Help with Deer?

Question

For awhile now, we have had deer eating our garden. anytime we get flower buds the deer eat them. Is there anyway we can get rid of the deer without shooting them. They will keep coming back because we live near a forest so we need to get rid of them without using fences. Any ideas

Answer 1

I took a battery operated radio and put it near the garden (*in a plastic bag.) Radio doesn't use too much power so it will last a long time and animals seem to avoid the noise!

It also worked by keeping the blue heron from eating my pond koi!

Answer 2

urinate all around your garden deer will not go near human scent.

Answer 3

Deer are spooked by human scent so using urine and clumps in net bags or nylon socks can work for a while.  Eventually they will get use to the same scent, and the weathered hair will lose its scent.  

There are many other mechanical items that can help, motion activated sprinklers work for deer and dogs.  Motion lights only work for a little while.  Noise makers can work also for awhile, but motion activated dog barks or horns have worked longer, but if they never see a dog they will start to ignore it.  Sparkly items can also work to spook or startle them, some commerical and others (like damaged CD/DVD's hung on branches) can work and are cheap.  

Mixing the use of different items starting and stopping use so they don't get use to it.  

Also planting other plants that deer don't like will help.  

A mix of all things will help, and lots of outdoor activity by your family will keep them away with new scent and motion will spook them off better.  They won't like to go around where humans frequent not just got to once in a while.  

It won't keep them out all together, but unless you change your mind about a fence (and it will have to be tall) you will have to put up with some deer damage.

Answer 4

This may seem like a bad answer but here goes---- feed the deer enough so they will leave your stuff alone. I have two acres of veggies and 1/2 acre of deer treats. This makes it easier for them NOT to eat my stuff. Plus I get to see them everyday.--------These are city deer I have------they are not repelled by people hair or noise, they have charged me if I get too close.

Answer 5

Old Gardner's here use a stick and string to tie an aluminum pie pan to it to make noise.  Try putting moth balls all around your garden. Also try one of those motion sensors that is a barking dog sound.

Answer 6

Deer are persistent, and I've been told that human hair sometimes repels them, so you might visit your local beauty salon and ask for sample scraps.  I suspect the peeing suggestion is the most effective answer, but I would suggest you not disperse it directly, or the neighbors might consider you odd.  Fencing and gates - can be artistic and unobtrusive.  Adopting a mountain lion is probably not your first choice for deer control.  (Also, they are prone to pneumonia in captivity, and captivity is truly unkind to their nature.)

Answer 7

You really only have a few choices with deer. Put up a fence they can't get over, plant things they won't eat, apply things to your plants that they don't like the smell or taste of, or live with some damage. The middle two choices are not foolproof. There are things deer won't touch, but with most things they might eat them when they're young(deer or plants), they might eat them in your yard but not 1/2 mile away, they might eat them in one season but not another. I have two young buddleia bushes, planted this spring. The one in my front yard hasn't been touched, the one at the back has been eaten. They definitely are in the yard at night, as they have eaten some flowers very near the buddleia in the front garden. Buddleia is usually deerproof, and I'm sure it will be once it's a bit older. If you apply things to your plants, you have to keep applying them because they wash or wear off. Actually, there's another thing you can try. You can get motion-detector sprinklers, so the sprinkler goes off and startles the deer. It might work. The trouble with shooting them is that there are always more deer, it might be illegal most of the year anyway, it would be beyond cruel to shoot and only wound, and if you kill them you'll have to dispose of them somehow.

Answer 8

you can urinate around your garden  i agree they wont cime near human cent but it might be easier to tie a big dog next to your garden deer are afraid of dogs.

Answer 9

There are spray products at most garden stores that repel Deer and rabbits. Just spray it around the garden.

Answer 10

Try planting deer resistant plants.  That's the only thing that works for me for the most part.  Aside from that, there is an inexpensive fencing that comes in a roll.  You can put it up attached to stakes hammered into the ground.  That's what I use around my vegetable garden.

Answer 11

You can purchase "Big Cat" (lion and tiger) manure from the garden centers. This practice was discovered in China and is just now catching on in the states. They have learned that spreading this "dung" around your property scares off Rabbits, Bear, Raccoons, Groundhogs, and even Deer.