# "The only thing that'll keep deer off my plants is a scarecrow" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747 "2007-06-20T18:08:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/1 "2007-06-20T18:08:14Z")
So said the lady at the local nursery. The next step is to learn how to make one. I Googled, but didn’t find any ideas I particularly liked. Do you have any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/2 "2007-06-20T18:26:03Z")
I’ve actually looked on information on the history and construction of scarecrows, and it’s pretty slim pickings. You can occasionally find information on the ‘net, so keep looking. i don’t have experience with deer, but I have learned that even with birds, it helps to have _moving_ scarecrows. There is evidence – documented in academic hournals – that so-called "Terror-Eyes’ balloon scarecrows and such devices reduce depradations by crows, starlings, blackbirds, and others. I’ll bet it would work on deer, too. [http://www.bird-x.com/products/terror.html](http://www.bird-x.com/products/terror.html) The same company sells items specifically for deer as well. Scroll down on this page: > **[Bird Control Products | Bird Repellent & Deterrent Devices](https://bird-x.com/bird-products/)** > > Bird-X offers the best bird repellent devices to keep pest birds at bay. Click here to shop a wide selection of the industry’s top bird control products. (Other companies sell this stuff as well). My advice: If you’re building your own, incorporate some moving device – ballooon, well-balaned pivoted arms that move with the wind, etc. incorporate some wind chime device as well. I’ll bet noise will be a pretty good deer deterrent. But if the deer just see a static, quiet figure, eveb if it’s a perfect human mannikin, I think they’ll get wise to it pretty quick. (You might want to use some sort of scent beacon,too. but I don’t know what. Perfume? bobcat urine? People urine?) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/3 "2007-06-20T19:10:13Z")
I know with scents, you have to change them fairly regularly (once a month or so?), because the deer do (do, a deer…) become accustomed to them. Thus, use a couple of products in rotation. I’m guessing the visual effect would be similar. For a list of somewhat deer-resistant (there’s no such thing as “deerproof”) plants, see [here](http://njaes.rutgers.edu/deerresistance/). ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/4 "2007-06-20T19:10:56Z")
_Organic Gardening_ magazine said a few years back that any effectiveness old time scarecrows was from scent. Their advice was using the clothes you wore on a hard-working day. Deer hunters are careful not to wear after-shave, because it will allegedly scare off the deer. So, conversely, douse your scarecrow with Old Spice or :eek: Axe. And, :dubious: throw in a grain of salt. Yes, **CalMeacham** , a little human urine might help. On the other hand, I know some hunters who nail used menstrual pads to trees in the target area. They tell me the bucks are drawn by that hormonal smell, even though it doesn’t smell like a doe. They come up close to sniff one, and it’s often the buck’s last act of curiousity. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/5 "2007-06-20T21:58:45Z")
I doubt very much that a scarecrow will deter deer. We had problems with them eating apples from our trees, and finally, at the suggestion of the Fish & Game Dept, hung little bags of blood meal on the trees and sprinkled some of the stuff around the trunks on the ground. Worked very well, but did have to be replenished every month or less, and always after a hard rain. Lottsa luck! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/6 "2007-06-20T22:33:11Z")
You could soak the neighbors dog in doe in heat. Watch the fun begin. The reason for deer to stay away is because of the human scent. This does no good of course if the deer are used to humans. They become accustomed to the different nuisances and eat your plants. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/7 "2007-06-20T22:35:19Z")
**BarnOwl** , do you want to know how to make a scarecrow, or do you want to know how to keep deer off your plants? For [Question #1.](http://www.ehow.com/how_3981_make-scarecrow.html) For Question #2–my mother had to resort to a 10-foot-high solidly-built wire-and-4x4 fence to keep the deer from devouring her roses, seeing as how she lives next to a ravine which is Deer Alley. It works, but it makes the back yard look like she must be raising buffalo or somethin’ in it. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/8 "2007-06-20T22:52:15Z")
Point poisonous plants. And fuzzy plants. And grasses. Avoid plants in the lily and rose families Walk a dog around the garden to pee. Get some carnivore poop from the zoo and spread it around. All of these things will make your garden generally inhospitable to deer. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/9 "2007-06-20T23:23:21Z")
A hungry enough deer will eat anything. Well-designed fences, dogs (alert, continually on patrol) and firearms (well-aimed, sufficient caliber) will control deer. Everything else is bound to fail at some point. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/10 "2007-06-20T23:27:20Z")
You can buy one here: [http://www.scatmat.com/products/scarecrow/](http://www.scatmat.com/products/scarecrow/) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/11 "2007-06-20T23:28:47Z")
For what it’s worth, when I lived in the country I got a giggle when I spotted a deer munching on my neighbor’s garden after they had put up a scarecrow the previous week. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/12 "2007-06-21T04:10:37Z")
Big clanky wind chimes… Make em out of 64 oz cans (Like tomato juice cans) with a plywood “clapper”… they produce random, non natural sounds… won’t keep away starving deer, but it does keep away the curious… Of course, when combined with electric fences, dogs, motion detector lights and a chained up hobo screaming for a bottle of Thunderbird, they work better… Actually, its best to nuke the deers from orbit… its the only way to be sure… FML ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/13 "2007-06-21T13:19:30Z")
Full Metal Lotus why not just use the Christmas displays? It will save purchasing the new stuff. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/14 "2007-06-21T15:41:02Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] A hungry enough deer will eat anything. [/QUOTE] Exactly. Just make the deer unhungry. My gf feeds her deer shelled corn. She puts down about ten pounds a day in an area where her yard meets the woods. It means buying two 50 pound sacks of corn week or so, but corn isn’t really that expensive. She has done this for years, and her garden and ornamental plantings are left alone. Plus, we get to sit and sip our coffee while we watch the deer (and turkey). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/15 "2007-06-21T18:09:52Z")
[How to make a scarecrow](http://www.ehow.com/how_3981_make-scarecrow.html). ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/16 "2007-06-21T18:12:39Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] [How to make a scarecrow](http://www.ehow.com/how_3981_make-scarecrow.html). [/QUOTE] Wow…it’s like deja vu all over again… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-thing-thatll-keep-deer-off-my-plants-is-a-scarecrow/408747/17 "2007-06-21T22:38:28Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] A hungry enough deer will eat anything. [/QUOTE] In the most extreme (postapocalyptic?) situation, possibly. But I designed a garden for a client in densely populated deer territory, and following the rules I outlined above, hers was about the only garden in the area that remained untouched.