How Do I Scare Deer Away From My Gardens?

[Carnac the Magnificent!]

Whereas I was once charmed by the deer that roamed our grounds, today I am fed up. I have a considerable investment in landscaping around the property, and have several large gardens that have taken years to get to where they are today. The flowers, the shrubs, and hedges are--or were--truly breathtaking.

Problem is, these ravenous four-footed pests are destroying everything in sight. I've spotted upward of 25 deer feeding at one time. I do *not* want to shoot the critters. I have erected fencing, but I cannot surround the entire property. Nor do I have--or want--dogs.

Do you know of a TRULY effective product that drives deer away? Something that I can spray on and that will repel them?

[Crafter_Man]

Helpful links:


http://www.ruger-firearms.com/index.html
http://www.winchester-guns.com/
http://www.remington.com/
http://www.browning.com/

[Yossarian]

Start peeing outside. And make sure all your guests, family, etc., pee outside, too. Invite people over to pee on your lawn.

Hey, it's what anti-hunting protestors do to keep 'em away from deer corn!

[handy]

This topic comes up every year at this time. But they have a new thing at the store to deal with it this year. It's a motion sensor water sprinkler. It senses the deer in your yard & turns itself on & sprays them with water. Costs about $80.00....

Dunno what you do if you walk into your yard yourself.

[Sultan Kinkari]

Not to sound glib but don't you feel kind of silly now? You moved into a rural area and knew there were deer and still went ahead and planted a veritable free-all-you-can-eat buffet open 24 hours. You had two conflicting dreams; growing a wonderful and diverse garden, and living in the country on the edge of a forest. Now your garden has been obliterated and you have to spend even more money on guns, dogs, or chemical or electric repellants.

The deer were there first. Put your guns away. Don't Dream of having a garden. If you've lived there for a while you know your doing a pretty good job of controlling the deer population with your car. I've hit two deer in the same week where I live.

Or, put up a sign that says "NO SNACKING."

[screech-owl]

Primarily racoons, but also some deer advice.

[Johnny L.A.]

Kill a few. Then put their heads on pikes as a warning to the others.

[Kamandi]

Introduce mountain lions into the neighborhood.

That's the trouble with human encroachment into wilderness. The predators get scared off - partly because they're very timid and partly because they're seen as a threat by people and mercilessly driven off - leaving a nice safe neighborhood for herbivores and other cute, cuddly prey species. Faced with plentiful food and no predators, the prey species populations explode, bringing problems such as over-browsing, mass starvation, disease epidemics within herds and road kill.

[deb2world]

The best thing to do is re-landscape using deer resistant plants. A list is here

Another thing you can do is provide an area near the perimeter of your property where you plant cheap plants (such as lettuce). This will hopefully keep the guys occupied and away from your prized plants.

Then there is the garlic treatment. You can plant garlic plants around your garden. This will sorta deter the deer from entering it.

My dad does something in his garden to keep away birds but I don't know how it will do for larger critters. What he does in tie aluminum pie pans to the trees. This scares the birds away and keeps them from stealing his fruit.

What you really really need to do is realize you have moved into the deer's neighborhood and accept that they are going to have munchies at your place. Buy a good set a binoculars and a notebook and enjoy the little guys.

[Shiva]

The only commercial deer repellant I've seen used successfully is a fungicide called Thiram.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...=Google+Search

But remember, like any repellant it has to be reapplied periodically.

Here in NJ we just hit 'em with our cars.

[Carnac the Magnificent!]

Originally posted by wishbone
Not to sound glib but don't you feel kind of silly now? You moved into a rural area and knew there were deer and still went ahead and planted a veritable free-all-you-can-eat buffet open 24 hours. You had two conflicting dreams; growing a wonderful and diverse garden, and living in the country on the edge of a forest...

Silly? No. My property has been passed down through the family and I've lived here all my life. We're talking almost 150 acres of land, a main house slightly under 12,000 sq. ft., and lots of warm memories. Many of the gardens date back several decades. I think I have a right to want to protect it.

I would appreciate some serious suggestions, folks. Mountain lions, public urination, carpet bombing from a B-52, and the prospect of maybe 5,000 sprinklers going off at once isn't terribly helpful. (grin)

[Ethilrist]

Originally posted by handy

This topic comes up every year at this time. But they have a new thing at the store to deal with it this year. It's a motion sensor water sprinkler. It senses the deer in your yard & turns itself on & sprays them with water. Costs about $80.00....

Dunno what you do if you walk into your yard yourself.

Plus, all the whooping and hollering of all the neighbor kids running through your backyard like crazed Injuns will help to keep the deer away. Think of it as a popup autoturret for watergun fights and go with it.

I've seen these things in green catalogs; they look pretty cool. They only squirt about a cup or so of water per contact. My wife wanted to buy one to put on our roof to keep the pigeons off; I pointed out that everytime the wind blew, it'd spray the trees. Plus, it'd spray all the birds we WANTED in our back yard, too.

Oh, and you want to plug it into a faucet that's around the corner so you can turn it off without getting squirted.

[ENugent]

Originally posted by Country Squire
I would appreciate some serious suggestions, folks. Mountain lions, public urination, carpet bombing from a B-52, and the prospect of maybe 5,000 sprinklers going off at once isn't terribly helpful. (grin)

My mother fought this battle for years, and finally gave up and relandscaped with holly, privet, and oleander. Even afterwards, she once came home and found a deer eating the Christmas wreath on the front door.

She did have moderate luck by surrounding the vegetable garden areas with a netting fence (netting strung around high wooden stakes). This was a lot cheaper than a regular fence, and could be made high enough to deter jumping inside.

Those bags of hair that they sell for you to hang from the rosebushes don't work. In fact, nothing short of land mines can keep deer out of rosebushes - apparently those rosebuds are really tasty just before they bloom.

[Mangetout]

Next time you have your hair cut, save the clippings (or better still, get a sackfull from your local barber) and use them as a mulch in the garden, not only will they slowly break down into useful nutrients for your plants, but the scent of human on them is said to deter deer.

[funneefarmer]

Well carpet bombing is a bit extreme, you want small explosions situated in your own backyard. I'd suggest a propane cannon usually used against birds. The below website also has squakers and squeelers available as well.

And just think of the added benefits later on. If you're lucky the deer will get used to the explosions and come deer season you could shoot at 'em to your heart's content without then running away, not that I condone such behaviour, ( funnee checks checkbook balance to see if he can swing it). Where's that goat cannon thread when you need it, aren't they both about the same size ?

For propane cannons and other bird terrorist ideas...

http://www.birdbarrier.com/BirdBarri...reProducts.htm

[Kamandi]

Originally posted by Country Squire
My property has been passed down through the family and I've lived here all my life. We're talking almost 150 acres of land, a main house slightly under 12,000 sq. ft., and lots of warm memories. Many of the gardens date back several decades.

Well, what has caused the deer population to increase recently? Have local forests been taken over by agriculture or development? Have predator species been driven out of the area recently? Have you recently planted some really delicious bushes? Maybe if you can identify the source of the problem, you can solve it. I imagine that you wouldn't object to an occasional deer in your garden, you just don't want your garden decimated.

Is there a deer hunting season in your area? Maybe you and your neighbors can convince your state/county/provincial/whatever government that the local deer herd is overpopulated and needs to be culled. As mentioned elsewhere, deer overpopulation causes more problems than ruining your garden. Roadkill is a hazard to both deer and drivers. Disease in deer herds can make its way into farm animals.

[waldeneffect]

We've had great luck keeping deer out of our yard with a homemade contraption that bangs
a golf ball against tin (after trying all of the usual techniques with absolutely no success.) The metallic noise has turned our garden from a war zone to a retreat --- no more deer eating my veggies to the ground! Check out our step by step instructions on how to scare deer.

[Ludovic]

I hear deer are deathly afraid of BRAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS!!!!!

[Raza]

We had success last year with Irish Spring soap shavings, but they don't seem as effective this year. Mrs. Raza tried some store-bought stuff that is, essentially, rotten eggs. It seems to work, but: A) smells like rotten eggs; B) has to be applied 2x/week; C) is expensive; and D) smells like rotten eggs.

[rhubarbarin]

Peeing around the perimeters always worked the best for my family. Seriously. Although, it sounds like you won't personally have enough pee for the amount of property you have.

Have you tried hot pepper spray applied religiously to their favorite munchies? When something starts burning their mouth they learn to avoid it quick.

[JKilez]

With that much open land, I do not see how you could expect to repel deer without fences or dogs. Why do you chose not to entertain dogs as an option? They do an excellent job at keeping deer away and they work for kibble.

[gotpasswords]

If urinating on the garden is inappropriate, you could try something else - apparently coyote find deer tasty and deer know this, so spreading coyote urine will scare off the deer.

Available from PredatorPee.

[janeslogin]

My family were subsistence farmers. They relied exclusively on dogs.

Bow hunters in Nevada will swear on a case of Coors that cosmetics will spook deer. This might agree with the popular Irish Spring remedy often recommended by gardeners.

[johnpost]

do your best imitation of a hungry wolf.

ideas of hair, stinky soap, pee (human and predator), noise/sprinkler/lights on sensors, electric fence all seem to work for people.

the fence will work long term. the other things work for a while and the deer stop getting repelled, so you need to rotate those things.

if you don't want to shoot to kill you could shoot to annoy. a gas powered pellet gun might annoy them without injury.

[Snnipe 70E]

I have heard of using lion pee. But on an area that large I think you are out of luck. when I was a kid on the ranch we ate a lot of deer meat, but could not thin them out.

[Magiver]

Originally Posted by Sultan Kinkari

Not to sound glib but don't you feel kind of silly now? You moved into a rural area and knew there were deer and still went ahead and planted a veritable free-all-you-can-eat buffet open 24 hours. You had two conflicting dreams; growing a wonderful and diverse garden, and living in the country on the edge of a forest. Now your garden has been obliterated and you have to spend even more money on guns, dogs, or chemical or electric repellants.

The deer were there first. Put your guns away. Don't Dream of having a garden. If you've lived there for a while you know your doing a pretty good job of controlling the deer population with your car. I've hit two deer in the same week where I live.

Or, put up a sign that says "NO SNACKING."

Are you serious? 200 lbs of free meat walks into your yard and you let it get away?

The garden needs watering anyway so get the $80 water sprinkler and video tape the results for personal entertainment. I'm not too keen on my back yard smelling like a New York Subway so I would try the water directly first rather than filtering it.

[Savannah]

ZOMBIE deer.

[ratatoskK]

My grandfather used to get dried blood from the butcher and sprinkle it around the property. It smelled terrible but it kept the deer away from his garden. The butcher gave it away for free.

A few years ago I bought a bag of dried blood from a store (for a different reason), and it did not smell like the stuff from the butcher's, so I am not sure if that would work or not.

[runner pat]

Originally Posted by Savannah

ZOMBIE deer.

They want G-R-A-A-I-I-I-N-S.

[johnpost]

fencing and dogs work full time. the other deterrents can loose their effectiveness as the deer wise up, do rotate which one you are using. for predator pee, shit and hair deer are cautious of what is local to them, nonnative predator material may have no effect.

[Blalron]

Originally Posted by Crafter_Man

Helpful links:


http://www.ruger-firearms.com/index.html
http://www.winchester-guns.com/
http://www.remington.com/
http://www.browning.com/

Some people live in suburban areas where it's illegal to discharge firearms. So guns are not a cure-all solution. And I'm pretty sure it's illegal to shoot a deer unless you have a tag for it and it's the right season.

[NoCoolUserName]

The motion-sensor sprinklers are called Scarecrows. Google or search eBay. The company has excellent support. You turn them off before you go into the garden yourself. Keeps the dogs from digging up the new plantings as well.

If you're looking to protect the entire 150 acres it might be a bit expensive, but we have 4 of them and they work great for the small areas we want to keep deer-and-dog free.

[Munch]

Originally Posted by Blalron

Some people live in suburban areas where it's illegal to discharge firearms. So guns are not a cure-all solution. And I'm pretty sure it's illegal to shoot a deer unless you have a tag for it and it's the right season.

You might want to PM Crafter_Man that you've responded to his post. I have a feeling he hasn't been checking up on this thread very often...

[lissener]

Get lion poop from your local zoo.

But first principles work better: plant deer-proof plants in the first place.

[Spavined Gelding]

Mrs Gelding claims that used-up anti-static sheets from the cloths dryer repels deer. We live in the country with substantial row crop fields, second growth wood lots and brushy fence lines all around us. Bambi and all his relatives were raising hob with the garden and with the hostas and other landscape paintings. A judicious scattering of old Downy sheets on fences and the plants themselves seems to have discouraged the deer for the last few years. You do need to replace the sheets ever couple weeks and after a heavy rain.

A dog is the best answer. A dog will keep the racoons, possums and groundhogs at bay, too. Big noisy dogs outdoor like Labradors and Collies and smaller active outdoor dogs like Border Collies are good.

Some states do issue deer permits for damage control. You can shoot them but you have to call the game warden who collects the carcass and sends it off to be butchered for any number of state purposes-- maybe to feed to penitentiary inmates.