing up my Eagle Forage Soybeans. The Plot Saver did not totally eliminate traffic in the plot, but it clearly made the deer uncomfortable enough that it limited how much they would visit and how long they would stay.

Clearly, the browsing pressure was the worst in the middle of the plot, indicating to me that the deer wanted to stay as far away from the Plot Saver fence as possible.

At that time I took the fence down, I was getting about 60 pictures per week from the cam located directly on the plot edge.

I took the Plot Saver fence down on Sept 20. I was back at the farm just over a week later, on September 27. The deer had SAVAGED the plot.

The cam on the plot had over 300 pictures on it. Clearly, the deer had been back in full force.

Pictures indicate that the browsing pressure picked up almost immediately. In fact, when we took it down there was a group of 8 deer that literally ran into the plot 2 hours after I took down the fence.

So my conclusion is that it doesn’t take the deer very long to resume browsing. Especially if the Plot Saver is protecting a highly-desireable food source like Eagle Forage Soybeans.

As a note, I also took down the fence posts so there was no visual reminder that the Plot Saver fence had ever been there.

Really a great tool for us wildlife property managers.

Grouse

Greatly appreciate the report and information, thanks!