Deer!

[Dalmatian90]

Went out to get tomatoes for supper...

10+ years gardening here...first time they've ever gone after my squash. And cucumbers, and pumpkin.

!@#%#!@

I saw a bit of damage the last couple days but was hoping perhaps a woodchuck...but what they did this afternoon left no doubt in both volume & height of consumption.

Even ignoring the scare wire that worked wonders last year to keep them away from the beans.

Looks like next years projects include putting up an electric fence around the rest of the garden.

Not sure I should spray my repellent on the plants that are fruiting...I guess I'll try zapping the perimeter tomorrow.

 

[tbow388]

Pesky Critters

Pesky critters have been bad this year.

The farmer that I help lost 1/4 of the tomatoes to wild turkey and crows. Never had that problem before. Might not seem like much but 1/4 of the maters off 400 plants is a great deal of money.

Another person I know that grows watermelons has had coyotes destroy a good bit of them.

A little farther south they have been having hog problems this year like no other.

Hope they don't tear you up too bad!!!

 

[Stihlofadeal64]

Time to declare war on them. When they mess wif muh food - it's on! :terror::cowboy:

We have been hit by rabbits (don't laugh) and a friend of mine has had to declare war on the
squirrels over his corn. It's ongoing I reckon. Some of what you fellas described is on a much
larger scale than what we have. Those deer would wind up in my freezer!

 

[Dalmatian90]

One of these days three things will have happened:

1) I will have a freezer;
2) I will have learned how to dress a deer;
3) I will have a slug gun.

...that day the deer will be in for a MAJOR surprise.

Was fondling a used Remington 11-87 20 gauge slug gun at Kittery Trading Post last week

If Connecticut allowed silencers for hunting (they do for target shooting), I'd deal with the federal permits because I've seen a bolt action 44 magnum silenced rifle that would be perfect for quietly picking them off without raising a single eyebrow in the neighborhood.

 

[jrider]

Don't waste your time or money on an electric fence. We have one for our cows and the deer go over it and through it all the time.

 

[Sagetown]

Buddy of mine grows an organic garden for his vegetable stand. Put up net fence. didn't work. Put up 6' hot wire. They still got in. Last I heard he was still trying to perfect it.

 

[Stihlofadeal64]

Don't waste your time or money on an electric fence. We have one for our cows and the deer go over it and through it all the time.

Spring for the firearm...you don't have to have a large caliber weapon to finish a head shot! :msp_thumbup:

 

[Dalmatian90]

Nom nom nom nom...

It's hard to show the damage with photos (at least in bright light, should try one afternoon in the shade)...but remember -- you shouldn't be seeing squash blossoms! Those were under a thick leaves yesterday morning.

And the pumpkin vine:

This was my first variance from organic in the veggie garden in years -- used Sevin to control Squash Vine Borer, and normally all my summer squash are nearly dead by this time of year. (Do think I figured out an organic way to achieve the same thing next year...or maybe half and half as a test...I only lost three or four plants so to SVB and their life cycle should be winding down rapidly here.)

 

[jrider]

Spring for the firearm...you don't have to have a large caliber weapon to finish a head shot! :msp_thumbup:

We shoot plenty, they grow like weeds around here.

 

[Dalmatian90]

Well, a bit nicer pic -- today's harvest which will be for a family dinner with my sisters and some nieces/nephews, etc. tonight:

And I already dropped off 5# of squash to the soup kitchen this week.

On what keeps deer out, I think it depends on how desperate the deer are PLUS what they develop tastes for -- I have native daylillies all over the place here, my grandparents didn't use to come up from Florida to here until June, and they did just fine. About three or four years ago the deer decided they were edible and started decimating them till I started spraying repellent.

 

[KenJax Tree]

In Michigan if the deer are destroying your garden or crops you can get a permit from the DNR to shoot them year round.

 

[Stihlofadeal64]

In Michigan if the deer are destroying your garden or crops you can get a permit from the DNR to shoot them year round.

yayyyy Michigan!

 

[tbow388]

Mississippi

As far as I know you can shoot any animal year round in Mississippi that is destroying your crops. No permit needed.

 

[hayboy]

Don't waste your time or money on an electric fence. We have one for our cows and the deer go over it and through it all the time.

Its all in how its put up. I quit using 3-4 strands and now have 1 hot wire about 6 in. high off the ground. Go ahead and tell me that's a joke, the last 2 yrs I have had 0 deer problems in my peas and that's what counts for me. I didn't believe the old guy either, I'm sorry.

 

[Marco]

Bang.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

It's stupid to think you can shoot every deer that get's into you garden, and even if you could, what would you do with ALL the meat?? Waste it??? To me, wasteing the meat is insane! And how many deer can you eat???

Nothing but a high fence will guarentee the deer stay out, but there are other things that can be tried first. A radio works most times, a dog tied out there works, someone makes a motion dector that will turn on a garden hose/sprinkler, all of those come to mind.

We have huge fields of "food" grown here, like carrots. I see farmers put up a single wire electric fence around there field, about waist high. Then inside that they put another one, about 4' in from the first one. I still see a deer or two in those fields, but not like it was before.

There are lots of other things folks use, (soap, hair, pee, ect.) but i've never seen them work much at all, at least not around here.

SR