I didn’t think for a minute a 6′ fence would keep deer out by itself. I researched how to keep deer out of your garden before the ground was even turned over. I knew they’d be an issue. Deer proofing advice largely included:
- get a dog
- buy a bunch of Deer Off to spray
- build an 8′ fence
- build an electric fence
- go to a hairdresser for bags of human hair to spread everywhere
- spread blood meal around
- hang bars of soap around
Everybody had a different solution, but for every “solution” I found there were just as many people saying “that didn’t work for me” (except the 8′ fence). I figured I’d start with a 6′ fence and see how the first year went. I knew a green fence wasn’t the ideal choice, because deer have a hard time seeing it, but it was more visually pleasing. If I still had problems after the first year, I could do a variety of things:
- tie blaze orange ribbon on the fence for deer to see
- build a 2nd, shorter fence away from the first fence making it difficult for them to jump 2 fences at once
- spread a bunch of good sized boulders (come cheap delivered) about 4′ away from the fence making it difficult for them to get next to the fence to jump it
- fix boards to the poles so I could make the fence 2′ higher
Do you like pumpkin pie? I do, so I planted pumpkins for pie. I planted jack-o-lanterns for the kids to carve up. Think we’re getting any?
“Awwwww, ain’t that lil’ deer some cunnin’.”
Yeah, it’s kinda cute – cuter than that damn grass that grew up from the friggin’ straw “mulch” I laid everywhere …. but just look at the lil’ darlin’ – “awwwww ….”
No, that little fawn didn’t jump the fence. There are two openings in the fence where I plan to build a swinging gate (next year). I had the openings fenced over at the beginning of the season …. but …. let’s just say the cute little deer walked right in.
The pics were taken about 6:30 in the morning from inside the house. The wife was still in bed and I yelled “there’s a deer in the garden.” She flew out of bed mumbling something with “damn deer.” Then it was clear she was going out to shoo it off.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said.
“It’s going to eat all the summer squash!” she returned, stepping into shoes and going out on the deck.
The deer saw her and jumped into the fence. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said again. She agreed and came back in. The deer jumped into the fence a few more times, hit its head against a post at one point, then found an exit and walked away with a headache.
Ugh – damn deer.
Garden 2010 was a learning experience.
- Ranger Man
BTW: One bright note was that I found a friendly lady on Craigslist that lives nearby. She delivered horse poo-poo straight to my house. I’ll compost it for next year’s garden. More to poop to come!
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{ 16 comments }
My experience with deer (and most animals) is that they get used to anything quickly so scaring them away won’t work for long.
As you mentioned a high fence is about the only thing that works. That’s why they use high fences on high fence hunting ranches.
Good luck.
Yea, this works well for us:
“build a 2nd, shorter fence away from the first fence making it difficult for them to jump 2 fences at once”
…and the definition of ’2nd fence’ can be very simple — rebar poles w/ two separate 1″ wide white electric fence wire runners between the poles. No, don’t electrify the wire — it’s just a visual barrier. Deer can’t jump both fences at once. Ain’t pretty but it’s cheap, and it works.
I have a redneckly unique method to handle this situation. Its called a FREEZER. See, what I do is KILL THE DEER, skin it, butcher it, package it and put it IN THE FREEZER. Later in the year, as needed, I will unpackage the Deer and EAT IT. I see this as a raound about way of harvesting the REST OF MY Garden that the deer ate. In this way, I get all of the value of my planted garden and it feeds me ALL YEAR LONG. HAPpY HUNTING:)
A few years ago, I had ocassion to travel into Mexican interior, where they sometimes have the same problem with deer getting into their fenced gardens. Having no firearms (or the ability to use them, even on their own property), their solution was to find the spot(s) where deer jumped the fence and landed, and placed a sharpened fence post in those spots. Shish ka deer – skin, process and eat as per Spook 45 instructions above.
Hard on the deer, but if that food is your only food source, worth consideration. Probably not kosher with the local game warden though.
But imagine what your freezer will look like this fall. With that bow, you’ll have that beast shot, chopped, wrapped, and frozen before I even take out the deer rifle out to practice.
Again…an electric fence.
We live in an area of high deer population. We have dogs that would keep the deer away in the day time but at night they’d do their damage.
We simply put out 4 solar lamps on the corners of our 30 x 100 ft plot and have not had a deer problem in 5 years. That’s with no fench at all.
Sure I gotta feed the dogs but the solar lamps cost 28 bucks..heck of alot cheaper than a fench and no deer damage..
Try a scarecrow. Not sure it’d work, but cheap and they do keep crows at bay in smaller gardens- so long as the scarecrow is visible to them.
My fence is a four foot high safety fence, bright orange, and had a problem with a gopher one time- till I put the cat in the garden one night. Bye-bye gopher. Of course, then I had to teach the cat to not shit in the garden, but that’s another story.
Prior to the fencing, deer had a feast on the shoots… the Old Lady would be out there at midnite proclaiming “they ain’t gonna eat my fambly’s food” until I laid the law down and took the shotgun away before she shot herself. (Laffin’ my bunns thinking about it.)
The two-fence technique should work, or a fence set to a level where they need to crawl under it, then try jumping the second fence a couple feet farther in- but that’s expensive.
Shy III
Deer in my neck of the woods don’t care about lights, cars, semi’s or dogs. Stupid city made a frakkin’ little Game preserve for the bastards next to the grade school complex, and the kids are encouraged to go out and feed the Bambi’s. Of course, every car that gets smashed up by them crossing the road at night is “Not the School’s Responsibility”. Want to keep your Garden? 12 foot fence.
RE: horse poo-poo
Test any non-home grown manure before spreading it on the garden. Animals that eat too much round-up infested grain can have poo that has round-up in it, killing your heirloom seed garden.
Test how? Plant something with it? Or is there some five dollar test kit at a garden store? Or I could ask the woman about the grain she’s feeding them.
The chemicals can supposedly stay in the manure for a couple of years. I would either compost the manure for more than 24 months in a separate area, and/or test the compost by planting a small section first to see if it kills the plants. If it doesn’t have any effect, then use it on the rest of the garden.
A discussion of the problem from NCSU:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/programs/ncorganic/FAQ-herbicide-carryover-in-manure3.pdf
Or if it’s “round-up ready” grain and it grows in your garden, Monsanto will sue you for patent infringement.
Irish Spring Soap……Drill a 1/4″ hole and hang by ty wraps around the peremiter. Animals dont like the Irish…at least not in spring! Try it you wont call me crazy…. for this at least…..works in N.FL. anyway…
gunnerlw
Those deer are pesky for gardens everywhere. Don’t have them where we live since we’re in the big city. If all else fails-try deer stew or deer chili. :) Good luck!
Fetilzer, well lets see; seeds breakdown in a cow’s stomach’s, stomach’s; they (seeds) have a tendancy to pass through horse, sheep and some other animals. If you worried about seeds in your fertilizer, compost then use cow or chicken poop, it works better.]] As far as deer problem, shot first, eat later, survival is the goal. If its eating crops, it is fair game. For those that dont kill for meat, get a paint ball gun, deer seem to remember getting hit. Also helps identify for a brief period if it is a returning deer. Happy hunting, grow those crops, the day is a coming.