Deer damage tree trunks

[peterhig]

Deer are in the habit of scraping their new antlers on some of my young trees. Any prevention ideas? Is there some kind of wrap to thwart this? Any thoughts appreciated. Peter Hight (Marin County CA)

[Janet Baraclough]

The message from "peterhig" contains these words:

I had that problem in a previous garden. The good news is, it's only a seasonal problem until they get rid of the itchy velvet, and they are creatures of habit and tend to focus upon a particular tree. In time, you will recognise the conformation of trunk which looks most attractive to an itchy deer. Then you can give it some temporary protection. If you rub your hands on the vulnerable trees, or pee on them, or hang a sweaty tee shirt on them, the smell is a deterrent but you will need to renew it every week or after heavy rain. Or, you can lay some brushwood round the base of the trunk, or, if you're really determined to spend money, wrap a bit of wire or wire netting loosely round the tree.

Those soft expanding plastic spiral rabbit guards can be used, but you'll need to fit them on higher up the trunk than usual and they sometimes slip down.

Janet.

[Frank]

These may work. Bucks stop rubbing when trees get large but I've seen them hit trees with trunks over 6 inches in diameter. Local park retreed a field where trees maybe 10 ft tall were staked and wrapped with plastic spiral guards. Bucks destroyed several of these trees, so, I think, only absolute solution would be fencing.

Frank

[kkelly6300]

To really stop deer damage go to the web site:

wwww.stopthedeerdamage.com

i use it and is the only way to go, 100% effective.

Kevin

[Frank]

Old post and response is nebulous. Do you just hunt them or fence them off.

Fencing is only sure cure. Use of tree wrap prevents most. That is what a nearby state park did to protect an area they were reforesting. It stopped most of the damage but not all.

[David E. Ross]

Have you visited that Web site lately? If not, try it.

[Irene]

What is the “it” that you use from that web site (stopthedeerdamage)? I visited it and saw nothing about a product that repels deer.