July Nature Notes (1 of 5)

4 July 2025.   Fence-Jumping Wild Animals Travel Through SGBF Without Regard to Livestock Fence Constraints

fig 1

Fences at Soggy Bottom Farm divide the farm into pastures for grazing rotation, alley ways for livestock movement between pasture and barn, road ways, houses, and machinery areas.  The farm’s domestic animals largely honor the spatial constraints imposed by the fences which allows the implementation of conservation practices that balances the use of plant resources by the animals and the production of new resources by plant growth.  And, the fences keep the hoofed animals out of the creek which is necessary for maintaining the integrity of the creek banks and for minimizing the amount of animal manure that gets into and contaminates the creek.

The large wild animals that use the farm don’t recognize the control on movement that the fences impose on the domestic animals.  For instance, just after 5:00 am on the morning of the 4^th of July, I was sitting in my office when I saw a bull elk moving through the dim early-morning light as he traveled in the alleyway that separates the pastures from the machine sheds.  I mounted my camera on the tripod on the porch of our living quarters to get some pictures.  The elk spent some time in the alleyway looking over the lay of the land.  I briefly looked away and suddenly he was in the pasture right in front of my camera.  He could only have gotten from the alleyway into the pasture by jumping the fence.

He strode across the pasture to the next fence whereupon, he jumped that fence also.  I got a picture of him jumping that fence which offered only a small challenge.  He then crossed the next pasture to the gate that blocks the bridge over the creek that separates the pastures from the hayfields.  The gate, which is 4½ ft high, offered a challenge to his progress and he made several preliminary motions as if in preparation for a jump.  (Fig 2)

And, jump he did, using that body-extending, leg-tucking fluid motion where the rear body smoothly follows the front body in a graceful seemingly effortless arc.  He cleared the gate with plenty of room to spare.  (Fig 3)

fig 2

fig 3

A week later I had the opportunity to photograph a deer jumping the fence into the pasture where I saw the elk.  The deer used essentially the same jumping technique as the elk but in this case, the effort expended by the deer was much greater than that by the elk.  A fence is greater challenge to a deer than it is to an elk and it is necessary for the deer to elevate its whole body above the fence at the time it crosses. (Fig 4)  However, just as with the elk, the deer also cleared the fence with room to spare.

fig 4

What about the farm’s other large wild animals.  I have seen coyotes jump over the 4 ft wire fence that surrounds the pasture on 3 occasions.  I have seen them crawl under the fence’s bottom wire strand and I have seen them wiggle between wire strands.  They can cross the fence if they have a mind to do so.  However, for the coyotes, the fence is not a barrier to their movement so much as it is a boundary marker.  They have learned that inside the fence is dog territory.   If they cross the fence, they will have to contend with Barley and her two associates: Libby and Penny.  Barley is vigilant and commonly on watch.  She is quick to detect any animal that approaches the fence perimeter from outside the compound.  She gives voice and the approaching animal is forewarned.  Coyotes are reluctant to confront Barley and her associates.  I have witnessed several instances of coyotes leaving the premises rapidly once they have been discovered inside the compound by the dogs.

I cannot comment on the movements of cougars and bobcats because we never see them except on trail camera photos.  I suspect that, much like the coyotes, the cats have learned that inside the fence perimeter it is dog territory and they avoid it on most occasions.  Bears are much the same.  There are many trail camera photos of bears all around the perimeter of the compound but only rare sightings of bears inside the compound.

So, the fences on Foggy Bottom that control the movement of the farm’s domestic animals represent barriers to elk and deer that are easily crossed.  However, these fences serve as boundaries to most of the other large wild animals that demarcate dog territory.  The wild animals seem to respect dog territory and don’t venture into it.