crossing barbed wire fences

Use the tube Ryan, use the tube.

Well this oughtta make for a good trip report anyway.

How I crossed forty leven bobbed wire fences, walked side ways 3 miles looking for metal fence posts, and drilled 18 holes for water all in one round trip adventure on the high plains of Wyoming. Tippy ti yi yay. by Ryan Jordan Phd.

Roger is spot on with the square of canvas approach. Cut a leg off an old pair of jeans, or an old jacket sleeve.

Not sure that jeans material is what I meant by canvas. Barbs can go thru jeans. DT’s fire hose is more like it. I use old fire hose as a duct when cleaning out rainwater tanks.

Cheers

Are you concerned about people coming after you for trespassing or hopping their fence?  Where I’m from I’d be terrified to hop someones fence.

Are you concerned about people coming after you for trespassing or hopping their fence?  Where I’m from I’d be terrified to hop someones fence.

Nah, these are all public lands (USDA/National Forest). The fences are just there to separate leased grazing areas.

Got ahold of some fire hose tonite. 5-inch dia. Burly stuff, should work great.

But a 12″ length weighs 18 ounces!!!

Scrap electrical conduit, 1.25″ OD, 1/2″ slot machined down length, 500 mm (20.5″) long, 128 grams (4.5 oz).

Vary slot width to suit. I just grabbed a 12 mm router bit. Smaller would work. Hold with one hand to prevent it turning over while you climb over.

How to use:
Do not try to spring it open over the barbs. That is difficult and will likely lead to injury. Instead, slide slot at one end over plain wire and then slide the tube along, with the barbs going inside the tube. Gloves help protect.
If the barbs are too big you may need to use a bigger bit of conduit: it comes in all sizes.
You can also get larger tubing from the irrigation department: that can go up to 6″ diameter!

Cheers

Would cable tidy tubes work?

I am a bit doubtful.
You see, the barbs on barbed wire are very sharp, by design, and very hard too. I fear they might go through the thin corrugated wall of such tubing. That could be painful.

But one could try. However, I do not have any cable tidy tube of a large enough size. The stuff I have is (I think) smaller than barbed wire.

It is an interesting thought though.

Cheers

Really depends on how the fence is constructed. I grew up on a farm and went between strands of wire like they weren’t there.  Or jumped over if the posts were solid.  Multiple barbed wire strands would be difficult though …

I did that on a motorbike – but I put the bike down in the dirt and slid into the strands wheels first so no harm done.  Well, not to me in any case.

I can’t for the life of me, think why someone would choose a route for a hike that involves crossing over 38 barbed wires….just can’t. Ryan, explain your reasoning if you will please.

I can’t for the life of me, think why someone would choose a route for a hike that involves crossing over 38 barbed wires….just can’t.

Most of the fences will be 4-wire fences, with the top wire 48-49″ above ground level. 16″ clearance under the bottom wire and the rest spaced at 10″ intervals. Most of the fences are very tight and well-built. It’s hard to impossible to squeeze through the middle wires.

It’s hard to impossible to squeeze through the middle wires.

Over the top you go, good luck! :-)

Underneath on your back is my safety option. A reduces the opportunity for catastrophic accidents though there is always the possibility of mud and a little cow poop.

Take your and drill holes to lighten it up.

The only large-ish animals that routinely cross barbed wire are probably pronghorn, and they always duck underneath. I was surprised to see this! But apparently they don’t like to jump.

Anyway, if a gear solution proves ineffective I also vote for going under.

Time to get the drill out.

Scouted some fences today. Some are 5-wire fences, with only 6 inches clearance under the bottom wire.

And some have vast expanses of wood posts only.

Should be a fun adventure!

Some are 5-wire fences, with only 6 inches clearance under the bottom wire.
I take it these are government-issue fences?

Cheers

How about some pieces  of garden hose sliced lengthwise so they can slide over the wire? Not sure how light it would be

Garden hose: same as electrical conduit. Should work IF big enough.
Cheers

I’m ‘sticking’ with this. 66 grams for 6 feet and thicker than the barbs. It would be really difficult to get it to evenly compress enough for a barb to extrude. It comes pre-slit. I don’t think it would be that hard to remove. Maybe I’ll test a piece today. That’s a half inch diameter pipe in the photo and I think the 1/2″ is I.D.

5 wire fences! Insane stuff. BLM i suppose, same folk who drop poison baits out of helicopters to kill predators, or is that another government agency spending your tax dollars wisely?