Deer in the garden

[Eric Krewson]

The deer have been a real problem around the house this year, they ate up my summer garden, the electric fence that kept them out of my winter greens patch in the past has proven ineffective this year.

I just had a neat thought; when I put out my leopard, coyote and bear 3D targets in the backyard for archery practice, deer sightings around the house drop to zero. Time to drag out a few critters out of the basement and let them stand guard over my garden.
I think this will intimidate the deer a little.

[Pat B]

Let us know how it works Eric. The deer have eaten all of our tomatoes, leaves, branches and fruit.

[osage outlaw]

The only thing we found to keep them away is called a scarecrow sprayer.  You hook a garden hose up to it.  When it detects movement it goes off and sprays them with water and makes a chattering noise.  It works good.

[blackhawk]

Ya know they make bows and arrows for managing pesky deer to heck...guns are even better   

[mullet]

Eric, are you complaining or bragging?

[Eric Krewson]

Complaining, I leave the deer alone around the house, too many houses, barking dogs and noisy kids around. It wouldn't feel like hunting if I whacked one in the back yard, even though I have 4 acres.

[Knoll]

As hard as we work on our gardens, there'd be some serious whacking goin' on.

But it's rare to spot deer anywhere near our place.

[Eric Krewson]

It is legal to shoot them where I live, sorta' out in the country.

[mullet]

I hear ya, Knoll. I've been griping Eric because a cat used my garden for a litter box and raked up my freshly planted Chard.

[Chippintuff]

Until this year, a 24 inch high electric fence has been all I needed to keep deer, hogs, coyotes, rabbits and everything else out of my garden. This year My electric fence was accidentally left off a few times, and they learned to step over it. I then strung electric wires up and down my rows and even across my rows. The deer got in once more and then left it alone. The problem is that I have tangled with it a few times while trying to pick the vegetables without turning it off. The thing that I have not been able to control is a rabbit. I have watched it go around the fence looking for a place where it can skinny under the wire or jump between the wires (strung 3 inches apart). Presently I am in process of building a barbed wire fence that is 6 feet tall and running 4 feet of 1 inch chicken wire around the bottom. If I still have problems, I'll either run electric wires up and down the rows or add 2 more feet to the height of the fence. I love to see the animals, but I can't work enough to feed them.

WA

[Zuma]

I'd try having a talk with them
Zuma