Don’t even get me started on deer!!!..the reason I haven’t posted much lately, and haven’t posted any pics is because deer basically ruined my backyard orchard
I’m to the point where I almost don’t want to do it anymore
I’m sorry to hear that chartman. I am about to head outside to lay down more pigs blood (Plantskydd) since it rained yesterday and wore most of it off. I use that on top of Crontech motion detector sprinklers plus grow-tubes protecting the most exposed young grafts. Even with this I have had several new grafts get munched this year.
They had the better of me for a few years, and a couple times I left like giving up. Now nearly all the fruiting is above their reach and its a little more sane, but still frustrating. We have big herds here and no legal way to cull them, its very frustrating.
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What sucks is I have been watching the track of the main problem deer for the last two or three weeks and knew it was going to get bold enough to start on my raised beds right by the house. Like everyone else with so many things to get done the fencing didn’t get done. Although the fencing in a situation like this is only going to be a temporary solution.
@SteveM
I feel your frustration. Several members have posted some effective measures outside of removing the deer. Fencing around each tree is very effective . Just make sure it is tall enough to protect the whole tree. The motion detector suggestions can be effective for an indeterminate time as deer do get used to whatever they activate. Also they have to be placed to detect the deer when they come into the area.
My father hooked a fire alarm up to a motion detector for his garden many years ago and it worked until the deer could be removed. I live several hundred yards away from where it was and it would wake me up in the middle of the night when it was triggered!
Never seen things like dryer sheets work or work for very long but the radio is good idea until they got used to it.
I think the motion detector sprinklers are a good idea as not only is there the noise of them coming on but also the spray hitting the deer at the same time
The problem here is going to be the removal of the offending deer in timely manner when the trophy hunters have gotten laws passed to make a small buck like this one illegal to kill until it grows a bigger set of antlers. There is a couple of exploitable loop holes in the regs and I do plan on doing my best to use them in this case if possible. Also plan on doing some general population control come fall ( or sooner if really needed) to keep the overall numbers down.
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Geez, Steve, what happened? I was feasting vicariously on your Flavor Supremes! 
Chartman,
You probably won’t have to worry about those small bucks for long. In order to distribute genetics, young bucks are forced from their home area by their mothers at about 18 months.
The best exclusion I’ve found is a Gallagher-style e-fence. They are a 3-dimensional fence that exploit a deer’s vision system weaknesses. I fenced an acre of soybeans one year in the middle of a pipeline. I planted a total of 5 acres that year. Deer kept all the beans not fenced naked all summer long. The beans inside the Gallagher-style e-fence canopied and were 6’ tall by the end of the summer.
It is the most effective thing I’ve found short of high fencing. Depending on your tolerance for esthetics a 5’ privacy fence will also work. While deer can easily jump a 5’ fence, they generally don’t because they can’t see if there is danger on the other side. Chain link (or any fence they can see through) needs to be a minimum of 10’ to really keep deer out.
One more fairly effective solution is an outside dog. In an environment where esthetics are important, you can use an invisible fence to keep the dog in the area. Deer quickly learn the limits of the dog and stay just out of reach.
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I hate deer in the garden, but I don’t mind them on the table at supper time.
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The FS’s and a very few others make it all worthwhile…I will still keep going, I won’t quit, I don’t know how to… I just remind myself of that that song…Highwayman by the Highwaymen. …I’ll be back again and again and again…
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I’ve had one through my orchard and my only and new Pink Lady apple tree in my yard was chewed on. I’ve put down deer scram which my dogs seem to like to eat. And also sprayed some smelly deer repellent on the trees. I also have the dogs go the bathroom around the orchard hoping the deer will flee from that. Luckily I’ve fenced in my veg garden and apple trees in there.
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The no limit on doe tags really knocked our herd down. I used to have lots of deer pressure, like 12 to 20 at a time coming through, but mainly the family of six or so living in the yard. Even with deer fencing they still got in once and a while. They even walked onto my deck and then down 16 rises of steps to get in my orchard. You should hear them when they get scared and run back up! I have a rant of my own. Raccoons!!! They ate all my cherries last night. They broke some branches and knocked off lots of leaves and spurs! I only had about a hundred cherries on my Bing. They were still yellow with red blush. I have about fifty on my Rainier. I’ll probably lose those too. I just got nets in the mail, but I don’t think nets will stop coons. I might not be able to grow cherries here. They broke one of my grafts too!
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I have had 100% success exculding deer by running double line of electric wire 32" high 5’ apart.
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Does the buck sometimes cross the road?
If you are not using a complete exclusion fence/wire, its helps to understand their routines. They like to keep a regular nightly pattern of movement and even if you up the ante a bit they will keep it up. For this reason, when I put out the pigs blood I put a lot on the property edges and in a bit from the edges - basically I want to re-train them before the blood wears off that my yard is not the most fun place for snacks and its time to pick a new route. Once you train them out of your yard, they will get into a rut of visiting someone else’s yard – you passed the buck 
When I put down the Plantskydd I mix it dense, not sure the exact amount but something like 3-4x the water compared to the size of the powder pile (I use the powder stuff, no stink from leftovers). Then I flick it on the leaves at deer level using a big paint brush. It makes these really dense dots of blood that will last through many rains. Spaying a thin coat will last not long at all. Generally the leaves I hit are permanently covered, its the new leaves that grow after that which are the ones the deer may get.
So if you are not fencing but are using some other repulsion method, the blood is a great supplement to your treatment - when the deer train “in” to your yard a single thorough treatment will re-train them “out”. Until the next re-re-training when your trees have grown a fresh batch of leaves…
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Yes, and that road has taken care of many problem deer over the years !
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I know it can be impractical when you have a lot of trees but liquid fence will work. Tony told me about it http://www.liquidfence.com
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The electric fence is the way to go. A low wire for critters and a high one for deer. I will have to do that myself.
Around here we have a “metro” zone when you can bowhunt deer within the city. There are certain things you must do…like be so far from walking trails/houses … I know from hiking (city forest land) there isn’t the deer herd there was a decade ago so it must be doing some good.
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The problem with a standard electric fence is that deer learn to jump it unless you make it quite high which requires a lot of strands of wire. The Gallagher-style 3D fence is pretty unique. It consists of a two low fences, an inner fence and an outer fence. The outer fence consists of a single strand of turbo tape. You typically twirl the tape between plastic step-in posts so it flutters in the wind. This provides the visual cue that deer associate with the shock. It is 18" off the ground. The inner fence has two strands of turbo wire, at 10" and 24" respectively. All wires are hot. The inner fence is 3’ from the outer fence.
Deer can easily jump this low fence but the don’t. The only time I’ve seen them jump it is when spooked and running to escape a predator or something like that. Here is how it works. When a deer first encounters a fence, it will usually try to crawl through it rather than jump it. The spacing of the lines pretty much guarantee a deer trying to crawl through will get zapped. When a deer approaches the outer fence and considers jumping it, it can see the white turbo wire of the inner fence but not well. Deer don’t have acute visual depth perception. They can’t judge it well and generally won’t try to jump it. In some areas with high deer densities when protecting very attractive food sources, some folks need to add a third wire on the inner fence but I’ve never had to do that.
Another trick I’ve used is to put a little peanut butter or vanilla extract as a curiosity scent in spots on the outer turbo tape. Deer will smell or lick at this and a zap on the tongue teaches a lesson that sticks for a very long time.
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That sounds like a great way to go. I already have a 7’ deer fence up.
The rabbits ground hogs and coons have chewed holes where convenient for them. I was just thinking of running wire on the outside. The deer don’t jump over the fence. Only a few make it over the county parks six foot fence. It’s neat watching them try to jump it on my way to work.
