crossing barbed wire fences

[Ryan Jordan]

My next trip will require about 40 barbed wire fence crossings.

It’s not going to be practical to ‘find’ a place that’s easy to cross – it will add too much effort.

It won’t be hard to find the typical steel posts, though.

I picked up one of these:

You slot it onto the middle of the pole, it stays there, and provides a step on one side and the other, so it’s easy to cross the fence.

It works GREAT.

But it’s 8 oz. Does anyone have a lighter solution?

[Mole J]

Here, sometimes at crossing places,  the top barbed wire is  covered with a length of 1″ mdpe water pipe with a lengthways slot cut in it.  Long enough to cover the barbs you might catch the crotch of your clothing on as you get over. You still need to stand on lower wires and avoid barbs on them. Obviously this is done beside a post.

If you try this, practice first!  40 is a lot.  It may be that 250g is the price to pay for speed and lack of stress). We don’t generally have those metal posts here. Usually timber or recently a different metal system from Australia.

[Roger Caffin]

A square of old canvas thrown over?
An old feedsack thrown over?
Bit of an old horse blanket thrown over?
Find a solid post (rather than a star stake) and climb over the wire there?

40 barbed wire fences sounds very rural.

Cheers

[Geoff Caplan]

For crossing barbed wire, I carry a short length of split pipe insulation to lay over the top strand. Helps protect the delicate bits…

[Claiborne B]

Are these fences short or tall? Intended for livestock or property? Is the pole construction known? Metal rigger or Wooden?

[Ben C]

If you are hiking with a friend, simply have him hold two wires apart while you slip through. If not, something like Geoff’s solution looks fine – I was thinking a pool noodle.

[DAN-Y]

I use the Safe-T-Stepper when hunting farmlands in the midwest. Excellent grip on the poles.

 

[Claiborne B]

Why go over? Can you go through the barbed wire (like a boxer into the ring) using a quickdraw carabiner and a dyneema sling to hold the tension top and bottom similar to the idea in the picture?

With this?

[DAN-Y]

[Dave @ Oware]

Good thing you aren’t on horseback.

Then the old school solution was fencing pliers and some staples.

Take out staples, lay down fence, cross, replace staples.

—–

Maybe craft your own step out of wood, plastic, carbon fiber? 3d print it? Combine it into something else useful like a tent deadman, pot stand, really big fish lure?

[MJ H]

My dad was raised on a farm and his whole life he crossed barbed-wire fences like they were nothing. He’d either vault over with his hand on the post (they were almost never metal even when I was around) or grab two wires and step through with hardly a pause.

[JCH]

Stepping through with a backpack could be problematic.  Could always take it off, throw it over and then step through.

[David Thomas]

TIL that there’s a step thingie for crossing barb-wire fences.

So today I’ll inform folks that there’s a step thingie to hang from the door frame of your car to help you load the skis, kayak, etc on the roof rack.  Like many things, $45 at REI, $10 on eBay.

Back on topic, I think Ryan’s original device or DanY’s similar one might be the most solid option.

As for the other proposals, rather than foam insulation, I’d look to poly tubing, probably around 1″ diameter and not just a single cut, but two cuts 1/2″ apart to allow it to slide over the wire more easily.  One source of canvas would be old fire hoses – it already has a nice crease built in.  If anyone wants to try that, I’ve got a bunch I could send out in 2 or 3 or 4 foot lengths.

If I was leading a Scout or Sierra Club group, I’d do “belt&suspenders” like we have our linemen do – disconnect the line AND ground it AND cover it with insulation.  I’d bring one (or two?) of those steps and be able to cover the barbs of the top wire on each side with HDPE tubing or canvas slit-open fire hose.

[MJ H]

A guy I went to high school with had a barb-scar in his neck. One very good answer to how to cross a barbed wire fence is “Not on a moving snowmobile”.

[obx hiker]

Are you traveling solo?

Duo I’d take turns pulling the wire apart and pass the packs over. Maybe some pipe insulation like Geoff recommended. Stuff’s really light. 11 grams a foot for the thick stuff in my garage. Kinda bulky but you could carry it on the outside of the pack or even slip it over your poles. Look funny and some added wind resistance in breezy conditions but it would be right at hand  I’m inclined to go under or through instead of over. Too many things to go wrong badly going over. Still it’s going to be a little tedious. 40 fences in how many miles?

This trip to SE Wyoming; it’s surprisingly complicated. I’ve taken a look at it or where I think it might be and can see the frozen water problem since there seems to be water but not any deep, large or fast streams or even substantial lake outlet flows which explains that problem and now this one with all the fences. Care to be just a tad more specific about the location like Medicine Bow for example or should we just “stay tuned”?

There was the fence on my grand-dads farm I used to jump over. Then one day I had a little failure of nerve and a hesitant launch and ended up cut to the shinbone with @ 20 stitches. Maybe that’s why I don’t like going over.

[Ryan Jordan]

@obxcola yes – it’s in the Sherman Range of the Medicine Bow National Forest. I want to do a circumnav of the Pole Mountain Unit East of Laramie, starting and ending at my house, which is a few blocks from the University and trying to do it in 3 days. Best guess is that it will be 50-55 miles.

Lots of fences because there are lots of individual grazing units leased to regional ranchers here.

Solo, hence the need to try to get over the fence quickly. I’m hoping not to take my pack off every time and I don’t want to rip my Arc’teryx jacket and pants 😂 or otherwise contort myself too much to wiggle through a fence. I’m going through a bad spell with my back right now and want to keep fence crossings a non-issue, my current planned route has 38 crossings…

Much of the barbed wire is strung between wood poles, but steel t-bars are usually found every few hundred yards. Gates, less often (mostly only where established trails go through the fence). Since my route is mostly off-trail, I think I’m planning to travel through 6 or 7 gates, and then another 38 random fence crossings…

 

 

[Roger Caffin]

i LIKE the idea of starting and finishing at your house. We have done that once for a long trip, and many other times using a secondary residence in the mountains.

Can I suggest using slit tubing for this. One 3-4′ length for the top strand and another 1 or 2 short (1′?) lengths for the lower strands. If you are feeling very confident you could skip the shorter bits, although there is always a risk of snagging and tearing your trousers that way.

The biggest ‘problem’ is how to stow the bits of tubing in between fences. Tricky.

Cheers

[Ryan Jordan]

I could strap the tubing bits to elastic bands on my shoulder strap daisies. That’s what I was planning to do with that fence post T-step thingy anyways.

Which is 8 oz. Can I do it for less weight and less time with the tubing?

[Roger Caffin]

Dunno. It would depend on the tubing you have I guess. At least, with the tubing you would not have to find a steel post each time. Chuckle – and there would be no risk of the step sliding down or springing off the post!

TBH, what we often do is to find a solid wood post and use the barbed wire right at the post as the rungs of a ladder. This may not be the best for the barbed wire, but that is uncouth stuff at the best of times. (We have removed ALL barbed wire from our farm.) A pair of leather gloves can be helpful here. Note that in Oz the wire often goes through the wood post rather than be stapled onto it: more labour but cheaper, and it permits tensioning later.

Cheers

[DAN-Y]

I’m going through a bad spell with my back right now and want to keep fence crossings a non-issue, my current planned route has 38 crossings…

 

And you want to do 38 crossings with a back that’s giving you problems? Why????

 

Caution…all T posts are not the same size and quality(rust), be careful of slippage of the step device.

[Bonzo]

Pack off, cross through wire, pack back on, readjust for ten minutes, repeat… would get very tiring.  38 fences in 55 miles is one fence every mile and a half; that’s a very quick rate for the usage of a piece of gear, but – in my opinion – since it’s gear that’s going to be deployed and used a couple of times every hour that you’re moving, it’s gear that is allowed to weigh more if it works quickly and keeps you moving along your placed route.

I like the t-post dingus, but if you have a dearth of t-posts and have to detour time and again, you could add serious distance to your route: assuming only a 200-yard detour at half of your crossings, you add over two miles just in finding posts on which your dingus will work.  Hmm.

I like the idea of something that can be used to step over a section of wire at any point in the fence: preferably at the mid-point between two posts, where the wire will have the least support so you can push it down and cross easier.  The foam looks like a good solution, but I’m wondering if it will take too much abrasion from the wire and eventually be torn apart with that many uses…and the fire hose is also good, just heavy.  I was thinking: you don’t necessarily have to have something that’s poke-proof, but something that will just help to keep your clothing from getting torn.  Perhaps a piece of light, tough fabric that drapes over all of the wires at once and that can just be rolled back up or stuffed when you’re done?  I’m not a fabric guru so I’m not sure what even exists or can be cheaply purchased, but it’s a thought.

I’ll Google the phrase “kevlar towel” and see what I get.

[Chris R]

As mentioned, lengths of fire hose with slits cut to allow them to be slipped across the wire are pretty good. I would also make sure you have some heavy gloves so you can grasp the wire without fear of cutting your hands.
I spend a lot of time crossing fences while out surveying and really hate barbed wire. I always think there are two kinds of farmer; those who know how to build fences and those who are too cheap . We no longer pay for it in the livestock exclusion projects we sponsor. Two lines of plain electric with posts at 40ft minimum is all you get. It’s cheaper and works just as well in most scenarios. A lot of farmers have also figured that outing the posts even further apart means you can drive straight over it with an ATV, this also works for larger wild mammals that can cross without destroying the fence and letting all the livestock out.

[DAN-Y]

Ryan said:

I’m going through a bad spell with my back right now and want to keep fence crossings a non-issue, my current planned route has 38 crossings…

Much of the barbed wire is strung between wood poles, but steel t-bars are usually found every few hundred yards. Gates, less often (mostly only where established trails go through the fence). Since my route is mostly off-trail, I think I’m planning to travel through 6 or 7 gates, and then another 38 random fence crossings…

 

Your route is an accident waiting to happen. Never thought you would attempt something like that with a bad back. 

 

[Ryan Jordan]

“I’m going through a bad spell” doesn’t mean I’m an accident waiting to happen, it just means that for me – it’s not as strong as it has been. I’ve been hiking and running and hopping fences just fine lately. Wasn’t trying to play it up, just trying to keep the fence crossings as easy as possible.

[DAN-Y]

I’ve been hiking and running and hopping fences just fine lately. Wasn’t trying to play it up

 

If you’re in good shape, leave the 8 ounces at home. Go in the style of BPL :-)

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