Deer

Similar salt licks would be good for some people, too!

Saltpeter licks for others.

Actually, I had the feeling dan was another same day sign-up (he was) who was looking for business. We've had a rash of these.

If the service was free how did he make money?

I think he was just looking for good hunting land. His web site says he offers his services during bow, muzzle loader, and shotgun seasons if you are near his home, have good deer habitat, aren't in a suburban area, and sign a hunting release form provided by the state of MA. Maybe his dance card is full.

Actually, it's kind of a clever idea.

Julie

What web site? How do know he has a web site?

I'm sure the link has been since deleted as he was promoting himself/his product and that is against DG's rules.

flowerjen, click on his 'name', takes you to his 'homepage',- if you click on his 'favorite website', takes you to his website :)

Yes, I have reported a number of these. Wish there was a way to prevent it in the first place.

OOOHHHHH, thanks

Or check rcn48's post above. That's how I found it. - Julie

Oh my! I use to love deer. Use to watch them for hours when i lived in Penn as a child on our farm. When i would wake up and go to the bus stop for school i use to see at least 20 deer across our feilds in the spring time. just galloping along their merry way! They are beautiful creatures indeed and so so playful in the right area.

This is how i felt until a few weeks ago, now in West Virginia were the dear are a plenty in the our mountains. The first year we moved here they were fine but that was because i didnt plant anything yet...lol
The second yr is when they started eating my veggie gardens and munching on my roses. Just destroying everything i worked so hard on to make this yard look somewhat landscaped. Now this spring i started my Daylily addiction and bought over 50 different varieites. I was ready to start playing hybridizer and i was getting excited too. My first seed pod i created..oh my i was so excited.... it got real big...some of my daylilies buds were swelling with anticipation to open in the next few days. i watched my garden like a hawk everyday. Never noticed one thing around my yard......then a few days later i woke up and saw 2 deer in my daylily bed! I was like awwww, i hope they arent stepping on anything and breaking it...my only concern until i actually woke up enough to get dressed and head out to see what damage they actually caused!!! OMG they ate all my buds, my seed pod was gone and they ate a few of my daylilies down to the ground....i was so upset! Oh for the next few days i thought about getting a gun until i posted a note on here asking for suggestions. I could never harm an animal unless its a snake cause my DH is deadly afraid of those! So i learned that to keep them away you need to train them to stay away by using sprays that deter them or fencing the areas you want safety around. Now i learned that rotten eggs, human/dog hair and soap will deter them as well. So now i use the use eggs, spray and save all my dogs sheddings and mine as well and have soap hanging from stakes....so far no deer...and my daylilies are all coming back now and i have 4 seed pods out there once more!! Deer arent suppose to be tame and friendly and i am learning this now. At least my whole garden wasnt destroyed in the process!

So now i am a happy camper once again and can enjoy the beauty of deer when i see them instead of thinking about pulling that shot gun out...lol

Thats my feelings, and im not from Mass.....

hyer, hate to be the one to break this to you but the deer will get used to most, if not all those things. I've used them all. Only a fence will work for sure.

hyer - can you get a dog? That's a big help but, as Victor said, the deer get used to any scent and that's why people have to switch products. I agree with Victor that only an 8' fence will keep them away.

Or a dog.....or a few dogs. LOL

I wonder though.. I've seen a ultrasonic sound device that's suppose deterr deers and other small critters.. Electronic Yard Fence. Saw it in Skymall... Can anyone tell me if that works? Cuz not only do I have deers chomping on my meager landscape but I found out one of my neighbors down the hill has been taking their dog to pee on our lawn.. (apparantly dog pee does not deterr deers..) So I'd like something that works with all of these animals. Does anyone know if that Electronic Yard Fence works??

thats the sad part i have a dog, well a horse of a dog, a st bernard and even with his sent around the whole back yard they still ventured out. I dont believe in getting a dog and tying it up outside and leaving it there. To me that is not humane at all.
But i will keep using what i need to to keep the deer away. So far so good and if i need to switch things up, well then i just will! I can not invision myself shooting those beautiful creatures but i am sure i can find someone to do it for me!
There is a possibility of putting up a fence, but i will see what happens when i run out of things to keep them away i suppose!

I don't know how big a problem deer are in MA, but here in NE PA, we have our hands full! They go after just about anything available , even stuff that is deer resistant. They have even gone after my bird feeders, so I am probably going to have to invest in some Liquid Fence to keep them at bay. Hope it works reasonably well...

I sprayed my Oriental Lilies with Liq Fence every few days. They were eaten.

Victor, I really admire the way you keep gardening in spite of the deer. I really do.

It's kind of too late to turn back! Not very practical to have the garden torn out, though there were moments I thought about it.

Well i just hope it keeps working for me. If everything i am doing now fails i dont know what i can do besides build a fence around my Hem beds so they cant get into them. Or just enclose my whole back yard!

Everyday i check on my garden beds and so far since using liquid fence as directed on the bottle, no deer!! But i dont have like 20, always one or two that kept coming around!
So maybe that is why i am having good luck? Who knows, just keep up the good luck!
Of course i noticed this morning that alll my apples are gone from the apple tree as well so that could be a major reason as well they arent coming around! Maybe i should chop that sucker down anyway! It is 30 yrs old anyway and over grown as all get out!

Could it be that the apple tree is keeping the deer busy enough that they don't go after your plants?

uh . . . would a tall fence work?

At least 8 feet tall.

Right - 8 feet tall - that should work - great background for clemantis to climb over.

...or even Clematis.

(The devil made me do it - I'll go back out to the garden now)

Hey Pirl - check out your post number - gotta be lucky right?

Hadn't noticed. Thanks for mentioning it - maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket.

We should have a pool - guess when post number 7777777 will occur!

7/7/11

That would be cool but I'm sure it will be way before then.

Cool is how my arm feels with a bag of ice strapped on to my wasp sting spot that grows ever redder and more swollen.

Sounds like you're allergic! Join the club.

I have another woodchuck this year. Hopefully it's only one and not a family of five like last year!! We cemented the old holes under the storage shed last year but new ones have been dug in different places!! Eleanor
p.s. The pic is last year's babies. Momma didn't show up for the group shot!!

Thanks for the spelling correction, pirl :-)

Victor - could a person put in say 50 feet of 8 foot fence a year? I mean, if you are going to let some sort of vine climb all over it, the fence doesn't have to be a thing of beauty or great expense -right? so maybe it takes 10 years to do all the backyard; at the end of 10 years you will still be in your early 50s and will have a backyard protected from deer. :-)

I am not permitted to have any fence over 6 ft. If I could, it would already be up. Would still have to put a gate for the driveway though.

That's true for the back of the house, too, Victor? If so, it's a shame. Those mesh fences on black steel posts become invisible so fast.

During the summer the only ones that come around are the bucks. Just have one or two right now. The does and fawns stay in the woods until late summer early fall then everyone is trying to tank up for winter. A bad sign this year is a lot of tiny acorns are falling from the big oaks. Not full sized and that means a shortage in the woods this winter for them to munch so they will be looking at my garden. :( I have used Deervik quite effectively for about three years. In the dead of winter with snow cover nothing short of a very tall fence as stated above will keep them away from evergreen shrubs that look tasty when there is nothing else, but other than that it has worked very well. It lasts a long time through rain and heat . Cold decreases its effectiveness but I have been able grow hosta the last two years without any munching if the Deervik is there. http://www.deervik.com/faq.html They are creatures of habit so getting them used to going the other way helps too. My approach was to try everything, this works the best for me so far, the Deervik and if I see one out in the woods getting too close I do my very best arm waving, dog barking, running like a nut in little pink garden clogs bit and they run like the devil. :)

Never heard`of that one ngam. Maybe I'll give it a try. Pirl, as far as I know it holds for anywhere on the property. I have never seen a fence taller than 6'. The HD's, Lowes and fence places around here don't even seem to carry taller ones.