deer Abby (animal pest advice)

shaldag

shaldag

Joined
Jun 17, 2004
Messages
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OK- I live in a small town, and our property borders conservation land. A small group of deer (don't know if this qualifies as a herd) often walks through our property, which is not fenced. I have not minded in the past, but now it seems that Bambi and family find our rhododendron plants to be a favorite meal, and are decimating them. Does anyone know how to discourage these critters?

Now, I know that a number of you are thinking of proposing solutions with terms like .30-06, high velocity, flat trajectory, Winchester, Remington, Marlin, etc. (At least, that's what I would say in a thread like this.) While this may be appealing, I have rejected such solutions for a number of reasons, not least that it is illegal where I live.

Any advice?
 
I just watched a baseball movie with Dennis Quaid in it. I think it was called The Rookie. What they did to prevent the deers from eating the grass on the field was to put human hair all around it. I wonder whether it'll work in real life.
:)

You could always put a motion sensor with an alarm that'll scare 'em off when they come around.
 
Trip wires attached to claymores.
 
Have your dog pee all over them (the trees, not the deer). If you don't have a dog, have a neighbor's do it. Or do it yourself.

It might work.
 
Dog hair, cougar pee, deer blood & heads on poles etc. won't work. You'll need to put netting or wire barriers around your rhodies. The secret is to make your meighbor's garden less difficult for them to get into than yours.

Edited to add: On any given day I may have as many as nine deer in my yard. There is no such thing as a "deer-resistant plant."
 
My parents had the same problem in Paradise, CA. The deer were bellying up to the salad bar in their yard. So they used a deer repellant product (I can't remember the name.) It was a powder that they sprinkled at the perimeter of their property. And it's worked perfect so far. These can be purchased from nurseries or Home Depot style stores.
 
Hmm, as for the responses so far-

I think that I'll save the claymores for the neighbors.

We don't have a dog, and I'm not really sure how much Cougar would charge to come over to our place and pee on our bushes. :D

I'll try the deer-repellant thing first even though I suspect that rahorn may be right, and I'll need to spend time (I hate that) fencing them in.

Thanks.
 
Ya gotta small problem there...

you want to fence the deer out...not in. :p
 
Guns are out, how about a low powered air rifle? Might sting bambi a bit, but shouldn't break any BIG laws (crulty to animals?) And quite enough to get away with it too. Not that I am talking from experience or anything...
 
Moving this to Gadgets & Gear.
 
Plant corn. Farmers can do anything to wildlife to prevent crop destruction. Then get:

pse-41158.gif



Paul
 
Or if you want to go even quieter than a BB/pellet gun, but not as big as a crossbow, get yourself a good slingslot. It's not too hard to find ball bearings, and you could have yourself some fun. Just don't get caught.

James
 
Feed the deer. Besides a fence to keep them away, that's the only thing that has worked for my uncle who has a similar problem. I will call him up tonight and ask him what exactly he leaves out for them, if I can get ahold of the bastid!

I do know my dad used to feed deer bacon, he's a little weird tho...
 
Shaldag, have you tried pepper spray ("Mace") yet ? It works on humans and other animals are more sensitive, if anything. That stuff sticks to whatever you spray it on and doesn't cost a fortune. It might just work :confised: Too bad you cannot shoot them and eat them ... you can't legally shoot them, right ?

Oh and the Mace part, don't spray it on your flowers, use it on something else (fence, pots, etc.).
 
Here is a foolproof method: For $10.00 I will send you a pix of my MIL. Put pix on post & place near plants. Now, this is the important part - you must place the pix close enough for the deer to see, but far enough away that the plants don't die! You should wear a welders mask when handling the pix. :D
 
JAlexander said:
Or if you want to go even quieter than a BB/pellet gun, but not as big as a crossbow, get yourself a good slingslot. It's not too hard to find ball bearings, and you could have yourself some fun. Just don't get caught.

James
Click to expand...
I've always found that marbles work great for a wrist-rocket!:D
 
Not sure of how effecgtive it is (first hand) but I've had people say to use small bars of soap , and hang them up, or put them on the grass..
 
1- a fence
2- a dog in the yard
3- replant your garden with deer-proof plants

Good Luck with yoru problem!
-Bob
 
get a deer lick with "deer cocaine" a mixture of molasses and herbs that the deer love more than your rhodies, however your rodies probably won't have a problem with being chewed on as where I go to get my venison is full of rhodies I have to belly crawl through, and they aren't dead after many decades, the only disadvantage I see is you and yours may not get to enjoy the pretty blooms as that is probably what the deer are eating. or you could string a 110 volt hotwire around the plants and only turn the power on at night, not very visually destructive and what mammal do you know of that likes getting that jolt of juice.
 
haha, by the time you go through all the "home remedies" your house/garden will look like a junkyard full of random crap. i guess this just depends on how bad you want the deer gone... well i might as well contribute my useless advice, i've heard deer don't like peppermint, but then again people say peppermint works for a zillion other things. i would just piss all over the place first... there was a website that sold skunk smell and i believe some different piss like cougar piss etc. i think it was in the tree stand thread - http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291434
 
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