does anybody have good suggestions for keep deer from eating all my plants? i know the obvious, plant things deer do not eat. but i have many plants and flowers that i like that i would prefer to have. my house and all around me have large areas of woods behind them so they are either crossing from the woods across the yard to another or vice versa. a bit of online research suggests fencing, which do to the large and awkward size of yard would be quiet expensive, i could not fence in totally but build a barrier to try to keep them from crossing through my yard and taking another path. or i have seen a few items that attract dear to them and then give them a “gentle” shock to train them to not like the area. or others that sense motion and give off ultrasonic noise that the deer sense and then again choose to leave.
anybody have success with anything?
thanks
Replies
Anything you try will work for a while - sprays, foil pie pans hung in trees, motion detector lights, human hair in stockings, bottled fox pee, noise makers, etc.
Then they will figure out that all of the above do not hurt them and resume feeding as they do now.
The most effective which I have heard of is a motion detector activated, lawn sprayer. Deer crosses into motion detector beam and gets hosed by water as a result.
Of course they might like that if it gets hot in the summer. "Whew, it is hot tooday! Think I'll go get a little shower and a snack."
Sure fire, "works every time" solutions:
1) Let them eat everything and then they will go to the neighbor's house.
2) Move to the city.
3) Convert them to protein.
You probably don't like any of the sure fire solutions - but it's all I've got.
Jim
To keep them away from fruit trees try tying a bar of Irish Spring soap to the tree about 3-5' off the ground. One bar should last an entire year. It won't harm the trees.
I had a similar problem and after trying many of the 'spray' solutions the soap idea was recommended by a person at the local hardware store - it worked.
It appears to also keep the moose and bears away from the same trees.
I asked the folks at our local cooperative extension service the same question a couple of weeks ago.
One of them suggested that I start using the fertilizer that is made from waste-water treatment sludge. I know it sounds gross and disgusting, but its not really.
Her guess is that whatever odor that stuff has is just enough of a repellent to keep deer away.
Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
Similarly, Dried blood organic nitrogen fertilazer gives off a smell of death when it gets damp.
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Wouldn't all this nasty smelling stuff take the enjoyment out of the garden???...Alright kids, go play outside in the sewage sludge!!!!Scott.Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
My personal favorite is to tie a white rag to a post and pee on it to mark my territory
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
My personal favorite is to tie a white rag to a post and pee on it to mark my territory
Do you pee on the rag or the post? I pee'd on your island a couple of times. Does that make it my territory?
http://grantlogan.net
Who got Bo Diddley's money?
My personal favorite is to tie a white rag to a post and pee on it to mark my territory.
Yes sir! A cold six pack and your riding mower. Circle the wagons and keep those man eating deer away from camp. ;-)
no success as i don't have deer problems.... Just dear problems we men all have.
Try this....http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=44958&cat=2,2280,33159&ap=1
A motion sensor sprinkler from Lee Valley.
I've had good luck with Deer Away (I think that's the name, I'm too lazy to go look, but it's made with eggs). At least it seems to keep them away from my hostas.
Here's some info on some of the deer repellants:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06520.html
I have a big dog that keeps them out of the yard when he is outside.
Milorganite, is the sludge fertilizer mentioned above, works well for us.
anybody have success with anything?
Well, Miracle-Gro on the neighbor's plants will work.
4# ballpeen right behind the antlers and a big freezer is effective down around Lakeview & Del Lago Vista (especially if you rototill the gut pile into the bed edges).
If it's dry, like we've had locally, it can be tough if the flowers and fruit buds are best food stuffs about. You need about 10' of fence to keep the deer out. Could put deer corn out in the park down the street, especially if there is water near by.
If you live within a 75 (or so) mile radius of NYC, I can take a one or two in October.
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
- Fyodor Dostoyevski
how well does that work east of NYC...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
If you mean Long Island, as long as it's Suffolk County I can take at least one maybe two with my bow. Some units in Jersey you are allowed two a day!My big problem is finding the time (no Sunday hunting in NJ). I'm due to run out of venison in a couple of weeks. Ideally, I like to have three in the freezer by Jan 1.
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.- Fyodor Dostoyevski
I've lived with white tail for many years. They were part of the eco system long before I moved in and built a house. I expect them to eat anything and everything so I don't plant things which they find especially attractive.
I have very limited lawn and garden on my 4 acre lot, mostly because I'm happy being part of the environment, rather than making an architectural statement with landscaping.
I've often been rewarded with the company of wild animals which I wouldn't otherwise see. Like the twin spotted fawns which one doe left to lie down and rest in a quiet, shaded spot near my bedroom window while she went to feed on grass nearby.
That natural space near my home provided me with a number of great moments of revelation about natural life, over the next couple of weeks.
a 270 works pretty good
A 270 at twenty-thirty yards? What kind of scope would you put on it?
Quick Point...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
.270 is a caliber designed primarily for long range big game hunting, up to 300yds.
IIRC you asked what kind of scope...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
IIRC you asked what kind of scope...
I'd expected it would be taken as a facetious question.
Edited 6/23/2008 10:38 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
oh.....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
There is a pretty good book on the subject called: Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden by Rhonda Massingham Hart which is available on Amazon for $10.17. There are also several other related title on Amazon. It has been a while since I read it, but I seem to remember that while most remedies may work for a while, most of them will not deter a really hungry deer. One of the best, IIRC, was to slather peanut butter on a tin can lid which is attached to an electric fence - reportedly does a very effective job of conditioning the deer to avoid the area. A quick Google search for "keep away deer" gave a number of related sites - some of which were not even trying to sell something.
but I seem to remember that while most remedies may work for a while, most of them will not deter a really hungry deer.
That's very true, particularly late in the winter when the deer get weak from lack of food.
If you're looking to make friends with the deer, that's the time to go buy a few bags of sweet feed from the local feed store and put some of it out around your house every day.
Ithaca 37 12g with a deerslayer barrel, or just plain old 00 buckshot. 270 carries way too far for that sort of thing.
Thing is, deer force themselves to learn to eat 3 new things every year... they've even worked their way up to tomatoes and chrysanthemums.
We've been using Deer-Off for three years. It's been working, especially if we spray whenever there's new growth, flowers, fruit...
Frost something on the internet has it for 100 bucks a gal of concentrate, lasts a year.
What I don't get is why they pig out on our day lilies, but won't go out onto the Interstate to eat the millions the highway dept puts out? Must be all those deer beepers on the bumpers from Michiganders moving down here<G>
Ah hates deer
Shouting the word "NOW"
And you say, "For what reason?"
And he says, "How?"
And you say, "What does this mean?"
And he screams back, "You're a cow
Give me some milk
Or else go home"
I used to live up in Newton NJ (the corner of NJ, PA and NYS) and none of the repellents worked for us. If the picken's are slim enough they'll eat just about anything. We had the best luck growing azalea, holly, and evergreens. Tough and acidic they don't dig, but in a summer drought.....gone.
Best deer repellent we ever used was getting a dog. They'll still come around when the dog's not there, but we cut the traffic at least 50%.
The black bears are another story altogether...
There's a whole lotta deer up that way. black bear too , and now coyote.
I'm not sure if you mean back in NJ or here in AZ.
Either way, we love having wildlife around us! In NJ we regularly had white tail, black bear, red fox(shuddup dummy!), bobcat, etc etc. The deer eating everything was an annoyance, but on winter nights I loved to look out my windows and watch them bed down in the woods around the house. The bear didn't bother me a bit, you just have to make adjustments to your lifestyle, is all.
Where we are outside of Phoenix, it's mostly coyote. They howl up every nite, and we've had them come right up to our doorstep. There's Javelina too, but they don't come close. The only beastie out here that's caused any serious lifestyle change is the scorpions. The elk and mule deer, etc., seem to stay mostly to the northern half of the state from the mogollon rim and higher.
Where we hunt in Glennie, Mi. on private land, the mother of the landowner, well in to her 80's put a bounty on a certain buck that gets in her garden every morning.
Each buck had to be brought up to the house and she would come out lift up the buck by the horns and look at it, to tell if that's the one. The reward was one of her apple pies, we all took hunting real serious that year. We didn't get the buck that year but he was history the next year.
Best anti deer proofing your garden is a good diet of lead, I give mine in the form of 30-06.
I meant in NJ. I know that area.
In Mass we're a shot gun only state. I'm deadly with a 12 ga out to 100 yards. Perhaps you live where I can use my AR-10 in .308?
Bottom line is I don't care what you plant or stink out the plantings with... If deer are hungry, they will eat most anything. I am in battle with them using pest control shells and my dog. They stay away for the most part but always return.
I have quite a few arborvidas that have been eaten about 7 - 8' up, this winter those things are going to be my bait and all I'll have to do is open up a window and place an arrow right through the heart, venison for the rest of the year!
Doug
i have heard that elephants are repelled in india from a non toxic spray made from the ghost pepper.
i bet it would work on the deer too, if you google ghost pepper you may be able to find out more about it, the hottest chili on earth, many times hotter than jalapenos.
Eat the deer.
We just put up a solar powered electric fence around the garden. It's surprisingly cheap, and keeps out the dog, too.
Otherwise, kill 'em all.
Andy
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." Robert A. Heinlein (or maybe Mark Twain)
"Get off your dead #### and on your dying feet." Mom
"Everything not forbidden is compulsory." T.H. White, The Once and Future King
Nice to see you around again.
Some people say that I'm superficial, but that's just on the surface.
Yea we dont hear enough from him.
On the subject ,matter its kind of hard to respond with all the Northerners in here <G> Easterners actually that live so very close to one another.
I live in town and cant port a 3006 out side for firing . Actually firing a gun in town is against the law . You can spot light the deer at night with a good mag light . I use a quiet 22 shell thats called a mini cap. You can see the shell leaving the barrell its so slow but its deadly. No bang , just poof and its done. I take armadillas with it . Head shots are successfull. Shoot a deer in the head and he gets sick and lays down. He will normaly be there in the morning .
Id use the electronic fence in a garden because its cant miss protection. A little expensive but worth it for a garden.
I moved to the country one time and inherited three goats with the place and they had one which made four. One morning I got a call that they were on top of the doctors house . They got there off the wood stacked against it at the back. One morning they were lounging around the pool on the furniture . The lady fed them lettuce. Another morning I got a call and they were sleeping in a flower bed after they had eaten it . Then I got a call and they were sleeping on the front porch after they had raided the garden which they wanted paid for but they wouldnt accept keeping the goats for pay. I asked , how did you know to call me ? Becasue youve got a reputation for this all over now . He had heard about all the rest becasue they were all talking. I was convicted quickly.
Tim
ROFL. That's goat story is a real classic. It ought to be printed up in some goat lovers chronicle. Like http://www.cybergoat.com Scroll down to the bottom and you can post your story there too.
Thanks for the laughs.
LOL, so how does goat taste?Where do you buy those mini=-caps in .2? I want some. I WILL be poaching this year!
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
The round is actually named a CB cap. It's basically an empty shell the 29 grain bullet is propelled by the priming charge. It's a short range (25ft) killer on rat size game.For bigger vermin like 'possum, 'coons, and feral cats I like Aquilla subsonic hollow points. It's a 68 grain bullet that will probably tumble past 50yards, but for a one shot kill it's plenty quiet.Cabela's should have both, Kittery Trading Post if convenient is worth a shot as well.Jim
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.- Fyodor Dostoyevski
There is a new Cabella's in Maine that I am due to visit.I considered a crossbow, then found out how expensive they are. I already have a .22 and three browsing hooved rats to dispense of before I can harvest my garden.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Ya cb caps ..
I used to poach coon, training pups out of season. Its been so long since I bought any Im not sure who all carries them.
Id try walmart. They are used primarily in chicken houses here killing sick birds with out upsetting the flock. People use them for all kinds of pests around the house in town. They make a little longer one which is probaly what hes talking about but they arent hardly as quiet . Nothing like a 22 bulet though. We call them cb longs . If youve got a sporting good store they will have them.
Tim
"LOL, so how does goat taste?"
You know I told the whole long story one time and you read it . What Ive told is a very short version. You might not remember it .
MY whole family loved the goats but I couldnt keep them home. At first I didnt know anything about keeping them and expected them to eat whats out there . I was wrong . Ever happened to you ? Well it did me . Oldtimer I tried to sell them to as he had a herd, said feed um grain every day at 5 oclock. They will be there . If you feed them enough they likely wont leave the place . There not gonna settle for briars and honey suckle. So I found out I had some awful finicky goats. I noticed to that they ate grass not briars so mebbe they were inbred. They liked flowers and lettuce well enough.
I started feeding them pretty heavy every day when I got home . If we werent going to be there is was awful. I had to have someone go feed them. They stayed on the place then but I was sick of them.
I put the house up for sale when I got it all done inside and out . It sold right off . He had a family too and they wanted to pet the goats. He told me they would take the house if I would leave the goats . Thats what I called a happy story until he ran into the same problem cause I didnt tell him. I bet the neighbors had a good laugh over me leaving those goats .
Tim
I remember the end of that story now!;)
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You think you have deer problems!!!
The only thing we could find our heavily-browsed, central NJ area (before our town started professionally hunting them) is a 7' high deer fence with gates (about 1000 LF). And they can jump that rather easily - if they want to.
Jeff
Edited 6/24/2008 9:26 pm ET by Jeff_Clarke