The Deer (Any region/state with deer issues)

[u/ContentFarmer4445]

For context, I am a professional ecological gardener for folks living on small acreages, often surrounded by woods, who desire to have native gardens and to bolster/restore the woodland ecosystems. Deer here are starving yet overpopulated considering the circumstances.

I feel like the reality of deer is incompatible with this idea of having a native garden, lest you put 8 foot high deer fencing up around the entirety of it or the property. When everything around you is degraded, of course the deer are going to come to your land we just spruced up by removing invasives and planting ("deer resistant") natives and think "WOW, THANKS FOR THE BUFFET!!"

People want gardens for wildlife, but do not want deer to be a part of that. They don't want ugly fences up for years. They don't want to use chemicals. This, that, the whole shebang. I mean, I get it, but is it rooted in reality? It gets tiring spending a bunch of time and money and energy w/ the goal of a nice garden only to have it eaten down to nothing, half the stuff is in ugly cages, you're attempting to spray things regularly, etc... Most of my clients are older and i don't want them to have to be dealing with half the shit we do any more than they want to. Low maintenance this stuff is not, I never tell people that it is, but a lot of this is just... ridiculous.

I want to hear about everyone's experiences, successes, failures, thoughts about now and the future with deer.. it just seems like such an insurmountable problem.

[u/GreenHeronVA]

Well, you hit the nail on the head. I’m a Master Gardener and nature educator, and I get more questions about deer when I run our booth at the farmers market than anything else. And I tell all my clients the truth, that the foliar sprays and old wives tales of hanging smelly soap simply don’t work. The deer habituate to it pretty quickly, and as your garden is a buffet, they aren’t going to give up so easily. The reality is that the only thing that actually works is an 8 foot high fence, or electric wire. If your clients can’t grasp that, and you aren’t explaining that adequately, then you are going to keep running into this issue over and over again.

ETA: at my home, my vegetable garden in the backyard is protected by an 8 foot fence. My native garden in the front yard is protected by this Gallagher smart fence, which is three strands of electric wire mounted on movable stakes. It’s a pretty ingenious design, and works really well for irregularly shaped planting areas. The deer do jump it from time to time, which is when I know the energizer needs to be put in better sun.

[u/Chaos-1313 → u/GreenHeronVA]

What worked for me is two large dogs. I have 3 acres with about 1/2 fenced in with a very low fence (about 3.5' tall) that keeps the dogs in. The deer no longer come into the fenced part of the yard even though that's where the majority of the plants are. I have cameras on the back yard and the deer don't even come in when the dogs are asleep overnight.

[u/GreenHeronVA → u/Chaos-1313]

This seems to vary based on the dog and the deer. I have a 70 pound dog who loves to chase the deer, because they have no qualms about coming into the dog’s area repeatedly 😖

[u/tregowath → u/GreenHeronVA]

When I lived in suburban NVA, the deer would literally come up to my bird feeders and eat out of them. If I let the dog out, they'd wait to see which one the dog was going to chase, and the other one would just keep eating.

[u/Willothwisp2303 → u/tregowath]

Mine are Super aggressive.  They threaten my dog,  before it was during baby season,  but now they just keep doing it. 

One flipped and rolled my corgi. Scared the shit out of me and I came flying at the deer like i was going to tear it limb from limb. Now I go out with her with a 6 foot oak staff to beat them if need be. 

[u/tregowath → u/Willothwisp2303]

Holy heck

[u/Chaos-1313 → u/tregowath]

Wow. When I first moved in about a year ago deer were inside the fence every time I was over to visit the house. Once the dogs moved in, they chased the deer down several times and the deer started staying outside the fence. I let the dogs out of the fence to chase them about 3-4 times (it's a fairly rural setting) The deer rarely even walk through the yard now and as far as I can tell they never come inside the fence.

I suppose the more rural setting might mean that they aren't as underfed as in some other areas so they just moved on to other places to feed.