If it’s happened to you there’s little you can do about it. Nocturnal browsing deer are so plentiful that they have become a nuisance to homeowners and gardeners. They eat, and trample, anything, and everything!
By Ray Reilly for Press Pros Magazine
For years the whitetail deer has gotten a free ticket to ride simply because they’re cute.
Bambi!
They wouldn’t hurt a fly.
And, it’s a shame that there’s not more of them.
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Some people are so upset with deer hunters during the fall and winter that they destroy tree stands. Others set up noise makers to scare, or alert, that hunters are in the area.
Ever seen anti-hunting groups protest on the courthouse steps, or the statehouse in Columbus? It happens.
And it happens because people are ignorant of the fact that the deer herd has to be managed for both health of the herd, and the safe cohabitation with human population.
And therein lies a problem. For years you’ve read about urban encroachment taking away deer habitat, but the deer have seemed to adjust. Now there are so many to be found on golf courses and in city parks that you get a penalty stroke if you disturb one with an errant shot.
There are actual nuisance permits issued by departments of wildlife to landowners who can prove that they’re suffering crop or property damage. But always after the fact. Someone recently complained that it’s never enough for there to be so many deer in places they shouldn’t be for state enforcement to be pro-active. Last week, one was spotted running across north High Street in Columbus, oblivious to both people and cars. It, like the chicken, was just crossing the road. Curious, no doubt.
And yes, deer in urban areas are a novelty, and they’re cute. But there are so many of them presently that people have had enough, and even people in the country where they ravage gardens and landscaping.
Little question as to what made this track. Deer are highly destructive to sweet corn patches.
Sweet corn patches are raided at night.
Day lilies are munched. The blooms are sweet and nutritious. Hosta plants take a beating. And deer prefer them over wild agriculture forage.
Even if you’re awarded nuisance tags it may, or may not, work. Most people don’t, because what do you do after you shoot a hundred pound animal in 95 degree summer heat. The meat spoils quickly and the carcass smells. And you can’t put it out with the rest of the garbage for Wednesday pickup.
Raccoons are another issue, prevalent, destructive, and a burgeoning future issue because no one traps or hunts them, anymore. They have no natural enemies except coyotes and distemper.
So here are a few suggestions from those I’ve talked to this summer who’ve lost both sleep and roasting ears trying to protect their investment and hard work to have a garden and pretty flowers.
For years farmers would mix dairy barn fly bait with Coke and Pepsi to try to kill off the varmints. It’s a deadly poison, and it works. But it’s also against the law and you can be eating Green Giant corn behind bars if you get caught.
A friend in Knox County simply plays a radio all night. And he can because he has enough acreage to where he doesn’t keep the neighbors awake. Because, he says, “You have to play it pretty loud, and music doesn’t work. And it’s best to play talk radio. Deer respond best to human voices.”
Woven fences with electric current seem to work better than traditional wire. But cumbersome to set up, and requires a voltage converter.
Some have told me that they simply light up the garden…string bright LEDs across steel post that made deer wary to stay away.
I’ve heard of people who hang their dirty laundry in the garden because human scent is a deterrent for deer.
Electric fences! And this gets touchy. Get it?
But there are people who will go to the trouble and expense of putting up a fence to keep raccoons out of the garden. But deer can jump, and a five foot fence is no deterrent to a whitetaile with a taste for Silver Queen.
There have been instances where people who’d had enough just ran 220 through an electric fence. Of course it killed everyone it touched which creates a bigger mess, and you don’t need it that hot. There are voltage regulators that some people use, like for cattle and sheep. But deer, again, can jump over a wire fence. And, you have to be pretty committed to go to that much work. But some are, because they value their garden that much.
But new woven fences have just enough juice, and they click and buzz. Seems to work on small animals, but no word on its effectiveness against deer, and deer cannot sense electric current in the air. Like everything else, someone figured out how to make a better mouse trip and something to sell. And woven fences aren’t cheap. And they’re cumbersome to set up and take down.
Finally, the old folks believed that if you shot a raccoon and hung it up in the garden for evidence it would keep others away, claiming it works because ‘coons are smart and recognize danger to friends, no doubt.
But the smell in hot weather is plenty of reason to go to the hardware store for fence posts, electric wire, and a voltage converter. I like sweet corn, just like you. But I have my limits.
I’ve enjoyed it. ‘Til next time…..
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