Hog ring pliers or staplers apply small staples that come out looking circular, like the ring in a hog’s nose. They serve to join wires and/or fencing made up of wires or thin plastic members—such as polypropylene, metal hexagrid, or welded wire fencing.
In the specific case of deer fencing, these staplers serve to join pieces of fencing, attach wires to fencing, and make repairs.
The hog ring pliers offered here is a basic tool that applies wire staples 11/16 inches long as rings. The unit comes with a box of 2500 galvanized black hog ring staples. A single sleeve of staples feeds into the tool all at once, very much in the way that one loads an office stapler.
This tool is less expensive than our contractor (pistol grip) model but is also harder to use and more likely to require maintenance. Therefore, if you have a relatively long fence, consider the contractor model.
The same joining job done with a hog ring stapler can also be accomplished with zip-lock ties. However, the zip-lock ties take much longer to apply, do not last as long, and (if you are using a lot of them) can be more expensive. Therefore, if you have a very short fence (say 100 feet long or less), think about using zip-lock ties instead of hog rings. However, if your fence is mid-length or long (say 200 feet or more) getting a hog ring tool and staples is worthwhile.
