Deer Vent

[Jennifer]

Just whining... planted my first-ever vegetable garden this year, and it's been doing really well, but earlier this summer, I came out to find the tops of my bush beans munched off and a big deer hoofprint in the soil. I strung up that black deer netting 4 feet high around the beds, my beans recovered, and all was well for a few months.

I came home last night and went out check the garden, and those sneaky bastards RIPPED DOWN the black netting and snacked up my bush beans again. My husband thought it must have been neighborhood kids, but no, we had hoofprints again.

I know my mistake was putting the netting too close to the plants; the leaves were touching the netting in many places, so I guess they proved to be too much temptation. Next year - 6 foot fencing three feet away from the beds.

Grumblerumblegrrrrr.

-- Jennifer

[Vox Humana]

A four foot high fence isn't even an inconvenience for deer.

[Jennifer]

It was inconvenient enough that they had to tear it down :/

*grumble*

[simy1]

yes, indeed in my neighborhood their runways run through 4 feet fences. It only takes a few strands of electric wire, and I have seen one in the past touch the wire and the whole group (seven) dart away and never come close again. but even in the other garden I have that is too far for electricity, leaving pieces of chicken wire and chainlink laying around the perimeter proved more than they could stomach. They just don't want to step in and risk breaking a leg. Yes, it is a pain to remove every time I have to mow.

[Doug Kanter]

I've actually heard them whispering "Hey....let's go find a 4 foot fence and mess with it!"

[Doug Kanter]

It's war. It really is. And, the fools who run this country won't let us buy land mines.

I can't afford the fence I want yet, so I'm struggling with half-assed methods until next season. What's worked so far has been:

- Hang Irish Spring bar soap underneath upside down 1-quart yogurt containers (to keep rain from washing away the soap). A friend had success with this around his apple trees.

- I followed the soap idea with mesh bags of human hair. (Thank you, old Italian barber guy).

These things have NOT deterred 4 rabbits and a woodchuck. It would be legally dangerous for me to describe what's about to happen to them. :-)

[Vox Humana]

Yes, but then you have to deal with the lepricons attracted by the Irish Spring.

[Doug Kanter]

I distract them by leaving 12 packs of cheap beer at the other end of the property.

[B & J]

The problem is that there are too many deer in the area to support the population that has grown without predation. We no longer have either the big bad wolves or pumas in the South that keep their population in check. Under these overpopulation circumstances, deer have become the predators on our shrubs and gardens. Another problem is that people feed the miserable things, when the normal cycle of nature would cause many of them to starve to death when the environment is no longer able to support their population.

Northern MN, my original home, had a reasonable balance. We had a number of pack of timber wolves in the area that made Bambi their main food source, and about every four or five years we had a severe enough winter to starve many of the weaker and older deer plus all the previous spring's fawns. This was also a time when the wolves found the deer easy pickings. Nature is good when left to do its thing.

Before anyone says that deer were here before many people, this is something to consider. There are far more deer in the area now than before man arrived. They thrive in cut over and agricultural land. Controlling the excess should be the goal of the DNR, but they protect the miserable things, and Bambi huggers shriek whenever an organized hunt takes place in an urban area even if every shrub and garden is decimated.

Not a deer lover....

JPS

[Doug Kanter]

Will timber wolves eat dogs, too? If so, I'd like to borrow a couple.

[Mickey&Nat]

Hi, I am an occasional lurker to the group. I have to laugh at your drastic measures. An easy way out but not inexpensive is to buy a product called "Liquid Fence" at your local garden store. Stuff stinks like the devil when you first spray it but it works. Thank you, Natalie

[Doug Kanter]

What are the ingredients, Natalie?

[bamboo]

If you have a deer problem it is because your freezer is too small.

[B & J]

It's interesting that you should ask, for they certainly do eat dogs. People in our town were warned to never put their dogs out on a leash in the winter, particularly after dark (arrived at 4:30 in December) after a number of dogs were taken, killed, and eaten by wolves. Some friends of ours who live in the country had a springer spaniel bitch killed this past winter when she was allowed out after dark to use the facilities. I felt really sorry for them, but they were also Bambi lover who fed deer in the winter, which in turn attracted the wolves to their area. I'm sure they would be happy to share some wolves with you. Of course, it would be your responsibility to catch and transport them. :-)

JPS

[B & J]

You're right about it working and stinking. I bought some after the Bambis learned to avoid our electric fence by using the driveway. You're right; it really stinks! I accidently got some on one hand when I was pulling off rubber gloves I wear while spraying plants.

JPS

[Doug Kanter]

Sounds like the perfect legal solution. "I don't know nuthin' about youse dog. Maybe it went to New Joisey, or Florida?"

[Doug Kanter]

Believe me - if there were a safe way to use a weapon in my neighborhood of

1/4 acre lots, I'd own a larger freezer.

[B & J]

There wasn't an answer to the ingredients of Liquid Fence, which someone requested. Here's what deters Bambi:

Putrescent Egg Solids Garlic Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Potassium Sorbate Xanthan Gum

Smell 'em and gag!

JPS

[madgardener]

there, I spelled it correctly for youse........and I'd figure the Leprechauns would be searching for bowls of cereal................... actually the rumor is they're kissing cousins to the fairies, who like bowls of cream......and the Leprechauns like mead...........and make single shoes (never a pair) madgardener up on the ridge where faeires abound of every variety and hue.........back in my own Faerie Holler, overlooking English Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36

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[SVTKate]

Did you know... that venison is delicious if floured and fried? Made into Jerky or stew...

I grew up on it.

Kate