Deer

Watersedge, we may need to pu you back in the brink! ;^) You sure it was a maypole, not a stripper's pole??

any deah heah pahk their cahs at the mall pahking lot. They are a wicked nuisance in other towns around but Saugus just doesn't have that much woodsy cover for them so we don't have a huge population. and right now on the noth sho-ah, they would need boats, since the has been some flooding from the storm this week.
Mahtha

Very good!

Dave47, I would never insult the professional efforts of such dancers with descriptions like "macabre". Unless, of course, we are refering to Salome and I'm quite sure that I was not in a Biblical frame of mind whilst scrubbing pots.

I don't have a problem with deer. Have seen them in my yard but they're usually just passing through. My problem is woodchucks. One woodchuck isn't too bad but last summer mom had four babies under our storage shed and the amount of flowers they ate from my garden was call for serious action. Called a nusiance wildlife specialist (can't shoot them in a city) and they trapped them and relocated them. It was really interesting - they were all caught in a matter of a couple of hours. The bait was apples. Mom was first and then one by one the babies walked right into their own traps. Of course I had to pay but it wasn't as much as I paid for the annuals that I lost.

They can do a lot of damage to woody plants.

Thanks for the tip on the apples. I tried tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce andthey never worked!

Karl, You are a charecter!

lettuce and carrots worked for my groundhogs / woodchucks

the red markers are the deer in my yard in NJ... they give me trouble all the time.... eat anything they can... but I bought some of that liquid fence... it seems to work... no problems after I started spraying last year

I caught and relocated three of these guys last year... I have a feeling there are more

saanansandy - also if you are trapping woodchucks to relocate, put the traps near their holes. Then they see a source of food at the entrance when they come out of the hole and hopefully will check it out. We have tried trapping on our own but never caught any. We put the traps in the middle of the yard. The pros had 5 caught in a few hours. Again they used apples for bait. After they were taken away and before others moved in under the storage shed we cemented the hole. I also hung up a sign telling future borders the woodcuck hotel was closed LOL - laugh out loud (if they dig another hole they will be LOL at me) good Luck

I've been told that the best deer defence is made like this: Have a Mexican fiesta with lots of spicy food and cold cerveza (sp?). Invite the local rugby team or the local equivalent. Well into the festivities, ask your guests to make themselves comfortable out among the deers' favorite vegetative snacks. It's supposed to work better than lion urine. Can't wouch for it myself - my DBF says he wasn't raised to behave like that! - Julie

Another thread, with similar suggestions, was closed a while back - just to let you know. My neighbor tried it, to no avail.

Hey! I almost slammed into Gobbles the town turkey today. He was crossing our heavily traveled upper Main Street to get from a populated area to the town nature preserve. He was slow and he almost didn't get preserved! I was lucky I saw him in time. The wild turkeys often come down further into town and they wander around, often in the streets near our town center. They are huge!
Martha

The carnage has just begun in my yard. These guys have year round wild lawn parties that last into the wee hours of the morning. After raiding the birdfeeders, they eat anything on the ground that is half way edible. I've already seen their pesky marks on daylilies and hosta sprouts. Cute to look at but costly to my landscape. Here's some pic's from their winter formal.

More of the little buggers

Deer Scram might be a good idea. Expensive but it works and no re-application after rains or snow.

pirl, have you ever used Deer Scram?

Yes and it worked. The first application worked so well we didn't put it down again in November - wish we had. I saw their footprints but only once so far this year.

I'll give it a try. Can't try too many things. The Liquid Fence spray seems to work well. The Milorganite, which I put down in piles, doesn't seem to be working as well as it used to. Plus it went up in price. You really have to rotate these things.

You do have to rotate products it seems - they get used to the smells. To a deer the Deer Scram smells like a dead deer - but not to humans. Deer will not enter an area where they get the scent of a dead deer so it acts differently than Irish Spring soap, Milorganite, etc. They originally had 20% off on the largest size - that's what we bought. Though the price of the shipping isn't cheap there is no sales tax.

Maybe I should just kill one and put him out front.

Now that's a good plan!

Cheap too!

And easily replaceable!

Now you ruined it!

How did I ruin it? Just look at the side of the road and get some spare parts.

No I meant you reminded me that there is an endless supply of live ones! Eventually they will get used to the smell of the dead guy.

I doubt it. Doubt that they'll get used to the "aroma". I don't doubt, for a second, that there's an endless supply of deer.

What if I draw the 'dead body outline' in chalk?? Think they'll fall for it?

Too funny!

Actually, I've read that if you put chicken wire or other wire fencing around your gardens - the fencing laying down on the ground - that the deer don't want to step on it. Anybody try that? I think it would look better than the netting all over the place that they will barrel right through when they are starving.

Mayflower, I tried and it didn't work for me but I was'nt able to get 360 degree coverage.

I just ordered some Deer Scram. I got free shipping because I was a first-time customer. I hope that it works. I forgot to spray a few of my tulips and the deer got to them a couple of days ago. :-( I really wish that someone would come up with a solution to this overpopulation problem. It's really too bad that we can't neuter or spay some of the deer.

This news may interest some of you - apparently the state of Iowa is trying to get approved a birth control vaccine for female deer:

http://fishwildlife.blogspot.com/2007/02/iowa-considers-new-deer-contraceptive.html

Hurray!

Did anyone else notice that Danthedeerguy started this thread...then disappeared?? He was the first to post...but hasn't since. Maybe the deer got him!!!!!

I did notice that.

Me too. Maybe it was a deer in guy's clothing that started the thread to "spy" on us. Or maybe a whole bunch of deers looking to organize and take over our gardens . . .

LOL yank!! They touch my gardens and we'll be having a venison BBQ!