Help! The deer won't leave!

[tina.tina]

Are there any budget ideas to repel deer? I really don't want an eight foot high fence around my backyard.

A lot of hunters think I'm crazy but they sit around in my yard like a herd of cows on a daily basis. I can yell at them and they just look at me. They leave their droppings. They have eaten all the new trees we've tried to plant since we moved here- Apple, cherry, maple- plus lilac bushes, daffodils and tulips. We live in town limits and it's illegal to even fire a BB gun here.

I've seen Irish Spring Soap and an egg mixture mentioned. Does any of this really work?

 

[littleelf]

It's not really a budget item but we've had good luck with Liquid Fence repellent. You spray it on the plants you don't want them to eat. You have to reapply it about once a month. I think the main ingredients are rotten eggs and garlic, so maybe you could make some yourself, but the cost has been really worth it to us. I actually saw my tulips bloom last year!

 

[clm10308]

I live in an area with a similar deer problem, and nothing really works to keep them out except fencing. If you don't want to fence thewholeyard, you c output up fencing around the trees that you are trying to grow.
Research deer resistant plants and trees.

 

[3boymthr]

Guns may be illegal, but what about archery? You may want to "hunt" around to see if you can find a hunter who uses a bow to hunt.

 

[v.t.]

Guns may be illegal, but what about archery? You may want to "hunt" around to see if you can find a hunter who uses a bow to hunt.

I was thinking the same thing. But I imagine all types of hunting or trapping are illegal. Are fireworks illegal as well. If they are out during the daylight, a few black cats might do the trick temporarily. But if deer are hungry enough, they will eat anything.

 

[magicaddict]

We've had good success with urine around the plants we don't want them to touch. If you have young boys I'm sure they'd find it great fun to go out after dark to take care of this. They do tend to get used to the scent of a particular person so my husband would switch off with my son. Also, put some stakes around the new plantings that are a few feet tall and string fishing line around the stakes. The deer will bump into it as they bend to eat your plants and they back off. We haven't been able to keep them out of the yard altogether but as long as they're not destroying our plants we've been able to deal with it.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Try sprinkling cayenne pepper on the plants. I buy mine at Sams club for $5 for the huge container.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Guns may be illegal, but what about archery? You may want to "hunt" around to see if you can find a hunter who uses a bow to hunt.

My nephew takes a couple a year and the deer are still so thick at my sister's that they now even ignore the dogs

 

[java]

Tonight we had a strange thing happen with the deer. Outside with Lab who is barking at the deer. Baby deer starts walking towards us, curious I suppose. Dog now switches to tail wagging excitement as somethings coming to play. Then Mama deer runs over grabs baby by the ear and drags her back away.

But they all just kept eating away the whole time. Not bothered by the dog, as there was a big group. They seem bolder in crowds.

We are not fans and crack up when new people move in and say "oh I love the deer"
give it time that feeling passes.

Deer Gone spray is onE that work for us. Also Mergalite? Sp?(at home depot and lowes) is. Super cheap fertilizer that the deer seem to hate. So I sprinkle that all over the landscaping too. I don't think I'm remembering the right name but it's like $3 for a huge bag of grey grainy stuff.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We've had good success with urine around the plants we don't want them to touch. If you have young boys I'm sure they'd find it great fun to go out after dark to take care of this. They do tend to get used to the scent of a particular person so my husband would switch off with my son. Also, put some stakes around the new plantings that are a few feet tall and string fishing line around the stakes. The deer will bump into it as they bend to eat your plants and they back off. We haven't been able to keep them out of the yard altogether but as long as they're not destroying our plants we've been able to deal with it.

My parents have used the urine idea too. Also my hairdresser says people come in often for bags of swept up hair clippings. Anything with a strong human scent may help deter them. Both are free & natural.

 

[danetter]

I 2nd the above post about the hair. My grandpa used to garden every year and always used hair. My mom owned a beauty shop and grandpa would raid the garbage cans every week to put in the garden.

 

[Sandy61]

I really feel for you, we live in a rural area and have a bad deer problem. If you use spray deer repel, change brands every month so they don't get used to it. I have never used hair or urine but I have heard of it and may try it. We use fences around young trees and plants, spray deer repellant and let the dog go to the bathroom near plantings. I am to the point of using one idea...go to the local zoo and ask for tiger or lion poop. The deer also scrape their antlers up and down the younger trees and have skinned some badly enough that they died. Good luck.

 

[DawnM]

Do you have a dog?

We can get put to 8 deer in our backyard (about 1.5 acres fenced with a low fence they can jump.)

But they run when I put my dogs out. They don't run from the front yard as the dogs don't go there, but they do run from the dogs.

Our neighbor got a bow and arrow. He has guns, and apparently we are allowed to shoot them in our yard if they are doing over $50 in damage.

But he won't shoot a gun in our neighborhood just in case it missed as it could harm a pet or child. So, he got a bow and arrow. He has killed one deer with it.

 

[eatatmidnight]

We have been dealing with deer for years. We have learned the following.

-Flowers are pretty deer food (ours even eat marigolds)

-Deer love raised beds because they don't have to bend over to eat.

-The deer repellent spray does keep the deer from eating the plants, but they are more than happy to hunker down and sleep in the plants that have been sprayed.

-They love the dog and he has learned to tolerate them. When we first got the dog, they knew how far he could go (in our yard) and they would stand a few feet past that. I'm just sure they stuck out their tongues and said "Nanny nanny boo boo. You can't catch us."

-Deer think human hair is like a carpet leading to their food.

I meant those to be humorous, but they are all true. In the end, we have given up. Our yard backs to woods and it was their home before there were houses built. They aren't going anywhere. We do have a raised vegetable garden with a fence around it. They only eat the tops of the tomato plants that grow above the fence.

Good luck.

 

[POOHsie]

Grand-Nephew's Close Encounter. There's tulips in Spring where the doe is. The area of exposed grass is where another deer had been lounging. The yard backs up to a large county park.

 

[swilshire]

My husband saw more than 30 behind our house yesterday. He has always liked them, but enough is enough. The population has sky rocketed because of surrounding land being turned into subdivisions. We have invited people to come hunt them in season and DH has a pass from the wildlife agency to kill them any time, but there aren't too many hunters left in the area. One ran into my car when I was driving to work one morning and another did $8000 worth of damage to a neighbors car.

Sheila

 

[texasroni75]

I had the same problem when we lived in NJ. We lived in the suburbs where you wouldn't think there would be a deer problem. We too got lots of "oohs" and "ahhs" from family visiting from out of town as they watched the deer in our yard nearly every morning. But they didn't have to deal with the downside. I had a beautiful garden and the deer thought my plants were a salad buffet. They were not too picky - they devoured my shade plants in the back of the property as well as my flowering gardens just inches from our back door. They left droppings all over the yard and around the kids playscape. They scared the daylights out of me several times when taking the dog out in the morning when they were startled and nearly trampled us.

We tried nearly every trick listed in the previous posts and nothing worked until several other neighbors put up fences, which eventually effectively detoured them. Some sites suggested using a lawn service that sprays regularly with pesticide or regularly spreading your own store-bought fertilizer - since they tend to avoid chemically treated greenery. Didn't work for us, but maybe we used the wrong brand LOL.

 

[littleelf]

Deer Gone spray is onE that work for us. Also Mergalite? Sp?(at home depot and lowes) is. Super cheap fertilizer that the deer seem to hate. So I sprinkle that all over the landscaping too. I don't think I'm remembering the right name but it's like $3 for a huge bag of grey grainy stuff.

I forgot about the fertilizer but we use it, too. Milorganite. I don't know if it's that or the Liquid Fence but we do have fewer problems when using these. I like the Milorganite anyway because I like the idea of organic fertilizer instead of the artificial stuff. The only problem we've had since using these has been in the winter last year when we didn't spray and they ate the branches off our apple trees. We have a smallish population of deer, only ever seen three or four at a time, and our yard is wide open so they don't stop to lie down and sleep on our property, they just stop by for a snack when they can.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I had the same problem when we lived in NJ. We lived in the suburbs where you wouldn't think there would be a deer problem.

Yup, deer thrive in the suburbs. It's nearly ideal habitat. Whitetail deer are just one of those creatures that has adapted extremely well to man's presence (like raccoons and coyotes). Most of the experts agree there are way more deer in Missouri (for example) than when Lewis and Clark explored this area. Face it, scarfing down a fresh garden or a field full of crops beats the heck out of scrounging for acorns on the ground