Michael Moradzadeh said:Don't worry they probably won't step on the samples. They may not even step on the track for a year, two or maybe more. When my RR was at ground level I anticipated that occasionally I would suffer a loss now and then from a deer stepping on the rail as it crossed the tracks. What I hadn't anticipated was that they would decide the roadbed made a dandy path. I lost 80 feet of track in one night this way. Rails and ties broken and twisted, totally unrecoverable. You do the math. Aluminum track was a bit over $3 a running foot then. Fortunately none of the switches was stepped on.
Hmm. Samples. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. If only I can get the deer to step on them!
We have large deer here with tiny hooves. Lots of weight on a small area and each deer at last count has four of 'em. Also there often is two or more deer together. You may never suffer damage such as I did but rest assured that no track is completely animal/intruder proof. You can only take steps to minimize exposure to damage. Having a good solid substructure beneath the track as you proposed doing is a good start.
A dog helps but beware even here as a deer can do serious damage to a dog with its sharp hooves. One of my neighbors found that out one night when his dog went out to chase a deer and mama came over to protect her fawn. The dog was almost killed and was saved only by a quick trip to the vet. A bit later the poor dog was attacked a second time and was never the same after that. Could barely walk and had to be carried up the steps. Two dogs works better provided they are quick on their feet and work together.
I definitely prefer and use code 250 aluminum rail but if there is a lot of deer intrusion into the RR area and it’s at ground level I would seriously consider code 332 (not aluminum) even with a solid roadbed. Just my own experience. That’s one of the reasons my RR was raised onto elevated benchwork.