Converting a Barbed-Wire Section to a Lay-Down Fence for Winter Elk Passage With Fencing Pliers: Wire Loops at Each Post, a Stay at Every Post, and a One-Person Drop

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Where elk and deer cross a fence line every winter, the wire takes a beating and so do the animals. A lay-down section lets the whole fence drop flat on the ground for the months the cattle are gone.

A lay-down fence hangs its wires on wood stays, and each stay sits in two wire loops stapled to the post, one near the top and one near the bottom. To drop the section, flip up the top loop and lift the stay out of the bottom loop. Fencing pliers bend, cut, and staple the loops.

How the design works

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' landowner's guide to wildlife friendly fences describes a lay-down fence as a standard 3-wire or 4-wire fence that can be laid on the ground as a unit. Posts go at 16.5-foot intervals, with one or two stays between posts plus a stay lined up with each post.

The guide says wire loops stapled at the top and bottom of each post hold the stays, and most designs let one person working alone drop the fence or put it back up. It adds that wood posts hold up better than steel in heavy snow country.

Wyoming Game and Fish's landowner's guide to fences and wildlife shows the same design and adds a detail that matters: the fence stays should not touch the ground.

Picking the section

1. Walk the line after the first snow and look for the trails. The lay-down section goes where the tracks cross, not where it is easiest to reach.
2. Pick a run between two braced posts so the rest of the fence keeps its tension when this part is down.
3. Check that the line posts in the run are wood and sound. Steel posts will work, but the loops are easier to staple to wood.

Making and hanging the loops

1. Cut a piece of smooth galvanized wire about 2 feet long with the cutter on your pliers.
2. Bend it around a broom handle into a loop, leaving two tails.
3. Staple the two tails to the post with two staples, loop facing out. Set one loop near the top of the post and one near the bottom.
4. Stand a stay against the post on the wire side, drop its foot into the bottom loop, and flip the top loop over its head.
5. Re-staple each fence wire to the stay, not the post, so the wires ride with the stay when it comes out.

Multi-purpose fencing pliers handle every step here: the jaws bend the loops, the cutter trims the tails, the hammer face drives the staples, and the claw pulls the old ones from the post.

Dropping and raising the section

1. Start at one end. Flip the top loop up, lift the stay out of the bottom loop, and lay it down.
2. Work post to post until the whole run lies flat, wires and stays together.
3. In spring, stand each stay back up in the same order and drop the loops back over.

The mistake that costs most first-timers is leaving the old staples in the line posts. The wire stays pinned to the post, the section will not lay down, and you end up cutting wire in the snow.

Gear for the job

Tractor Supply sells smooth galvanized wire, wood stays, and staples by the box. A cheap pair of leather gloves saves your hands on barbed strands.

If the section you are converting is too far gone to save, this walkthrough on tearing out an old 4-strand barbed wire fence covers taking it down safely.