Your are absolutely right. The hunting pressure does not reduce the population, Deer simply find nearby properties where they get the same quality food with less risk.
I was one of the founding members of the organization many years ago. I’m no longer actively involved because I don’t have time with the farm. In the early days we worked with our game department and finally convinced the county park system to implement controlled hunts. They close down parks and use gun hunting where it can be done safely and the use bowhunting where they can’t safely conduct gun hunts. They actually used one of our proposals as a template for their rules and guidelines for hunters in their program.
Even this is not enough. In some places they use sharp shooters. This is much more expensive for the county but it helps with the numbers. In order to be effective, there needs to be a county or region wide comprehensive plan. SWMNV is just the component that addresses private property owners with deer damage that I was pointing out to the poster in Gainsville. There are similar programs in many other suburban areas in other states.
When we were in CT, we lived next to virgin woods and had a LOT of deer in our back yard.
The best solution I found was deer netting. 7’ tall deer netting is usually enough but only because they can not see it (they have poor eyesight) and they won’t try to jump it if they can’t see the top. If, however, you do use something they can see or tie tags to the top of, they may try to jump it. Note: Different species of deer can jump different height. Generally whitetails can’t jump over 7-8 ft. but, some species (like Fallow Deer) have been know to jump 15 ft.
Also, in a large area, it is best to give them a way out. If a deer feels trapped and unsafe and panics, it will make a jump it can’t see out of desperation.
15 feet wow! Those deer could rob half my pears! Thankfully we don’t have those here. Have definately seen whitetails jump the levels you are speaking of though it may take a couple of attempts for them to hit 8 feet levels.
Thanks for sharing. I don’t think I’ve seen that link yet. I’ve put a 6’ fence around my vegetable garden, that also has a couple of espalier apples and some nursery trees.
I know they can jump that high, but figured they are unlikely to. A couple of weeks ago looks like there are droppings in there - strange because there aren’t leaves to eat and I didn’t notice damage.
@murky I am pretty sure 6’ would not be a problem for them to jump if they know where the top is and they can see a clear place to land. My netting was too low last year and I was not using one of the raised beds and that left them a place to land and one jumped in and ate my first round of tomatoes.
I have watched them jump over our back fence before and it was fun to watch.
They walked up the the fence, stood on their hind legs with their front legs straight up and the bent their back legs at the knees and then “boop” they sprung over the fence folding over the fence as they went over and then landing on their front legs and moved on like it was nothing. I have heard if they are running to get away from something and have forward speed they can jump even higher.
Note: Another approach is to put a set of shorter fences that does not give them a place to land
Agree with the other thoughts here. @murky I’d do what you can to keep the deer out, once they get used to feeding in a place it is much harder to break them of the habit (and no leaves doesn’t help much, they love tender twigs on fruit trees). When I first put in my orchard/garden fencing, 5’ horse fence topped with a few strands of electric, there was one doe and her kids that were used to the place and continued getting in. The adult would jump thru the gap between the top of the horse fence and the lowest electric wire. Must have gotten shocked most of the time, but seems to have been worth it to her. Finally had to lower the electric wires so they could not make it thru the gap.
I find this is very key. Even when I have things that are outside of a fence (and my fences are jokes to deer anyway) if I keep a spray of egg mixed in with water on the plants from early on they seem to not get in the habit of browsing. But if I don’t start right away in the spring and I let them get one taste of the fresh foliage, they’ll be after everything for the whole season. Even if I spray, they seem to sample the plants still and will tear them up after a big rain. There was a recent study that suggested we have about 4 times the appropriate carrying capacity for deer in our suburban county, based on the available woodland, so. it is clear the gardens are a big part of their diet.
I’m having a bad year @ the orchard which is frustrating after investing over $4,000 in electric fencing (I’ll be tweaking it some more this spring). We spoke to a DEC officer about a nuisance permit and he was a moron, stating he had apple trees and the deer weren’t bothering them (???). Today I completed cutting out the second and third silhouettes as orchard “scarecrows”. I was thinking of those silhouettes people put in their yards, like a cowboy leaning on a fence or even Sasquatch, and decided to try something like that. A quick internet search and some sketching and jig sawing and I had a pattern. Not sure it’ll work, but I’ll give it a try. I may cut out a sasquatch for the heck of it as well. Has anyone tried any type of “scarecrow” ?
Don’t wanna rain on your parade, but I give those wolf/coyote silhouettes a 0% likelihood of deterring a deer.
I’ve always wondered…about those wolf or cougar urine ‘deterrent’ products…
If you’re dealing with a deer population that hasn’t had either of those predator species present for over a century or more…why would they be alarmed any more than over the presence of dog or cat urine?
My father is a retired vet, and his business partner who has since passed did exotics at a time when few did. He did the vet work for a local zoo and brought home some large cat manure for my mother to put in her veg garden. All deer pressure stopped for that season. This is purely anecdotal but it’s what we experienced.
That being said, our local coyote population has taken off, so our deer population should be readily familiar with them, BUT coyote are not noted for taking down deer, that’s a rarity, although they may chow on carrion. I’m skeptical as well, but have little invested in this, had the materials already, and thought I’d give it a shot.
@AndySmith Did you bait any of the hot wires at deer nose level with peanut butter on or inside aluminum foil wrapped around some wires? Lots of stories at least that that helps a lot, especially when fence first goes up.
After a couple days I always find the foil in a little pile on a stump after I fire up my three-wire fence in the spring. I don’t know how the squirrels manage to get it all without getting shocked, or maybe they don’t care.
I suspect the squirrels can climb along one wire to get at the peanut butter. As long as they aren’t touching ground and the hot at the same time, no shock. Same with birds who sit on the hot wire. The deer could do that too if they learned to jump up and get all 4 feet off the ground before they grab the peanut butter (but don’t tell them ).
Game Cam footage shows they know the fence is hot. Video shows they run full speed and jump between the two top wires. Every once in a while they must misjudge and hit the third wire and blow out my insulators. I keep a bag of insulators at the orchard so I can replace any that are missing. I’ll be adding two additional hot wires in the spring. The good news is there hasn’t been additional browsing or breaking since I put the Coyote Silhouettes out, but we also now have some snow and I can’t say the silhouettes are working. I move them around every few days and I do see deer tracks around the outside of the orchard, but none entering it any more. This casts some doubt as the effectiveness of the silhouettes.
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