Know Your Enemy: Deer
Growing up in the suburbs of Middlesex County, I only came across deer occasionally while venturing out to the more rural parts of NJ, and, back then, they were exciting to see. Now, as a resident of the more rural parts of NJ, I see them near daily, and they’ve caused so much destruction and are so overpopulated (in the past year, 2 have been hit by a car directly in front of our house), and I’m definitely no longer a huge fan.
I found a list of 10 sure-fire deer repellents (From a Max is Back brochure, I cannot claim to have thought of these on my own). I will demonstrate the ones I have found most useful.
Implemented (sort of) at our yard/garden:
*A pack of wolves – Well, we have our 100lb dog, Eddie. He likes to patrol and chase deer off our property.
Patrolling in very early spring
Checking for intruders
*A very HIGH fence – 8FT will keep them out. We were able to do this at the community garden, but can’t really do this around our entire yard.
*Round-the-Clock Go Cart racing – We live on a 40 MPH road, and as mentioned above, 2 have already been taken out, but its sad and dangerous, and I’m not sure how the neighbors would feel about making it a sport.
*Sporatic Machine Gun Fire – Not exactly possible with NJ gun laws, but local hunters are allowed to hunt in larger yards with owners’ permission.
*A deep moat / Live on an island (in the middle of the ocean) – We live near the Rockaway River, and during Hurricane Irene, we got to test this one out. But it doesn’t help if you trap the deer in with you!
Not helpful at all:
*Live in a biosphere – As much as I’d love to make this happen, I’m a few billion (trillion?) dollars short.
*Secretly plant tasty plants at the neighbor’s house – NOPE, that will allow them to eat more, create more, and it will still come back to hurt my yard!
*Landmines – Sorry, my limbs are required to, you know, do anything. I’m not sure where you can buy landmines these days, either.
*Motion activated sprinkler system – it rains in NJ, so I’m not sure this would work after the initial spray.
May 27, 2012
· 
Sheryl · 
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Tags: Deer · Posted in: Gardening Supplies, Great Outdoors
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