What are some ways to keep deer out of a garden?

Question

Fences but how high? 6ft? Are there other ways besides a fence?

Answer 1

Here's a site with a college slide show about fencing:
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/NewCrops/deerandbirdcontrol_files/frame.htm

You typically need to be about 8' high. If you want to save some money you could use 2' of chicken wire ($50 for 150ft with 1" holes) then get a package of plastic deer netting from Home Depot or Lowes to use above that. The netting comes in 7' X 100' rolls so if you use it above the chicken wire (with a 6" overlap) you'll have an 8.5ft fence. You can use 10' T-Posts ($7/ea) to wrap the fence around. Buy the chicken wire at a feed store like Big R or Tractor Supply Company in 105' rolls to save money.

You may want to get 3-4' chicken wire so you can bend 1-2ft of it onto the ground (on the outside part of the fence). This will stop digging critters from getting into your garden because they will hit the fence as they try to dig.

You could do a 150' circumference garden for $170-200.

Good Luck!!

Answer 2

In this part of the UK (New Forest) we have loads of fallow deer and roe deer, and both can jump a 1.5 m (4') fence easily. Also a few red deer and muntjac.

You need a 2 m (6') tight fence, of wire mesh. The mesh on our fence is about 15 cm by 20 cm (6" by 8"), and although young roe can sometimes just get through that, the adults and the fallow can't manage it (the latter come in herds of 15 or 20 at a time, and you really don't want those at your roses...).

I've seen two other ways of doing it. One was in a deer park, where stock-netting fences only 1.5 m (4') high were used successfully to keep fallow out of tree-planting areas. Square exclosures did not work, as the deer would find the corners, understand the shape of the fenced area and jump in -- but with circular exclosures they would never find a corner, and just walked past -- they never realised that they had not got inside (any that did work it out were shot...).

I saw the other method recently in the mountains in Scotland, in a very exposed place where a tall deer fence would get blown over in winter or pulled down by the snow. This was a 1.5 m (4') five- or six-strand electric fence, with a metre (yard) in front of that another, metre-high fence of four strands. Deer can jump the height, but not from a metre away. This keeps the red deer out (they're like wapiti/elk but a bit smaller), but not roe, which are about half the size and somehow squeeze between the wires.

Finally, my previous collie dog's had the job of chasing the fallow out of our horse paddock. He had such a strong herding instinct that he would bring the herd back to me instead! Only when they got within 10 m or so would they see me and run off.

Answer 3

We have an apple and pear tree in our back yard. The deer come in and eat those. Our neighbor has a full garden and doesn't have a problem because we have more appitizing food than she does(according to the deer, I guess.)

Get a salt lick and put it where the deer can get it but not too close to your garden. "Marking" an invisible fence around might work. If the deer are used to humans, no windchime, scarecrow, bright light, etc, will scare them. My dog doesn't even scare them from grazing. In fact, they started to chase the dog last year.

Check with your local hardware store to see what they recommend. I think there are certain herbs that the deer can't stand, so planting those throughout your garden might help.

Answer 4

6ft will do and ask a man to pee on all the fence posts .
that marks your territory and it works for many animals
I am not sure about deer.

And they will mostly go for alfalfa ,lettuce and bulb flowers ,some bushes
keep the veggies behind chicken wire
Fencing is the only reasonable option since we cannot blame the deer for being a deer
and if we want to hide things from nature we must lock it in

In Africa we had to fence overhead as well to keep the Baboons out
they are extremely destructive and will throw onions at each other for fun with out eating them .

Answer 5

Seriously, I heard a guy on a call in gardening show say that he went outside at night and "marked" the perimeter of the garden the same way that other meat eating species "mark" their own hunting and feeding territory.

Answer 6

i agree dogs are good, but you can get deer repellent if you have no dogs. chain link or chicken wire fences work fine, but don't grow anything on them or it will get eaten from the outside. my fence is about 4 ft. i do grow cucs that climb it ,but they seem to leave them alone. my grapes i cover with a net of screen cover.

Answer 7

A motion detector wired to a bright light and loud buzzer will keep them out.

Answer 8

Large dogs loose in the back yard will keep them out.

Answer 9

Suround it with human hair. They are afraid of humans so if they smell us around they will most likely go away. I couldn't hurt to give it a try.

Answer 10

scarecrow windchimes ... they are nervous prey animals, any movement, bright colours or loud noises will probably spook them away.

Actually peeing around the perimeter isn't such a bad idea ... if your neighbors don't mind! *lmao*