How to Build Dugout Fencing

Safety Enclosure

• If you are building a fence to prevent people from accidentally falling in to a dugout, build a complete enclosure. This is very important if you have children on the property. Many dugouts have shelter such as a tree belt growing across at least one side. This shouldn't prevent you from fencing in that side. Put the fencing inside or outside the treeline, depending on which is more practical based on the distance from the trees to the dugout's water line.

Gate

• Always build a dugout fence with a gate wide enough to get any truck through that you might need to get close to the dugout. For example, if you have a truck with a portable water tank that you need to get near the dugout to fill up, make sure the gate is wide enough that you can drive the truck through. Otherwise, you need a pump with enough hose to pump water from the dugout through the fence line and into your water tank.

Snow Fence

• Snow fences help increase water levels in a dugout in the spring. If you live in a high snowfall region, a fence up to 8 feet tall is a good idea. An effective option is the Wyoming-style snow fence. Build triangular trusses with a slight backward-leaning angle to form the main rails of the fence. Leave a gap equal to 10 percent of the total height of the fence at the bottom before you place the first horizontal rail. Drive rebar into the ground at a 45-degree angle to the sill plate of the trusses and fasten them together with a U-bolt to provide reinforcement. Install the horizontal rails and leave gaps approximately the same width as the rails themselves in between each of them.

Pest Protection

• Sometimes a fence isn't designed to protect the people around it, but to protect the dugout itself. Pests like muskrats are very damaging to a dugout because their burrows release unwanted dirt and organic matter into the water. These also cause the bank to weaken and leak. Ducks Unlimited suggests building a T-bar fence to control muskrats, although such a fence would also help prevent the entry of many other types of pests. T-bar posts are pounded into the ground and then heated and bent away from the water, creating a lip that animals can't easily climb over. A strong wire-mesh screen is strung along the entire fence line.