Monitoring Your Garden And Keeping Deer At Bay

By Tad Distin

You have enough trouble with a home garden; the last thing you need is a deer munching on your flowers or vegetables. But what is the best way to enforce your boundaries without hurting the animal? Many people think fences would be enough, but a fence that reaches chest height on an average sized person is still low enough for a deer to easily jump. Therefore fences and 'guards' do nothing unless you build them 14' high. You can use a deer repellent, preferably a taste based deer repellent like Deer Guard.

Smell is the most commonly sensitive sense in animals; deer are no exception. Since deer are not great fighters, they use their sense of smell to discover hidden predators and run away before they, themselves, are discovered. Urine is a very sharp indicator of a predator's property and you can use this to your advantage.

But how are you supposed to go about finding wolf urine? Should you use your dog's urine? You don't have to. Special sprays are made now as impostor predator urine. If the deer smells something that indicates danger, they will not venture forward. This can be found in any gardening aisle.

Deer are known to be sensitive to high-frequency noises; either blow a whistle high enough for only animals to hear when you notice a deer around (inconvenient) or invest in an electronic whistle that can automatically play whenever its motion sensor is triggers or at specific times. This will make the deer steer clear.

For more inexpensive, household items, use anything with a sharp scent. Chopped garlic has been said to work, along with chopped hot peppers. Dove soap, which smells so good to us, is enough to make a deer retch. Moth balls and ammonia (understandably) keep animals at bay.

You should also try "deeroscaping, " where you plant certain things that deer find disgusting in the middle of your regular plants. The smell of these alone may keep deer from your property without the desire to investigate further. Deer dislike mums, certain grasses, sage, and spearmint. The list is dozens of plants long; look it up! Do your research!

In winter, though, almost any plant is fair game. When deer are starving, they seldom care about gross smells or irritating noises. They can compete with goats for eating anything that may sustain them a few days longer. You may have to be extra diligent in the winter and guard your yard with several of these repellents. - 29857

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