Lots of deer droppings around this year, including 2 big females who put my 100 lb dog to shame. Can I skip the drive to my friends place where I collect her horse manure? Google gives conflicting answers and of course no real science. E.Coli is mentioned but I scoff at E. Coli . My gut is way tougher than some wimpy deer bacteria. But, some articles mention that deer are subject to wasting disease transmitted via prions. Now that gives me pause. Any cases of humans contracting brain disease from deer feces?
I’ve never heard of prion diseases being transmitted via droppings. Usually it comes from eating brains.
You might try to get in touch with your area University of Idaho agricultural extension office. Ag extension offices in many states are happy to help home gardeners by answering questions.
In a less GC "stuff I’ve heard, sense…
I know someone who used rabbit droppings (a neighbor raised rabbits.) They talked about how, unlike some other manure, the rabbit droppings didn’t need to be composted first. Apparently some forms of manure tend to cause nitrogen burn applied directly.
I’d at least try asking the ag extension office.
People can die from E coli according to link .
I’m glad you mentioned that about rabbit droppings–I was told to use caution because rabbits have a habit of doing #1 and #2 in the same area and droppings used for fertilizer should be aired out/dried out first because of ammonia from the urine being bad for plants. Despite that, rabbit turds are supposed to be one of the best fertilizers.
Deer droppings are much better fertilizer than horse manure. Actually, horse manure really isn’t that good, the horse will pass a lot of weed seeds in the manure, while a goat or deer will not. And a lot of horse manure is mixed with sawdust bedding, which takes a lot of the nitrogen out of the manure, plus it is highly acidic. I’ve used it in sandy soil here, but mainly because I had horses, and it will help increase the water retention of the sand. Mixed with sawdust, it has little value as a fertilizer.
But how the heck do you collect deer poop?
You should never put fresh manure on anything. Compost it for a year or 2.