We have about 3/4 of an acre of perennial gardens in front of our house. The gardens are surrounded by about five acres of woods, so there are plenty of deer in the area. Twenty to thirty feet into the woodline we have an 8-foot tall all-but-invisible-to-us deer fence. It’s served us well for about ten years now, so it’s much better than nothing.
At one corner, where the fence meets the side of the house, there is a makeshift door of sorts. Basically, the fence ends at a pole and the extra bit kind of curls around to the house leaving a 2-foot gap we can push our way through. The deer found it two days before we’re slated to leave on a two-week vacation. :eek:
Lacking supplies or time, my first line of thought is to take that thinnish bird netting and add several layers over the opening and secure it (how? Gorilla Tape?) to the house.
Are there any deterrents (minimal or otherwise) that I can add to that area to hopefully ward off the deer until I can make some better improvements? Would hanging a bunch of CDs from string make a whit of difference? A solid sheet? Peeing on the area? Having my in-law’s poodle pee on the area? Anything other than crossing our fingers and hoping?
I know it’s a war of attrition and there is no such thing as deer proofing, but that shouldn’t stop us from forestalling the inevitable.
I was going to suggest a light beam that when broken sounds a siren or turns on a light, or both, similar to an intruder burglar alarm. Not sure that would work in your situation. You could borrow my Jack Russel Terrier for two weeks. He keeps deer off our 7 acre property quite effectively, at least during the daytime.
Get a garden stake and some wood to shore up that corner. A 5’ stake will leave you with 4’ out of the ground, then attach an 8’ 2x2 from HD with some twine, and tie the fence material to it.
Go to your garage or a local hardware store and get a spool of wire. Wrap the wire around the end of the pole and something on the house such that it crosses the gap many times.
Or go to walmart, get a giant plastic tub, and put it on its side such that it blocks the gap. Then fill it with rocks.
Or get a BB gun and go hunting; every deer you hit won’t bother you any more, but they’ll be just fine otherwise.
Mind’s Eye, Watering has the device that is probably the best of the lot. The success of any of it depends on how determined the deer are. Check this out.
Indiana has white-tail deer, and other kinds may not jump as high. In a state park with a lot of deer, the DNR set up two test patches. Both were surrounded by 8 foot chain link fence. One of them was also fenced over the top. By the end of the summer, the closed-top spot had wild grasses and wildflowers growing chest-high. The other one was nibbled down to the ground, like the rest of the park.
That showed two things. First, white-tails can jump an 8-foot fence. Second, since no other beast in the park can jump that high, the deer were to blame for denuding the park.
I was going to suggest the classic deer rifle, the Winchester 94 in .30-30, but they’re both good. In a war of attrition something has to attrite, and better the deer because they usually waste the people they kill by not eating them.
My folks live deep in the woods and have tons of whitetail deer. They’ve had good luck using Skydd - before they used it the deer ate their lilacs to the ground along with all flowers and vegetables in the gardens. Now the deer won’t even eat the hostas, which they usually love above all things. The folks pick the stuff up at their local feed mill. Good luck saving your flowers!
putting something big meshed or solid in the gap is good. deer have very poor eyesight. they are likely to get snagged and tear things up if they can’t see it.
they startle easily but they might just come back in a minute.
I’m going to be harsh: if you can’t temporarily close up a 2’ gap in a fence, you are country-living failures. Use a staple gun and staple the loose netting to the side of your house. If it doesn’t reach, get a roll of deer netting from a nursery. Fasten it to the pole with those plastic zip ties that any hardware store carries.
Presto.
I once tried hanging Zest soap around my property, which worked perfectly just as soon as I fixed the holes in the fence. Look on any serious website devoted to deer exclusion and they’ll tell there is only one secure way and that is fencing. Everything else is just the deer aren’t hungry enough yet.
Heh, closing up the gap is is easy–if we weren’t in the middle of shutting down the office and packing for a two-week, music festival and camping expedition. Ordering stuff off the net (from blood meal to bone sauce) is highly likely too, but the gist of the question is once we’ve patched it up with the bird netting (and before we do the full, permanent repair), are there any additional deterrents made from things around the house or at the supermarket that will help?
It sounds like until the commercial chemicals arrive, Johnpost is saying that hanging CDs would work for two minutes, but draping a sheet over the thinner netting would be wise.
