deers (how to keep out of garden)?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

Help i have deers, they love my gardens, tried hot wire,with peanut butter,eggs stuff garlic red peper etc. tiger dun. help Virginia

-- virginia carter (lstcs@worldnetatt.net), August 30, 2001

Answers

Get a dog.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), August 30, 2001.

The cheapest, smelliest bar soap you can find is excellent at repelling deer from areas. Irish Spring and Dial brands are very stinky and work well, but any strong scented soap will work. Tie small bars, or cut up large bars, with string and hang from branches, or limbs, or hang from dowel rods around the area if there are no branches/limbs available. Hang soap about every 8 feet across the area. Renew as needed as the scent fades.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), August 30, 2001.

I agree. Get a dog. We bought an old, fallow farm a couple of years ago and the deer used to come into the yard frequently (black bears too). Now they all stay clear, I presume because they don't like the smell of the dogs.

-- Laurie (laurie@folkarts.com), August 30, 2001.

Ten foot high fence. The fence does not have to be heavy duty that high. Lightweight chicken wire will work. Extend up from a normal four or six foot fence until it is ten feet high total. That will keep the deer out.

-- Skip in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), August 30, 2001.

I just read an article that says horse manure scatered throughout the garden will keep them from eating. Something to do with how deer won't eat where horses have gone..they may nuzzle a bit but won't eat like usual. I haven't tried it though. I use soap.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), August 30, 2001.


A 12 guage maybe?

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), August 30, 2001.

a 30-06 come first to mind,, then human hair,,,spread it ALL over from the direction they are coming in from

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), August 30, 2001.

A deer in the freezer won't bother the garden. We have so many around here it is not safe to drive at nite and the DNR wants to bring in more. Of course the farmers feed them not the DNR.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), August 30, 2001.

mothballs

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), August 30, 2001.

After calling your local wildlife personnel to relate crop damage and they refuse to help . . .

I read somewhere (possibly recent MEN article), that if that high fence as Skip related is SLANTED out where the top overhangs the bottom by a foot or so, the deer are even more reluctant to try jumping over the fence. Because the eyes of deer are on the sides of the head, their depth perception is not as good as predators, whose eyes are on the front of their heads. That is why cattle guards work so well preventing them from crossing open spaces.

If you are REALLY desperate, natives in Mexico who must keep deer from eating their produce get practical. Note the place where deer jump over the fence (Check for heavily imprinted foot prints), then drive a pole or T post between those prints. Deer make a habit of jumping the fence at the same place. If the deer impales itself after jumping over. . . Not recommending the practice, just relating how some people take care of business. Sorry for any hurt feelings.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), August 30, 2001.



I like the 30.06 idea. I just love deer jerky!!!

-- Robin (robinatt@salpublib.org), August 30, 2001.

We have a 5 ft high chicken wire fence around the orchard. That usually keeps them out. Deer will jump a 5 ft high fence to get OUT but usually will not jump IN. I also tie plastic grocery sacks on the fence post. They flop in the breeze and make a little noise. This helps. I have had no luck with soap or hair, human or dog. Best thing is, I agree with the others, Dogs and guns.

-- Belle (gardenbelle@terraworld.net), August 30, 2001.

Fresh horse manure does work somewhat. The biggest problem being that anything growing higher than, say, three feet away from the manure becomes fair game again (corn, beans, tomatoes) for browsing deer. I have used it in some of my beds that are outside my 8' high fence (only deer ever got in there was because some @*%@&!! left the gate open) with flowers that normally the deer mow down and they have not been touched. It helps, but it is not 100% -- I think that only a tall woven-wire fence guarantees that.

The deer around here are really cheeky -- they walk up onto the deck to eat your geraniums and drink out of the bird bath, and as far as the dogs go, a neighbor's dog was stomped and got off lucky with two broken ribs. Other dogs have gotten hurt worse.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), August 30, 2001.


good dogs and powerful spotlight. my dobermans use to kill deer like it was cool. in fact i know for a fact the pup, which was half gordon setter, took down a heavy six point buck alone.

-- Pops (cindy556@devil-dog.com), August 30, 2001.

I might get a flame for this but since I work for a state conservation agency, I feel compelled to advise you to check with your state's authority on deer. All states have wildlife laws and I would hope that any state with heavy deer populations would make some effort towards damage control measures for landowners with persistent losses, especially with a demonstrated non-lethal effort already underway and failing. Without a damage permit in my state, it's quite illegal to spotlight, shoot deer out of season, use meat from out of season damage permit takes and it's illegal here to run deer with dogs. Please check with your local game warden before proceeding with control measures and avoid the potential of getting a ticket for poaching. It's possible that you've got a friendly agent willing to work with you and allow you to make legal, out of season, clean kills with a sufficient method to get the job done right.

-- Susan (smtroxel@socket.net), August 30, 2001.


We have lady's slippers orchids in our woods that we're trying to preserve, the deer nibbled the flowers off when they were just about to bloom. Sprinkled dog hair on them, they've left them alone. Dog hair in sacs made from old pantyhose is what one of my neighbours uses to keep them off her cedar trees.

Someone already mentioned the stinky soap idea, Irish Spring is supposed to work the best.

Another neighbour of mine has found a solution for keeping deer out of his vegetable garden: A second row of fencing. He has one row of fencing about 4 feet high around the garden, then a second row about 5 feet out from the first row. Apparently the deer don't like to jump inside an "enclosure". They used to wipe out his garden, but since he's put up the second fence, not one has dared to venture in there.

-Chelsea

-- Chelsea (rmbehr@istar.ca), August 30, 2001.


I did the same thing that Chelsea's neighbor did, and I run my chickens in the run next to the garden. In late fall when I'm done with the garden, I open the gate and let the hens have the run of the garden. The deer won't jump in; the chickens have a safe place to forage; I get fresh eggs, and the chickens till the garden by spring. Life is good.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), August 31, 2001.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ