It seems there are many people who love having deer feed in their backyard. I know of a few local farmers who sell most of their second cut wrapped round bales of alfalfa to folks in the western part of Renfrew County. The bales are expensive but that doesn’t seem to matter to deer lovers.
When a big snow storm blows in, or there is a hard surface on the snow after a thaw and a freeze-up, people suddenly want to help the deer by feeding them hay and corn. I can just picture it. Retirees with nothing to do and living in the country get pleasure in watching birds at their bird feeders. And if they can entice some Bambis with green hay or golden corn that would be a delightful sight on a cold, wintery day. Bad idea!
Concentrating deer around feeders near houses may cause a number of problems. Property damage in the area may increase by their browsing on ornamental shrubs and trees. They may become a hazard to local traffic as they move to and from the feeding site. Domestic dogs will begin chasing and even killing deer.
Be careful, the deer you feed and pamper over the winter will probably be back in the summer to munch at your garden and pumpkin patch. They need some “tough love” instead.
Apple growers, pumpkin growers, horticultural operations and most farmers don’t want to see deer in their backyard and especially nibbling at any produce.
As deer numbers seem to be on the increase in recent years, a lot of horticultural operations, farmers and companies are becoming more creative in devising deterrents. A group of deer overnight in a pumpkin patch can do a lot of damage.
A couple of great ideas were featured recently in a U.S. Farm Show publication. One of the ideas cost some money, the other one is kind of neat because it’s so simple.
For the past 15 years a farmer in Woodstock, Vermont has been keeping deer out of his garden by stringing a single strand of 30-lb test monofilament fishing line about thigh high around the perimeter of his property, according to the Farm Show article.
What makes this work so well is that deer can’t see the transparent line, so they don’t try to jump over it. But when they bump into it, they’re startled and spooked away, the farmer says. He says as soon as the lines go up, there are no more deer tracks to be seen.
The other deer deterrent was developed by an Indiana-based veterinarian and combines an attractant and a deterrent to scare deer away from vulnerable crops. The Wireless Deer Fence is actually a series of 19-inch UV-stabilized poly posts. Each post holds a scent tube filled with a sweet oil that attracts deer.
But once the animals try to get a sniff, they’re hit with an electric shock from the electrodes and charging circuit powered by two simple AA batteries. It’s just a small shock, doesn’t hurt the animals, but generally convinces them to go somewhere else.
The posts can be placed up to 25 feet apart.
According to the article, those who have used the posts to protect gardens say that, by changing the scent tubes every two weeks, deer damage was eliminated.
Do you have nuisance deer in your backyard? What do you do to keep them away? Or do you feed them?
