Put the game-cam out just to check on things and was not happy to see this. I was asking for it only putting up 3 wires. 2 more have now been added.
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Anyone happen to know how you get nuisance permits to shoot deer year round?
It varies by jurisdiction. Animal control may be a good place to start.
That would make my blood boil, and in broad daylight too! Cheeky.
What patch is it in, and did it do any damage?
I learned from a UK wildlife guy at a grafting seminar back in March, state law says that I have the right to take one out if I see one in any of my food plots. I thinks it’s called deprivation rights. I probably wouldn’t get to keep it, but at this point I wouldn’t care. I’ve already had damage to new blackberry plants, various trees and a few tomato and pepper plants. I’m almost tempted to sit in the barn early mornings and wait them out with my .270. I’ve had it with them.
That’s my nursery bed with 609 apple and pear grafts as well as about 35 extra rootstocks. I’ve found the tops nipped off a couple trees, but nothing else. I added two more lines and other video clips show them going around the bed now and not testing the wires.
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What about shooting your one problem deer with a BB gun? That would be legal in city limits, right?
I certainly have thought about doing that, but in reading on it some people that tried found it didn’t work - the deer just came back. Also apparently some people get very upset about it and some legal complaints were filed. I have a repeater airsoft gun which I use to scare them off. They are back in about an hour when I use the airsoft gun.
People get upset about the deer getting shot with BB’s or simply with any use of a BB gun in city limits? Especially if the deer are coming mostly at nights, it seems pretty unlikely that anyone would ever notice. But if it’s not really effective anyway…
If it was effective I would probably be doing it. All my local neighbors are getting munched as bad as I am and we are all out to get the deer.
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Noticed my pakistan mulberry got munched the other night. Luckily 99% of it is above browse height so the damage was minimal. This seems to be their favorite tree here. That and apples.
I also noticed the deer got to my triple crown blackberries but didnt munch any blackberries with thorns.They also didnt touch the thorny raspberries. Are there specific varieties of raspberries and blackberries thry leave alone?
I noticed some topping of some potato greens yesterday, they are in an unprotected patch with some peppers. I haven’t seen any other damage in our gardens. Our corn/bean/cuke/okra/cauliflower patch has been relatively unmolested, and it isn’t fenced in (yet). Beans and corn are about a foot or so high, and the cukes are quite large. I know I’m tempting fate by not fencing it in by now, but am kinda seeing how long I can get away with it.
All my black and raspberries are unprotected, and the rasps have been OK. But my five Triple Crown plants out behind the barn, have all had some damage, but have recovered well. Two of my four UA blackberries in the yard had some nips on them a few weeks ago, but also have have done very well since then.
The tomato patch has a fishing line fence around it, and had some minor damage about 3 weeks ago, but hasn’t had anything happen since.
So, knock on wood, we’ve had some browsing, but not as bad as it’s been in the past. I know that can change in a few evenings. I have seen very few deer this year around the farm and this area, so I guess the EHD and blue tongue disease outbreak last year really took its toll.
Its time for me to put in another deer update. I am overall still doing OK, and its because I continue to apply weekly doses of repellant on everything in their chew zone. The rains have been really bad the last month and this has caused the damage to creep up some, but it could be a lot worse. I have refined a few ideas of my repellant spray technique which if you are using repellants may be helpful for you as well:
- Spray up! The bottoms of the leaves get less rain and the repellant will last longer there. Its more difficult to spray that way but it seems to pay off.
- Spray the fruit! I never wanted to get that stinky repellant on the fruit, but as a result on the lower branches I was losing a massive amount. So, now I soak the fruits that look like they are getting appealing. So far I have yet to taste any on the harvested fruits as rain washes it off fast enough; I am rinsing well before eating to be on the safe side though.
- Soak the hot spots If I see any activity I give the sprayer several strong pumps and lay it on as thick as I can top and bottom. They won’t come back to that area until the rains have cleared it.
- Light coats on less risky areas Repellants are expensive; if something has not seen munches in a long time I just give it a little squirt.
- Look for tasty bits Spray the tips and the most juicy leaves; old leaves they are hardly ever interested in.
- Rotate repellant type! I’m using four different brands in rotation now. I think Plantskydd is the best overall so I would keep that one in reserve, wait til things are bad and then bring it out.
Spraying so much repellant seems to have been hard on the leaves, they look more rough than usual. This is mainly apple, the other fruits don’t show appreciable wear. Or it could just be a rough year for apple leaves with all the rain.
I stopped coating the Plotsaver tape since I need to coat everything with repellant anyway. I’ll probably take it down soon. I may put it up again first thing in the spring. I still have the sprinklers running, they probably help a bit but they are not reliable on such a large area.
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End of season follow up time…
Well things kept going downhill, primarily due to continued massive rains. It was relentless! There was an article in the paper today about there is going to be no fall foliage this year due to all the rains, the trees are going from green to defoliated. It was extremely difficult to keep repellant on with such rain.
Going forward I am continuing to move up the height of the fruit. I have around 30 M9 and the like trees in the back, I plan on interplanting half a dozen full-size stocks there and slowly transitioning to new trees that are larger. I may also be able to baffle the trunks on them to keep squirrels out. Some of the M9s are starting to wear out anyway, and I also have many varieties I can remove as I’m done with experimenting with them. I grew hundreds of varieties of apples so I have lots of experience to pick varieties from going forward.
The one other thing I am going to think about is whether to put up an electric fence. I don’t really like doing that in a suburban yard but its about the only option left.
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Scott,
I think it’s time you put up an electric fence. I’ve read your posts about how much effort you have put in growing fruit only to have your hard work ruined by deer and squirrels.
If it were me, I would be out of my mind by now.
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I agree.
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Maybe you can give the neighborhood kids a group lesson in electric fence.
Electric fences aren’t fatal to touch. They probably won’t hurt the kids. Actually mine nearly did kill a kid, though. When I first put it up, I didn’t have a gate made yet, so would unplug it down at the house and crawl under the low bottom wire at the top of the steep hill where the fence was located. One day I forgot to unplug it before climbing the hill, so called down to our daughter who was near the outlet to unplug the extension cord for me. Then I proceeded to crawl under the wire. As I was about half way under, she plugged it back in again! I could have killed her! She said she didn’t know I meant to LEAVE it unplugged.
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When I was about 10 my family visited some distant relatives who still had cows, my older brother and I were told to not touch the fence… So we are out looking at the cows and my brother touches the fence for a second and says “it’s not on”, and then touches it again. So I grabbed it and got hammered, could not let go until it went off. Turns out the power supply had a blinking light that my brother could see from where we were. Don’t think I’ll ever forget that! The deer fences I’ve encountered seem to have a much shorter pulse, and not nearly as bad though I never grabbed an electric fence like that again.
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I don’t think there is a big concern of some kid actually getting zapped, modern kids are not wandering around like I was when I was a kid. So its more the perception. In suburbia perception is everything 
For that reason I feel like I would need to ask around before putting it in. Here for example is some discussion where you can get the idea that neighbors might not like it: ...to be really pissed that my neighbour had put up electric fence? | Mumsnet. All the neighbors know what trouble the deer have caused, they even joke that I run the neighborhood deer “snack bar” since they see the deer all the time.
What I am thinking might work is bait it and run it 24/7 for a few months, and then I may be able to just have it on when its dark. But the deer are getting bolder by the month so not sure that will work like it would have only a few years ago.
In any case I’m going to put in taller trees deer or no, I am mostly done experimenting with varieties and want to go to fewer larger harvests.