Gardening tip

[Eric Johnson]

I don't know how many of you garden, but I suspect it's a majority. And if you're like me, you hate the local deer population, aka, "long-eared locusts."

While a big fence is the only sure-fire way to keep out the pestilence, I've taken to hanging items of wood-cutting clothing on my fence as well. Deer really don't like the smell of humans, and there's nothing funkier than one of my t-shirts after a few hours spent cutting or splitting wood. Plus, hanging them out on the fence airs them out a bit before they go into the washer. Keeps the neighbors at bay, too.

My wife is not crazy about old workshirts adorning our yard, but I told her, "it's either this or we don't eat." No, actually, I just figured out a way to hang the shirts out of sight (but not out of deer-sniffing distance).

I only have two observations about deer:

1.) They have no sense of human decency;
2.) If they perceive that you value something, they will destroy it.

 

[ChrisN]

I second Eric's suggestion. I had terrible deer problems last year and finally made a cross with 2X4's put an old plaid shirt over it, and stuck one of my wife's old straw gardening hats on top. I pounded it in the middle of my garden and the next morning, at about 4am I was woken to the sounds of loud snorting outside. The deer were really pissed that someone had the audacity to move into their breakfast nook. they snorted for a few minutes and then left. I had no further problems with them for the rest of the season. I have also heard that deer hate the smell of Irish Spring soap. I coated the 2X4 cross with a film of bar soap and then stuck the soap in the pocket of the shirt. Again, no further problems last year. I'm planning on using the same technique next year.

 

[Metal]

A good way to get rid of nuisance deer is to eat them.

 

[Eric Johnson]

If I thought I could get away with it, Metal. If I thought I could get away with it.........

Just saw a group of three pass by the back of my office window. They're looking really healthy this winter. Nice and fat. Must be all the nice warm weather we've been having.

Here in the Adirondacks you can't even grow flowers in your yard without some kind of barrier. 2x2s and chicken wire is a common construction. They even eat things, like lillies of the valley, that are supposed to be poisonous. That's because they overheard me telling my daughter how much I like lillies of the valley.

 

[crow]

If I thought I could get away with it, Metal. If I thought I could get away with it.........

Just saw a group of three pass by the back of my office window. They're looking really healthy this winter. Nice and fat. Must be all the nice warm weather we've been having.

Here in the Adirondacks you can't even grow flowers in your yard without some kind of barrier. 2x2s and chicken wire is a common construction. They even eat things, like lillies of the valley, that are supposed to be poisonous. That's because they overheard me telling my daughter how much I like lillies of the valley.

It's a conspiracy !

 

[elkimmeg]

Deleting all post done with this site I went fishing

 

[crow]

What do you fill the wood chuck holes with. I've got some that are big enough to lose a leg in.
Fill them in with dirt . They just dig them out again . Only see the culprit every once in a great while . But I know he's there.
Don't want to hurt him. Just want to make him move , or at least fill the holes well.

 

[carpniels]

What is an M80?

Carpniels

 

[Eric Johnson]

It's a big-ass firecracker.

 

[SeanD]

I hunt and usually get one or two deer every year, but never in my back yard because the property behind our home is posted. It's amusing because I will be driving home from an unsuccessful day of hunting and call my wife to let her I'm on my way home. She laughs at me because as we are talking there are 4 bucks and 3 doe rummaging around her bird feeders.
I've given up trying to keep the deer out of the garden. Now I only grow things they can't get to or don't seem to like. Potatoes, onions and other underground plants they can't get. They have never bothered my asparagus, squash (all varieties) and hot peppers.
I have a different solution for groundhogs. .22 rifle with a 4x scope. I get between 10 and 15 every year.

 

[whenley]

"Long eared locusts" - thats a good one.
Here in Northern VA we have a huge problem. They eat any and everything. The feeding pressure is so high they become desperate. I have had them move chicken wire frames to get to things. We have given up on flowers and just try to keep our fruits and vegetables protected. I have tried hair, soap, pans, pee, nothing helps. The only help I have found is a temporary electric fence I put around the vegetable garden each year. But that is a pain, because once it is fenced I can't really get the tractor in, and even getting the tiller in and maneuvering it is quite troublesome.
We hunt them though. We call them "revenge dinners". My friends and I have taken an average of 14/year for the last 4 years. But you can't tell. There are still often 6-10 standing in the yard.
Hey Elk, I would love to find some M80's! But I think they were 'coded' out quite some time ago.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I think the bigger part of the problem is the builders, not the deer.
.
.
.
Now if there were just an open season on builders........

 

[DavidV]

Yeah....best solution is a .270 and a bottle of hot sauce.

Easy there Runs with scissors. some of those builders might shoot back.

 

[begreen]

I don't know how many of you garden, but I suspect it's a majority. And if you're like me, you hate the local deer population, aka, "long-eared locusts."

While a big fence is the only sure-fire way to keep out the pestilence, I've taken to hanging items of wood-cutting clothing on my fence as well. Deer really don't like the smell of humans, and there's nothing funkier than one of my t-shirts after a few hours spent cutting or splitting wood. Plus, hanging them out on the fence airs them out a bit before they go into the washer. Keeps the neighbors at bay, too.

My wife is not crazy about old workshirts adorning our yard, but I told her, "it's either this or we don't eat." No, actually, I just figured out a way to hang the shirts out of sight (but not out of deer-sniffing distance).

I only have two observations about deer:

1.) They have no sense of human decency;
2.) If they perceive that you value something, they will destroy it.

Don't get me started on deer. Overgrown, long legged rats are what we call them. I've thought of many a scheme to remove them. My favorite fantasy is a giant trebuchet to lauch them into Puget Sound. They have no natural predators now that humans have chased away wolf, coyote and cougar. We have 8 ft. fences around our gardens, but not around the house. We have them munching geraniums right out of the flowerboxes on the house.

As last summer progressed it was particularly dry. We started having every bird in the world attacking seedlings just for moisture and food. (yes I put out a birdbath for them). I had to put a couple hundred dollars of mesh over the garden (on top of the deer fence) to keep them out.

Then last year, the raccoon population suddenly exploded. ***** my neighbor's big plum tree first. He counted 6 at one time in there. Then they attacked ours, breaking branches and decimating the young tree. But the final straw was our King apple crop. We have a couple of old trees that produce a couple bushels a year of great apples. We watched them ripen eagerly. By mid week, last Oct. I knew that they would be perfect for picking by the weekend. The next day I drove up the driveway and didn't see a single apple on the tree. Not one. We had been fleeced by the night bandits. I hope they got one hell of a bellyache. My friend says his neighbor now has a 55 gal drum filled with water. He's had it and now traps and dunks them (sorry Nokoni).

I don't have the stomach for racoon immersion therapy, so this year I'm putting up a greenhouse so that maybe I can grow something without fighting nature.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I read some advice years ago in Downeast Magazine. It said the best way to deal with coons, groundhogs and other pests is a Have-A-Heart trap. Once you've caught the offending critter, you tie a rope to the trap and toss it in the pond.

I don't have any stomach for that, either, but I thought it was an interesting suggestion. I might consider something like that for deer, however.

 

[elkimmeg]

Only have a few M80s and quarter sticks left. I think they got banned. I would not mine if they ate only are the weeds, but they got all my squash and green beans. I mean this wood chuck was so bold, he would sit up on this hind legs munching away looking right at me. Tried the have a heart traps nothing enticed him into it. Tried chasing him off. My dogs dug up his entrances. No smoke bombs did not work he had another exit under something I could not find. Rabit fences did not work. I ran a cord out with a radio on that worked for about a week and back he came. M 80s in the holes seemed to put an end to it. Next year I have is cousin or him back again. I did everything to chase him off. Got a 1861 Parker double barrow 10 gage here from my grand father's father passed down to me. One really does not to have that accurate an aim with a shooting iron like that. Just point it in the general direction, Burry it tight in your shoulder and squeeze the trigger. Not much left to clean up being about 75' away. Really not into killing animals, tried everything to discourage that woodchuck. After a few weeks my wife noticed no more woodchuck. I told her I guess it got tired of listening to the dogs barking at him and trying to dig him out.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I like that no-nonsense approach with the shotgun, elk. Too bad I live within the village limits.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Turns out I was wrong about the builders........

http://www.break.com/movies/luckybuck.html

 

[got wood?]

A good way to get rid of nuisance deer is to eat them.

that's my favorite way! I've got some bushes in the backyard that must be deer crack, every morning they are out there feasting! I live in an area where I can't hunt too, but my brother had a great suggestion...get a paint gun and `tag' them. Use different colored pellets so you can get an idea of how big the problem (i.e. population) is...

(images of Bill Murray now...freeze gopher!)

 

[monk]

Deer in the garden. Two years past they got to mine. My son told me this one and it worked last year.
Hang some Irish Spring soap on the outside of the garden it worked for me.

monk

 

[Sundeep Arole]

I put up a static electric fence setup two years ago - the kind used for pet trainning. For deer, the idea is to put one wire high enough (4.5 ft) and put a attractant on the wire. The deer go to smell the attractant, and their nose gets a shock. Since the juice is very low energy, you do have to make sure the deer try to sniff the wire - otherwise the shock just won't be enough to deter them. You can place the lure by applying it to small pieces of aluminum foil and hanging it on the wire.

My problem, of course, wasn't deer, but rather squirrels. They destroyed everything. By the time I got the fence up, most of the damage was done. From what I can tell, though, no deer damage to the garden happenned.

 

[Sandor]

A Sheridan Blue Streak air rifle will take care of the squirrels, quietly.