Short answer
Penn State Extension's Jim Sellmer puts a whole-yard deer fence at 7 ft or more. Most townships around Blue Bell and Dresher cap residential fences at 6 ft, including Upper Dublin, Lower Gwynedd, Whitemarsh and Cheltenham. A few allow more with open designs: Lansdale up to 8 ft if the part above 6 ft is see-through, and Horsham up to 6.5 ft if the whole fence is at least half open. We haven't verified Whitpain's fence height rules, so confirm with the township first.
Why 7 ft and not 6
Penn State Extension's advice is plain: to keep deer out of a whole yard, the fence needs to be at least 7 ft. That figure is for enclosing a whole yard. Protecting a single garden bed is a smaller design problem, but the whole-yard number is the one that runs into township height caps.
How much deer pressure is there here?
- Whitpain Township (Blue Bell) logged 884 deer-related incidents in five years, about 176 a year, and 153 in 2022 alone, including one fatality.
- Whitpain's Shade Tree Committee reported deer causing "arrested succession" and forest decline near Center Square Park in 2021, and recommended PZP fertility control.
- Upper Dublin has run a police-administered deer program since a 2009 pilot. By 2013 officers had answered more than 680 deer calls in 6.5 years, with hunts on township land such as Pine Run Park and Robbins Park.
- Montgomery County has held an archery hunt at Lorimer Park since 2002, at neighbors' request, to cut crashes and ticks.
Height limits where deer fences come up
| Municipality | Side and rear limit | Taller option |
|---|---|---|
| Whitpain (Blue Bell) | Not verified by us | Confirm with the township before designing |
| Upper Dublin (Dresher, Fort Washington) | 6 ft | None found; no fence over 6 ft in any required yard |
| Lower Gwynedd (Gwynedd, Spring House) | 6 ft in required yards | None found |
| Whitemarsh | 6 ft | Up to 10 ft only around tennis courts or recreation areas, chain link or similar |
| Cheltenham | 6 ft | None found |
| Abington | 6 ft | Zoning Hearing Board special exception; the building code text excepts open wire fences from the 6-ft cap, which we confirm with the township |
| Horsham | 6.5 ft | A fence over 6 ft must be at least 50% open over its whole area |
| Upper Gwynedd | 6 ft 6 in | Special exception |
| Lansdale Borough | 6 ft | Up to 8 ft total if the part above 6 ft is not opaque |
Checked October 2026 from the cited code. Codes change; we confirm with the zoning office before every install.
Deer fence options that fit a 6-ft cap
- Fence the garden, not the yard. A smaller enclosure around vegetables or a prized bed is easier to defend and often fits the rules.
- Use the see-through allowance where there is one. In Lansdale, an open upper section can take a fence to 8 ft; in Horsham, a fence that is at least half open over its whole area can reach 6.5 ft.
- Ask about the open-wire exception in Abington before assuming you're stuck at 6 ft.
- Apply for relief where the code has no allowance. Read what happened to local 8-ft deer fence requests first.
- Mind the front yard. Upper Dublin limits front-yard fences to 4 ft with a 36-in gate on each street frontage, so a whole-property deer fence won't work there.
We'll measure your garden and yard against your township's limits at the estimate and show you what height you can actually build.
Common questions
Does a deer fence need a permit?
Usually. Upper Dublin charges $50 for a fence permit, and Lower Gwynedd has a fencing checklist for its permit. Whitpain's permit requirement wasn't confirmed in our research, so we check.
Can I put a deer fence in my front yard?
Not at full height in most townships here. Upper Dublin and Whitemarsh cap front-yard fences at 4 ft, though Whitemarsh allows 5 ft set back 10 ft and 6 ft set back 15 ft from the line, curb or paving.
What material works best for a tall deer fence?
Where height is allowed, open materials work best: black welded wire on wood or metal posts, or aluminum. They meet see-through rules and don't block the view.