help! deers in blue berry field

[eccentricfarmer]

Teach the deer about electricity? Peanut butter on a live wire, once zapped even if the power goes out they can associate the scent to something bad!

[greggh]

I have heard that human urine will keep them away. That is I guess that they have had negative experiences with humans. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Human urine as a deterrent for deer encroachment...I know you mean well but deer can move pretty fast and make an extremely difficult target, even if you get close through expert stalking and luck!

Pat

[jml755]

Pat,
Didn't even smile through the first read of your post, waiting for the "Pat in-depth chemical analysis of human urine and its interaction with the olifactory senses of the deer population". Then I got it. LOL

[Pat]

Yeah, it is only effective in low wind situations tool

I used to be subject to random urinalysis and polygraph. The procedure was to contact my superior who would call to tell me. One time he said I had to pee in a bottle topside and I replied I'm bayside right now (a mile away and much higher than my waterfront location) but I'll give it a try!

After that he was more careful with his phrasing. Stuff like that passes for humor among scientists and engineers at a DoD (Navy operated) research and development lab.

All sorts of ANTI-DEER anecdotal remedies are touted, mostly by people who have either never tried it themselves or for whom a single apparent success is sufficient evidence and or they are selling something.

Fences that are high AND wide do work. If the deer can see the height and width they have to jump and it is too great they will not try and get hurt, messing up your fence. Whatever fence you have, it needs to be very well marked so they see it. We mark new electric fence that is ony 3 ft high so the resident deer notice it. Otherwise for the first few weeks the deer run into it because it wasn't there the last time they visited.

Traditional electric fences like you would use with a cow are a waste of time and money. Electric fence and peanut butter. Yeah right. If you were lucky and stuck with it you could teach some deer to avoid peanut butter if you think that would help solve your problem. An electric fence out a few feet from a regular fence is not much good as the deer will jump it and then jump the regular fence. For multiple layered fences to work they have to give too little landing room between them for the deer to be comfortable.

Deer don't need much or any running start to jump a fence.

The right dog on duty inside the enclosure will work. Will deer walking outside the enclosure make the dog bark so much that your neighbors will shoot it? Or will it make you crazy enough to do it yourself?

Shooting a deer sounds macho and it is practical to put one in the freezer and the neighbors freezers too, a fine thing but... what if there are dozens of the deer? Is it legal, will someone rat you out, who gets the midnight to 0800 shift day after day after day with a gun and lights?

Fences never sleep. Make the fence 1. either high enough and visible so no deer will try it or 2 make it high (just not as high as required in #1) and wide. A visible high and wide fence will deter deer from trying. A fence that is sufficiently high and wide is easier and cheaper to construct than one high enough with no visible width. It is just a fact of the deer's athletic ability. Many deer can clear an 8 ft fence. Most deer will not try to jump a fence 6-8 ft high with a horizontal component 5-8 ft wide. No part of the fence above 4-5 ft needs to be reinforced against deer physically testing it. They won't be launching themselves 6-7 ft into the air to "test" the strength of the horizontal part.

One way that is easy to get a visible horizontal component is to put PVC pipe extensions on T-posts. Then put PVC or fiberglass wands cross wise (horizontal) a foot or so down from the top of the vertical PVC extensions. PVC horizontals will sag quite a bit so you need to attach a string from the top of the vertical PVC to the ends of the horizontals. Visualize a stylized Christian Cross with a string from the top to the ends of the horizontals. The load on the vertical PVC is balanced as it is equal on both sides and the horizontals are held up against droop by the strings.

You run strings horizontally, connecting the ends of the horizontal pipes together, one string on each side of the fence. Also connect the tips of the verticals to each other with a horizontal string. Flag the horizontal strings every few feet with strips of white cloth for good night time visibility.

Wally World sells rolls of really good string in the sporting good section. It is black and is very UV resistant (important feature). Don't skimp and get the small stuff the size of heavy sewing thread. Get the bigger stuff, way too strong to break by hand as it will last much longer.

With PVC vertical extensions making the top string well over 6 ft high (7-8 works) and the 6-8 ft horizontals making the fence wide, the deer will likely not challenge it. To be able to mow beside the fence you can swivel the whole thing if the vertical PVC extensions are free to revolve. You need to tie "guy wires" (actually string) to prevent the twisting from wind, not every vertical but just a couple to prevent the whole thig from rotating and loosing its width.


I have friends/neighbors across the highway from me who have a second property (150 acres)about 25 miles south. They planted hundreds of small pecan trees, totally ignoring my dire warnings about the heavy deer population. They don't have a dozen trees left. They have to start over again and have lost a year. John is quite a sportsman, a fine long range marksman, a good wing shot, and has no problem shooting an animal but how many deer is it appropriate to shoot and who gets the midnight to 8AM shift 7 days a week for the first few years till the trees are big enough to survive deer?

They are rethinking their plans of how to start their pecan operation which is to be part of their early retirement/transition to rural based economy. IF they take advice on cattle like they did on little trees they are in for an expensive initiation.

The world is not a Disney theme park. Reality is what happens while you are making other plans or are deluding yourself into wishful thinking that SOMEHOW it will be OK and there will be a happy ending like a movie. You have to MAKE THE HAPPY ENDING HAPPEN with your own actions and not depend on dumb luck or he said she said, I wish, I thought, I hoped, maybe...

You can keep deer off your berry bushes without standing guard duty, hiring a company of mercenaries, or keeping a large alert "lightly fed" dog in the berry field. Proper fences can do it. Some people report success with IR motion detecting systems triggering ultrasonics, bright lights, and even propane "crow" cannons as are used in melon fields or a "Rain Crow." Your relationship with your neighbors might deteriorate if you use the cannon. Over time the non-lethal alternatives to a high and wide fence tend to loose effectiveness as the deer just get used to noise, lights, and such. The dog is a good plan if you can stand the barking caused by deer outside the fence. The high and wide fence works too and doesn't have to be fed or cleaned up after. (I personally wouldn't want a dog confined in my berry patch.) See also "dog dooly" via Google.
I wish you the best of luck.

Pat

[egon]

This method may work best from a stand Pat. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] But patience will be required till one is directly below! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Depends on wind. Oklahoma can have wind in sufficient quantity to go beyond drift into misterizing the stream into ineffectual moisture. I suppose another delivery method such as paint ball technology might get the selected reagent into play but still, who gets the midnight to 8AM shift?

The DIY fence accessory I described will do the deed. There are commercially available deer fencing materials as well as add-ons for DIY fence improvement but I think what I gave is actually more cost effective if the linear feet of fencing needed keeps the parts cost and assembly time within acceptable parameters. Once you have the materials gathered up it only takes a couple minutes per post/section to erect if you aren't totally uncoordinated.

Pat

[egon]

Here in the North it's the ice balls that form! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] A strong wind just gives them a little more whack impact! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]