Protection from or Deterrants for Deer?

[WVH1977]

Yep.
Step 1: Plant corn
Step 2: Crows, turkeys, chipmunks dig up corn
Step 3: Go to step 1

I asked a old farmer friend of mine one time how to get rid of the crows. He said plant enough for you and the crows.

 

[Raul-02]

asked a old farmer friend of mine one time how to get rid of the crows.

I used to have lots of crows. I'd see them raiding the songbird nests of chicks, mobbing owls and hawks, and a slew of other vexing habits that species manifests.
So I took to using my pellet gun on them. I think in more than two decades I have sent maybe 3 or 4 to fly in that great Murder of Crows in the Sky.
They took very close notice each time and now they literally fly around my property.
Sometimes early in the morning, I'll find one or two on the lawn showing off for their buddies.
All I gotta do is cause my shadow to cast across a window and they are off.

I am told they can recognize faces. Ravens can. Crows are chickens. Ravens I am told, will get revenge.

 

[California]

what are you going to do about the coons that will climb the fence. And the moles, voles, pocket gophers and chipmunks. And the entire "crew" that will dig under the fence.

We kept a garden for four years. We learned - the "wild creatures" have no desire to share. We got tired of keeping a garden for the "wild creatures".

We did keep six apple trees. We were usually able to get all the apples we needed. It was simply because neither the deer nor the baby coons could get at all the apples. It certainly wasn't for their lack of trying.

And the birds! Most years they get ALL the cherries from our two family trees.

An inlaw works for a packing house that ships boxcar-quantities of cherries. He's the rep who goes out to talk to the growers. I asked him what do professional growers do about the birds. "All you can do is plant lots of trees".

Our 8 acre apple orchard wasn't fenced until recently. But city folks have been buying up the adjacent orchards and planting vineyards, I think mostly for 'ambiance'. Fully fenced of course. We became the neighborhood zoo, the last refuge for all the critters large and small. So we fenced too, driving the deer etc over to the front yards up and down the road.

3 years later a few deer have figured out they can jump the 6 ft fence. At least we are down to 2~3 deer at any one time, not the 17 I counted once.

 

[Raul-02]

Most years they get ALL the cherries from our two family trees.

you can get real cheap poly netting for that

 

[California]

Most years they get ALL the cherries from our two family trees.

you can get real cheap poly netting for that

We did that for 4~5 years. The netting is impossible to harvest through, impossible to remove completely, makes pruning frustrating. The netting got badly snarled up from deer pawing it and raccoons climbing around in it. I found a couple of dead birds entangled in it.

The netting was a failed experiment. It's simpler to just buy cherries.

We are thinking about removing the two cherry trees to plant another family-use Fuyu Persimmon plus an orange or lemon tree. Or just replace the cherries with two more apple trees, in this commercial apple orchard.

 

[Raul-02]

We did that for 4~5 years. The netting is impossible to harvest through, impossible to remove completely, makes pruning frustrating. The netting got badly snarled up from deer pawing it and raccoons climbing around in it. I found a couple of dead birds entangled in it.

Hmmmm sounds like a painful lesson. Makes me think there ought to be a way to tent the tree and keep it cut back. Then surround it with electric fencing. I know, one thing leads to another and that leads to five more and before ya know it ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
But I gotta ask, What'd they do before they had electric fences and poly mesh and hot and cold running water? I guess cherries and grapes were for the wealthy.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

If you look up "black thumb" in the dictionary, there will be a picture of me... But at a time I have tried to garden and grow berry bushes and fruit trees.. My best deer defense was to plant a number of large patches of Hosta plants around the edges of the yard.. The deer would eat and fill up on that and do less damage to the things inside that food circle that I wanted to grow..

People were always giving away Hosta plants it seemed.. I would take them, plant them and never seemed to be able to kill them..

 

[thepumpguysc]

I got tired of “trying” everything under the sun.. & I settled on “netting”.. & it works GREAT.!! It doesn’t interfere with the growth of anything..
I cover everything.. squash, zucchini, green beans, cauliflower, onions, brussel sprouts, and yes, even the corn..
I haven’t tried covering the watermelons yet but only cuz the garden is full this year..
We live at the edge of the woods so all the deer use my lawn as a landing strip..
I could actually hunt off my back porch..
I guess the deer teach their young what’s good to eat and what’s not..IN MY GARDEN.!! There usta be chunks taken out of darn near everything and spit out.. I learned they hate cabbage but love watermelons, cucumbers..and squash plants when they’re young..
Anyway.. the netting is magic to us..
The way we use it is.. we bought the plastic tomato cages with the 4 long poles and the cross pieces..
We drive 2 on each end of the row and 2 in the middle..
6 total.. then put a couple of cross pieces on the 2 poles to hold up the netting..
Once the netting is draped over the poles, we use garden staples to tie down the bottom.. it works great for us..

 

[hunt4570]

I got tired of “trying” everything under the sun.. & I settled on “netting”.. & it works GREAT.!! It doesn’t interfere with the growth of anything..
I cover everything.. squash, zucchini, green beans, cauliflower, onions, brussel sprouts, and yes, even the corn..
I haven’t tried covering the watermelons yet but only cuz the garden is full this year..
We live at the edge of the woods so all the deer use my lawn as a landing strip..
I could actually hunt off my back porch..
I guess the deer teach their young what’s good to eat and what’s not..IN MY GARDEN.!! There usta be chunks taken out of darn near everything and spit out.. I learned they hate cabbage but love watermelons, cucumbers..and squash plants when they’re young..
Anyway.. the netting is magic to us..
The way we use it is.. we bought the plastic tomato cages with the 4 long poles and the cross pieces..
We drive 2 on each end of the row and 2 in the middle..
6 total.. then put a couple of cross pieces on the 2 poles to hold up the netting..
Once the netting is draped over the poles, we use garden staples to tie down the bottom.. it works great for us..

How do you pick your tomatoes then?

 

[thepumpguysc]

We can’t grow tomatoes in the ground here, soil is to sandy.. we grow ours in containers on the porch..
& the dogs keep them away from the house..

 

[hunt4570]

We can’t grow tomatoes in the ground here, soil is to sandy.. we grow ours in containers on the porch..
& the dogs keep them away from the house..

My soil is basically beach sand, I grow lots of tomatoes!
I compost grass clippings, leaves, pine needles, table scraps etc and add it to my garden
Where bouts in SC are you?

 

[California]

Followup on Irish Spring: it didn't work.

I clipped a bar of Irish Spring into a mop handle and rubbed it everywhere I could reach under the house. At entrances, and on the sub-floor structure.

But the raccoons continue to reach up and scrape the floor joists, apparently to get bugs. With the new wifi camera under there, at least we can see that the 2am racket down there isn't something chewing its way up through the floor as we thought previously.

 

[hunt4570]

Followup on Irish Spring: it didn't work.

I clipped a bar of Irish Spring into a mop handle and rubbed it everywhere I could reach under the house. At entrances, and on the sub-floor structure.

But the raccoons continue to reach up and scrape the floor joists, apparently to get bugs. With the new wifi camera under there, at least we can see that the 2am racket down there isn't something chewing its way up through the floor as we thought previously.

Get a couple jars of the hottest peppers you can find, put the liquid in a spray bottle and spray it around where they are chewing/scratching.. worked on porcupines.

 

[PILOON]

One horticulturist said to drink lots of beer and urinate around the garden.
He claimed that scent would do the trick!
LOL, I preferred using irish spring soap.

 

[bcp]

One horticulturist said to drink lots of beer and urinate around the garden.
He claimed that scent would do the trick!
LOL, I preferred using irish spring soap.

I tried that. The beer taste a lot better!

Bruce

 

[droy]

My wife saw a cougar crossing the road on her way home one day and the neighbor has a picture of one eating one of his chickens, but the Fish & Game folks said there were no cougars in the area!

Years ago couple of sightings on good friend’s farm plus his neighbor losing a couple of calves, game warden & biologist still claimed extinct around here, (and in almost the same breath said shooting one would put you in deep doo-doo). More sightings & couple of close encounters later they admitted that some Florida Cougars MAY have been reintroduced into our area, again reminding us of the deep doo- doo scenario.

 

[jyoutz]

Years ago couple of sightings on good friend’s farm plus his neighbor losing a couple of calves, game warden & biologist still claimed extinct around here, (and in almost the same breath said shooting one would put you in deep doo-doo). More sightings & couple of close encounters later they admitted that some Florida Cougars MAY have been reintroduced into our area, again reminding us of the deep doo- doo scenario.

Cougars are common where I live and hunting permits are sold by the state games and fish department.

 

[California]

Followup 1.5 years later - mice soon ate every bar or chunk of Irish Spring that I put under the house. No deterrent effect at all.

The camera down there shows a critter parade under the house nearly every night. Another camera on the deck, same. Everybody trotting the length of the house then a while later coming back in the opposite direction.

Skunk, raccoons, foxes are the most common, possum and bobcat occasionally. And deer occasionally sampling the houseplants on the deck in the middle of the night, waking us up.

 

[hunt4570]

Followup 1.5 years later - mice soon ate every bar or chunk of Irish Spring that I put under the house. No deterrent effect at all.

The camera down there shows a critter parade under the house nearly every night. Another camera on the deck, same. Everybody trotting the length of the house then a while later coming back in the opposite direction.

Skunk, raccoons, foxes are the most common, possum and bobcat occasionally. And deer occasionally sampling the houseplants on the deck in the middle of the night, waking us up.

Nice pics

 

[DJ54]

Spraying Peppermint extract (2 TBS. per gallon of water) has worked well for me. It needs to be applied every 7-10 days, sooner after a good rain. I buy it by the quart from Olive Nation Pure Peppermint Extract - TTB the least expensive place I've found it. They sell it in smaller bottles if you want to try and experiment with it.

I mix it with my organic pesticides so as to spray in tandem saving a trip, up to that point it needs to be done usually after a rain. Deer normally eat beet tops, beans and corn. Since using this they will walk through the garden but not even offer to browse on anything. Seems to work for groundhogs and squirrels too. Rabbits are rare here with all the feral cats people have dropped off from in town. We'll see about Coon this year as this is the first time growing sweet corn in 4-5 years.

I use a 2-gallon pump sprayer to apply, it will cover the entire garden with a little left over. Just mist the plants well, it doesn't need to be dripping off. I usually do it in the early evening, so it has a chance to dry.