re (spray) Deer Problem

A friend recommended a spray, something like "Deer Away", but not "Deer Off". It seemed to work at the end of last year but it certainly had warn off a few days ago. There were 8 deer in the back yard and one was chowing down on an expensive rhododendron.

This morning brought a dozen wild turkeys. The males were fanning their tails and I think the females were smiling. At least they don't seem to eat anything.

I returned from a vacation to find much of a recently planted flower bed strewn across the lawn by scratching turkeys. A friend shoots a few every year in his backyard. They're not as destructive as as deer and much easier to dress out.

Bowhunting is the best and most efficient way to reduce damage done by deer. You can get DMAP tags from your local game warden and they can be used year-round.

Rosscoe

Talking of lion s*it.....Last year I had good success by throwing a few hundred pounds of Milorganite -

Apparently, the deer don't like the smell of human waste (nor do I but it has very little odor I can detect) and they stay away. It certainly has worked for me and I know for others. My day and asiatic lillies, as well as the tulips and daffs before them, bloomed as they were supposed to rather than being eaten (every last one of them!) just as they were about to flower the year before.

And it isn't because the deer have gone away - I know they're still around here because I sometimes see them in the evenings.

I do hope it wasn't a fluke -- I'll be spreading again in the next few weeks.

Jon (Southern NH)

Just take all your buddies out for Mexican and a few beers........

Then all go out to the edge of the yard and s*it all over the place.

Male bonding thing.......