Garden deer protection

Beekissed

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As promised...I will tell you what my mother has used for the past 35 years to keep deer out of her garden and that method has worked with 100% efficacy. We are in the heart of deer country and it is nothing to have a dozen or more deer grazing next to the garden, maybe salivating towards the garden...but never IN the garden.

An electric fencing charger costs about $35 at just about any hardware store....they last for years and years. The one my mother used when we lived off grid sent an intermittent pulse of electricity and was hooked to an old car battery.

Anyhoo...one strand of electric fencing wire placed at just over knee height to an average woman will keep out the deer. No fooling! You don't have to mark it to make it visible to them and you don't need more than the one strand and you don't need it any higher than the one mentioned. You see, deer are inquisitive by nature and they always move into human territory a little cautiously...and they will put their little noses right out and explore that wire. ZAPPO! They will not jump over a barrier that they cannot visualize easily~which is why elaborate, sturdy, very high deer fencing can be easily jumped unless it has extensive skirting.

No deer...big, delectable gardens....35 years of product testing. The Ol' Bat still has her original fencing charger after all these years and it still works well. Little investment, little work, big results!
 

kstaven

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Moved this to its own topic.

One of our neighbors made the mistake of flagging the electric. The deer see it and know to hop over.
 

big brown horse

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Bee, my friend from S. Africa says that was how they kept the rhinos(!) out of their gardens. Except I think it was lower to the ground.
 

Beekissed

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No WAY! :lol: :lol:

That must have been some juice to that fence! Aren't their hides pretty thick? :th
 

~gd

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One refinement they make around here is to bait that low level line with peanut butter. The scent is supposed to attract the deer. Also the suprise makes a weak charger as effective as a strong one.
 

Marianne

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Maybe we have just been lucky, but we've never had any deer in our garden. We do have it fenced, 5' tall, which I've heard they can jump over. During the nicer months, DH has been instructed to whiz around the perimeter when the need arises.
 

kstaven

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Depends on where you live. In some areas deer avoid human scent and other areas more densely populated they ignore it.
 

the funny farm6

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I don't have any problems with deer or coons! The dogs are very effective on that front. But this year the rats are OUT OF CONTROL!! They got my daughters pair of pidgens, getting my eggs, chewing a hole around where my water lines come in the house for the washer! Going to get some poison this weekend. Kept finding holes chewed in the pumpkins! Also found a litter of 2 day old baby bunnies out on the wire chewed up!
 
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