Thinking further about barbed-wire fences (I built untold miles as a farm kid) ...

If you absolutely must cut a farmer's barbed-wire fence (and it better be life and death) ...

1. The wires are under enormous tension, and it takes a lot of effort to get them that way. Put in at least one more staple into the post on either side, on each wire, preferably catching a barb, to hold tension so that the rest of the fence doesn't sag.

2. Have spare sections of barbed wire ready to make repairs after you pass through. Hint: farmers often leave long sections loose at the corners, to make adjustments or repairs over time.

3. If you cut fences for snowmobiles, quads, recreation or larceny, you deserve what you get. I recommend a year of fence-building over ten miles of forest and bog, in a wet year, with black flies and mosquitoes (the northern air force) in full attendance. Oh, you will wish for death, but death won't come. If you're lucky, some jerk will come along and cut your fences.