They're cute. They're good eating. And I'd cheerfully shoot every damn one of them on sight and let the coyotes have them.

They've eaten my Hosta. They've eaten my Tulips. They've eaten my Nasturtiums. They've eaten my Solomon's Seal. They've eaten all the buds off my Phlox. They've eaten all the buds off my Daisies. They've eaten my tomatoes. They've eaten my FREAKIN' POTATO VINES!!!

I've tried motion-detecting lights. I've tried every kind of stinky repellent I can find. A couple worked for a few days, and then it was right back to Cervus Elaphus All You Can Eat Smorgasbord. Physical barriers (netting or fencing) work but are a pain in the ass to work with, pain in the ass to weed around and spoil the view of the flowers. Plus, if the menu is tempting enough, they will tear up the netting.

What REALLY pisses me off is that I have neighbors that literally live right in the middle of the woods and grow beautiful flowers. I live in a small village with traffic 30 feet from the house, houses on both sides of me, dogs, lights and noise and the bastards will stand there and watch me walk by within 20 feet.

I can't find any references to a "nuisance deer permit" in the Maine regs so that doesn't appear to be an option. I'm not sneaky, lucky or lawless enough to dump them on the sly.

The only thing I can think of to do is shoot NEAR them whenever I see one. That seems to have discouraged the bobcat that was dining on my chickens, maybe it'll convince them they're not welcome here.

Would something like an airsoft rifle or paintball gun be against local regs?

Motion activated sprinklers?

In many areas one needs a good fence. If you shoot a few, replacements will arrive at 2:00 A.M. anyways.

A friend of mine had similar problems with deer, rabbits, etc., getting into his garden. Somebody recommended using bloodmeal in the soil and he hasn't had any missing produce or destroyed plants since.

We were overrun with them when we lived North of San Antonio.

Made worse by people feeding them corn.

I put an 8’ fence around the garden to keep them out.

As far as landscaping, we had to plant deer resistant plants and they would even eat them when it was hot and dry.

Ended up using a buried-wire fence and collars on our dogs around our .75 acre lot. During the rut, some of the bigger bucks would go after our beagle and Manchester terrier.

Ordered a 10 pack of LTL rubber 12ga rounds. We'll see how that works.

Try having a neighbor who thinks they are cute and feeds them in his yard. By hand on many occasions.

Yeah, they are eating stuff in our new landscaping that is supposedly deer resistant and covered in Deer-Away.

I was late getting the fence up around my garden one spring. Freeloading sons of bitches ate everything to the ground. Fence just stays up year round now.

quote:

Originally posted by SW_Sig:

Ended up using a buried-wire fence and collars on our dogs around our .75 acre lot. During the rut, some of the bigger bucks would go after our beagle and Manchester terrier.

Before my wife developed allergies and we had to give up our dog, we never had so much as a stray cat inside the fence without the dog chasing it off. Since then I can't seem to have anything nice...

It appears no permit is needed:

CHAPTER 921
WILDLIFE CAUSING DAMAGE OR NUISANCE
§12401. Attacking domestic animals or destroying property
Except as provided in sections 12402 and 12404, a person may lawfully kill, or cause to be killed, any wild animal or wild turkey, night or day, found in the act of attacking, worrying or wounding that person's domestic animals or domestic birds or destroying that person's property. A person who kills a wild animal or wild turkey by authority of this section shall report the incident to the Maine Warden Service as provided in section 12402, subsections 3 and 4. [PL 2003, c. 414, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); PL 2003, c. 614, §9 (AFF).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 2003, c. 414, §A2 (NEW). PL 2003, c. 414, §D7 (AFF). PL 2003, c. 614, §9 (AFF).

@trapper189 - Thanks for that. I'll try non-lethal methods first, but I'll print that out for my records.

12 months after his brand new custom "dream house was finished,
Turk spent $1,200.00 on foliage for his 7 acre yard.

Within three weeks 94% of it was deer poop.

It was the only thing he failed at.

In retrospect.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Ordered a 10 pack of LTL rubber 12ga rounds. We'll see how that works.

I've heard that if you use one on the lead doe it'll deter them for quite a while.

A friend has a large garden and for years has kept deer out with a single strand of electric fence about 12" off the ground. Said once they touch it with their nose they never return.

I detest them too. Yeah dummies, fatten them up by feeding them. Now they'll be 2x their normal weight and go through your windshield and kill the driver when struck. Let nature take it's course and they can either starve, or be eaten by something else. Why people think they're cute is beyond me. Let nature take it's course please.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Ordered a 10 pack of LTL rubber 12ga rounds. We'll see how that works.

Careful with those, as they'll likely go right through a deer.

I used to have rubber "dummy heads" for arrows (roughly 3/4 - 1" in diameter) that I'd shoot at them from time to time. At 40 plus yards they'd bounce off them, but anything under that they were fatal. My bow shoots roughly 340ft/sec. Shotgun loads go a lot faster than that.

The only thing I've found that works reliably is killing or fencing. That's it. Other methods may shoo them off temporarily, but they will be back.

My mom and dad had that problem in San Antonio. Even deer resistant plants were not immune. The neighborhood started treating them with some sort of deer contraception.

Went down to shut the chickens up last evening and a doe was standing between the barn and the shop. I yelled at her and she scooted. Or so I thought...

Got curious and walked around the back of the barn and she was standing there looking at me. Her tail wasn't even up. I sort of "herded" her toward the line fence and when I got close enough (<25 feet) she finally jumped the fence into the brush.

No fear of humans at all. Some effin' idiot is feeding her. I shall try various means of reintroducing nature's fear of humans into her.

Paul,

Please don't think I am crazy, but we too had problems with deer.

We planted a bunch of fruit trees this last spring and I was worried about them getting eaten...

My wife says, "We need to get some human hair, put it in netting bags on the trees, and it will prevent deer from eating them".

I stared at her with 'the look'... I told her that if she wanted to do that, I wouldn't tell the neighbors that she is crazy.

Well, she did it (went to local hair cutter and got a bag full), and voila, no deer has touched a single tree. Each tree has an old onion bag with some hair in it.

Good luck!!

It is not uncommon to have 5-6 deer in the back yard in the evening (last week it was 2-10 point and 1 eight in velvet). To keep them out of my wife’s pansie bed, I put 1” square chunks of Irish Spring soap in the beds. Before that the deer had eaten them, after not a problem. Good luck.