Had an 8' steel deer fence installed in the trees around the property maybe three years ago. $12k. Already had the guy come back a year ago to put it back up in a couple places after I cut up and moved the big stuff. $1.5k.
Had a power outage of two days about a week ago or so due to high winds. There are now at least seven places where big trees have fallen across the fence.
There are deer tracks all over the yard. The motion light out front went off at 1:30 AM yesterday and woke me up. Two deer were literally at the front porch steps. This morning, four deer were grazing out back.
They didn't give me any grace period. It's like they were waiting for it.
I don't think I'll be throwing any more money at this. Maybe try to rig up something involving ropes, or whatever, in the Spring. Snow, cold, now. Also have to clean up blown down trees encroaching in the yard.
It's sad, because the flower gardens thrived with the fence intact. The deer decimate most of the plantings.
A cautionary tale for those considering a deer fence in the trees.
Not sure if there is any harm in letting them in the yard in winter but for warmer times you might want to put some of these sprinklers in the flowers (or anything like this). I do not own any such device so not an endorsement for this particular one, just the first one I found as an example.
There are many doo dads that purport to chase away deer, but I believe a sturdy, high, deer fence is the only proven solution.
Goodness knows, I'll research this thing and others.
Sometime soon, before we get any big dump of snow, I'll survey the situation; try to see where they're coming through, and think about if a temporary rope solution could be do-able. But, as I said, there are 7 spots where big trees took down the fence, so they'll probably just look for another crossing, if they haven't already.
Would having the trees trimmed be a consideration?? Depending on how close to your house, it could also help with fire prevention. About 15 years ago my parents lived NW of Las Vegas, NM. they got a federal grant to trim and remove trees from their property for fire prevention. When those horrific fires went through the area a couple of years ago, theirs was one of the few homes that survived.
I'm assuming that all the links that come up when you google
"high tensile electric fencing for deer"
are wastes of $ that you've researched and found not viable in your area ?
EDIT: It's not "high tensile" but it looks like some folks are finding the idea viable enough to do workshops around it. Knowing how these animals can jump it seems like a tall order (pun intended).
We have a lot of deer in CT. My wife only plants things they don’t eat. She plants some hosta but it is very close to the house. We also have to bring in the bird feeders in the summer or the bears have a picnic.
Hostas are like candy for deer.
I'm not familiar with all the plants deer don't like, but I know they don't like daffodils.
Several early Springs, the trash cans were overturned and rummaged through, which I attribute to a bear. I've never actually seen one here, but a friend saw one a couple hundred of feet down the road from the house.
I was just out there.
I put some rope across where it looked like they were getting through.
I doubt it'll stop them if they're determined though.
Maybe I'll put a Hue motion detector out on the deck to see if it worked, although the driveway motion should be sufficient to detect their early morning rambles.
Judging from the snow patterns, it looks like they are sleeping on the lawn. Although, I don't know too much about deer.
