The deer are killing me!

Mix two sun rotted eggs and sirachi chili sauce with water in a spray bottle
One or two nibbles and the smell deters them after that

Get a dog, install a dog door so it can let itself out when it hears (smells?) critters in the garden. Barking at night may wake you up but deer damage will disappear.

.30-06 Springfield

xtsho said:

.30-06 Springfield

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Damn straight!!!
Bambi must die.....

(if you haven't noticed, I have a bit of a grudge with these forest rats.)

Rottedroots said:

The deer on my property and i have a deal. They don't eat my plants and i won't eat them. It's probably been five years since we had the winter from hell and the deer just couldn't stick to their part of the agreement. That was the winter and spring that they decided to eat anything they could reach on 20 different Rhodys. The started to eat Acuba, Holly, Winter flowerings Gardenias, Service Berry, and a few others. They also ate my hosta collection which they had never bothered enough to mess them up for the season.
I was really hoping i might get some suggestions on plants with big leaves that are just a bit more unpalatable. Has anyone tried Gunnera, Calocasia or Ornamental Rhubarb and do the deer bother them. Trees i have to protect with rings of fence till the to tall to be constantly munched on. I am waiting for them to find my grafted Paw Paw and the magnolia especially the macrophyla. Their change of appitite is surprising. There are to many to ear them all. (Z6)

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I remember working at a customers place in Gladwyne PA. Fourteen acres. Two herd of deer running through the place. The Rhodie max's were devastated every year. The smaller Rhodies were iffy. Like R. carolinianum 'PJM' wasn't ever eaten because it has a funky smell. I was there for five years. Never saw the carolinianums eaten. The azaleas they would eat the new growth but the plants came back. I fertilized them a lot. Plus they were like fifty years old.
I did use deer spray. It stunk to high heaven. It was animal piss. Some kind of predator. But it worked. I had to reapply often. I had a backpack sprayer.
I learned that deer don't like anything fuzzy against their snout. So many herbs fit that bill. Also smelly things like lavender. Hostas were toast. We planted thousands of daffodils around things we wanted them to stay away from. Daffs you know are poisonous.
I never used the plants you mentioned. Here's a list from Rutgers might help you. https://njaes.rutgers.edu/deer-resistant-plants/
Hope that helps.

Little late to the party here, but to keep the deer out of our corn we used this trick from Mother Earth news that actually worked pretty damn well. You stretch tape from old VHS so that it hums in the wind. The deer hate it. Barely lost an ear!

Gentlemencorpse said:

Little late to the party here, but to keep the deer out of our corn we used this trick from Mother Earth news that actually worked pretty damn well. You stretch tape from old VHS so that it hums in the wind. The deer hate it. Barely lost an ear!

Use VHS Tape to Deter Deer – Mother Earth News

Protect your veggies with this simple, inexpensive and inconspicuous setup. A Country Lore tip from the June/July 2011 issue.

www.motherearthnews.com

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Whether it works or not, the thought of stringing up strands of VHS tape to ward off intruders is highly amusing

To be bluntly honest with my years of northern experience, I can see how it might be viable if one could ensure wind-noise on demand. (I didn't watch the video).

spek9 said:

Whether it works or not, the thought of stringing up strands of VHS tape to ward off intruders is highly amusing

To be bluntly honest with my years of northern experience, I can see how it might be viable if one could ensure wind-noise on demand. (I didn't watch the video).

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Honestly there was something vaguely satisfying about ripping the tape out of a two tape Titanic VHS set I found in my parents basement haha.

I was super skeptical it would work but my old man is hard to deter once he gets an idea in his head. Somehow it seemed to do the trick though. Which of course I'll never hear the end of. Also, that being said, were in coastal MA and I don't really remember the last time it WASN'T windy here.

Gentlemencorpse said:

Little late to the party here, but to keep the deer out of our corn we used this trick from Mother Earth news that actually worked pretty damn well. You stretch tape from old VHS so that it hums in the wind. The deer hate it. Barely lost an ear!

Use VHS Tape to Deter Deer – Mother Earth News

Protect your veggies with this simple, inexpensive and inconspicuous setup. A Country Lore tip from the June/July 2011 issue.

www.motherearthnews.com

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But it's only effective if the wind is blowing....
@Rottedroots You ever get you're deer issue figured out? If so how'd ya do it?

Gentlemencorpse said:

Honestly there was something vaguely satisfying about ripping the tape out of a two tape Titanic VHS set I found in my parents basement haha.

I was super skeptical it would work but my old man is hard to deter once he gets an idea in his head. Somehow it seemed to do the trick though. Which of course I'll never hear the end of. Also, that being said, were in coastal MA and I don't really remember the last time it WASN'T windy here.

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As close to the MA coast as you can get here and she sure has been blowing a gale. I have in fact found a solution to my deer problem. There is apparently a meat shortage coming up so I'm going to kill a couple for some very low budget families. NO!! It really won't help but I've always said it's a resource that's ours for the taking if your hungry regardless of the season. Last year I ended up with tags for two bucks and five does. One buck was plenty and was shot with a .458 Quackenbush pellet gun. Loaded from a carbon fiber scuba tank it shoots a 350gr "pellet" faster than a .45acp.
I have been planting more deer resistant plants but that doesn't mean deer proof. They eat a variety of Amelachier i planted last year so they are not deer resistant at all. The bulk of my Rhodies are from ten to 20 ft tall so they can only reach so high. I've also planted members of the Colocasia family and Gunnera as a barrier to my best Hostas. We will see how they do. They leave my magnolias alone and they don't touch a large collection of Hemeracallis which is surprising.
My 30lb Brittany will chase them to the edge of the yard but so many yotes around they will eat my dog but they won't eat my plants.
I dont really know what I'll do at this point but we are not getting along. The veggies are fenced but i can't fence everything. A bud swears the automatic sprinkler works for him but that's not feasible. Screech owls, kestrals and even a pair of bald eagles are helping me to ignore the deer.

Piss in a gallon milk or water jug for a few days. When it's full, crack an egg in it and let it sit for a week (preferably in the sun). Dump it in a sprayer, try not to puke, and spray it in a wide cirlcle around your patch.

Hawg Wild said:

Piss in a gallon milk or water jug for a few days. When it's full, crack an egg in it and let it sit for a week (preferably in the sun). Dump it in a sprayer, try not to puke, and spray it in a wide cirlcle around your patch.

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I don't know if that'll work on deer, but I damn sure would avoid the area...

GBAUTO said:

I don't know if that'll work on deer, but I damn sure would avoid the area...

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It keeps most things away. Supposedly, it smells like big cat spray.

Man the deer around me wrecked my tomato’s plants so bad I was planning on making a tomato plant ghille suit and sleeping in my garden waiting for one to come up and start eating my suit so I can sledge one but they beat me to it and two ran infront of my truck a couple weeks ago and got mashed up with no damage to my truck so I feel like we’re even again.