Deer scaring device that works?

[PurBee]

Hey all,

I wonder if anyone has ideas for scaring deer from my fields aside from a bullet?

I know there’s all sorts of frequency gadgets on the market that emit frequencies deer apparently dont like, do they work? Anyone have any experience of them? Any other ideas?

I have herds of deer finding my fields amidst thousands of acres of forestry, and theyre grazing it down to nothing...impeding the grazing for my horses. Fencing the perimeter would cost tens of thousands i just dont have.
The fenced small veg plot i have has 6+inch grass growing there, while the 6 acres of fields grass is 10mm chewed to the root.

I have 2 dogs that chase the deer during the day but arent out there overnight as i dont want them wandering unsupervised at night...if that gives anyone any ideas?

 

[vannersrus]

We live near a safari park and were told lion poo smeared on the appropriate fences were very effective for repelling deer !
Can’t verify it as our deer went once the horses were introduced

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

What boundary fencing do you currently have?
Perhaps you could add cheap netting to existing fence, or an extra line of wire on the top? Might be cheaper than buying hay in, during summer?

 

[dixie]

I feel your pain and no amount of fencing will help unless it’s proper deer fencing
It’s amazing what they can get through, over and under
Sorry no help at all ?

 

[PurBee]

Boundaries are a stream and line of trees, and in from this i have horse electric fencing 3 strand 5 foot high.
They skillfully navigate the electric lines or jump through or over them.

My crop grow area i put up 6 foot tensile...which they crashed through and jumped over. Then i went to 7 foot and weaved white electric fence tape through the black mesh so they could see the fence. That’s a colossal task/expense doing that to a tree lined perimeter of many acres...so hence why i wondered if the techy toys of this modern era were any good?

Wherever ive used black/green netting they cant see it at night and just run through it pulling over all posts etc.
I never knew how destructive deer could be....!

My neighbours yrs ago let their dogs roam at night, which they said deterred deer but they kept us awake with barking at random things, so i dont want my dogs doing that...although theyd be the perfect remedy aside from that!
My grazing months are seriously reduced due to them. The deer dont mind the horses and arent put off by them, unfortunately.

The dog poop scent doesnt deter them. They graze the patch where the dogs use to poop.

I tried biodynamic method of burning deer carcass and dissolving the ash in water and spraying the perimeter...didnt work!

The hunters huge deer cull didnt make any difference as there’s so many in these isolated valleys and forests.

We are relocating so hence why 7’ fencing the whole acerage is not a financial priority. But the only solution i know of if we remained here.

Lion poop is a rare as rocking horse shite!! But maybe the answer..?

 

[Keith_Beef]

I descried a friend's solution in another thread.

Little strips of aluminium foil on the fence, smear on the foil a bit of gravy (or anything else that dogs like). Dog will lick the foil, get a shock, associate your garden with discomfort and (hopefully) not come back.

A friend does this around newly planted trees, but with peanut butter on the foil, to discourage deer.

A farmer I used to know asked the hardresser in the village to save the hair she swept up each day for him. He then put the hair in little bags that he tied to his newly planted apple trees. He reckoned that the smell of humans kept the deer away.

A South African friend said that he used to get lion and hyena poo from a game reserve and leave that in his garden to deter not only antelope but also cats and dogs.

 

[PurBee]

I descried a friend's solution in another thread.




A farmer I used to know asked the hardresser in the village to save the hair she swept up each day for him. He then put the hair in little bags that he tied to his newly planted apple trees. He reckoned that the smell of humans kept the deer away.

A South African friend said that he used to get lion and hyena poo from a game reserve and leave that in his garden to deter not only antelope but also cats and dogs.

Theyre great ideas to help prevent deer in gardens, but for many acres i cant see them working, aside from lion poop! Thats worth a try!

Putting any food out like peanut butter as an attractant will attract the pine martens, badgers, squirrels, other dogs roaming from other rural homes as well as my own dogs, and rats, but it would work in a less wild, more urbanised rural environment where the deer are less ‘bold’.

We’ve pee’d around the place to stop them hopijg our smell would deter but it doesnt, ive even spotted them outside my bedroom window in the wee hours of night, metres away from the house and where the dog are, chewing on my plants.

In the grazing months when the fence is on the deer have chewed the fence line and got shocks, but still they remain. Why they would chew a white plastic line i dont know, but they seem to give anything a go! The smell of my hands is all on that line too as im always adjusting it throughout the year.

They eat potato plants and onions/garlic i grow, which theyre not meant to either! Theyve even gone for wasabi im growing!

My gsd husky x dog is amazing, she can smell deer 300m away at the bottom of the land, and be racing after them in an instant way chasing them to way yonder! I wish i could use her at night but there’s a chance she’d just sit by the house door guarding than be out in the fields chasing deer herds!

Its the winter months that the fields farmers have, are hardest hit by deer due to there literally being no grass where the forestry is. They have nothing to eat. Forestry sitka spruce has taken over the natural rural landscape, making indigenous wild grass plains obsolete.
It was really yesterday when i realised the full impact of their grazing by comparing all the very lush growth of grass in my small 7’ fenced crop area, to my fields where i didnt find one blade of grass with a tip that hadnt been chewed down to the ground.
This spring/summer im going to have the horses out at night, normally they choose, as its like a track system, but if i shut them out at night then theyll maybe act as a deterrent being bigger than the deer, and extend the grazing season.
It impacts hay making too - i got 250kg dry hay off of half acre! Should be 8-10 times as much!

 

[PeterNatt]

I am afraid that the only solution is proper deer fencing.