The Silver Lining - We're having 50+ degree days several weeks earlier than usual and my tulips are peeking out.

The Cloud - The damn deer have discovered them already and are munching on them.

Yeah, I know, First World Problems. I went and bought $50 worth of stakes and deer netting and fenced them off. Looks like shit, but the tulips do well and look great even through the netting.



Last Spring's tulips

Admittedly, the warden might not see it that way, but there's a tasty solution to cheeky prey species...

Shhhhhh......

We planted a butt load of Tulips and Day Lillie's last year without the deers consent. They don't know about them and don't want the word to get out.

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
Admittedly, the warden might not see it that way, but there's a tasty solution to cheeky prey species...

It actually IS possible to get "consent" (in that the warden will turn a blind eye) if they're laying waste to your garden.

However, I think dumping one in the front yard right across the street from the Post Office might draw some unwanted attention...

The damned deer cleared out our Hostas many years ago, took out the neighbors' too. I have a motion-activated reciprocating sprinkler on the vegetable garden or they'd get the tomatoes too. They are not shy about humans, I've been within arms length several times. Fantasies about slitting throats have occurred to me.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
The damned deer cleared out our Hostas many years ago, took out the neighbors' too. I have a motion-activated reciprocating sprinkler on the vegetable garden or they'd get the tomatoes too. They are not shy about humans, I've been within arms length several times. Fantasies about slitting throats have occurred to me.

I've never heard of that strategy for keeping deer away, that is brilliant!

I feel you pain PHPaul. They are a nuisance animal around here and there are thousands of them. They'll eat pretty much anything I plant unless it is surrounded by a 6' fence and sometimes they'll just tear down the fence. I hate them fargin animals with a passion. Even the dog chasing them off doesn't help. They just come back.

I am so sick of the deer around here I could scream sometimes. I had never hit a deer with a vehicle until I moved to my current area ten years ago (grew up 90 miles away). Since here? 11. Last one just the other day. The deer catcher I paid $750 for has paid for itself many times over.

Fish and Game could take care of this problem in one season, but nope. Only one tag allowed per year.

I've seriously contemplated putting the Kubota to work and digging a big hole in the back of my property. I've got almost 20,000 subsonic .22 rounds and a DeadAir Mask. Nobody would be the wiser.

The netting is the way to go.

I tried the vomit smelling anit-deer spray stuff and it didn't last long, particularly when you applied it and it rained overnight. Good-bye Hydrangeas.
Currently I've got twin yearlings feeding on grass in the back yard quite regularly and I know netting is the only thing that will stop them, short of bloodshed.

I never realized how easy is it to manage wildlife pests until I bought my first suppressor.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I am so sick of the deer around here I could scream sometimes. I had never hit a deer with a vehicle until I moved to my current area ten years ago (grew up 90 miles away). Since here? 11.

Uh yeah, what part of Montana would that be?

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I am so sick of the deer around here I could scream sometimes. I had never hit a deer with a vehicle until I moved to my current area ten years ago (grew up 90 miles away). Since here? 11.

Uh yeah, what part of Montana would that be?

Northwest.

Wood goats taste great. Paul, you need a can and a bolt action 22.

We have a lot of deer around the house as well. We put up a fishing-line-fence around our hydrangeas. We have a large bed with about 20 different hydrangeas on the side of the house. We used 30lb test and used the trees around the bed as posts. If you use larger line then the deer may see it. The fence stops about 6 feet from the house on each end so it is easy to access for us but the deer won't get that close to the house. We put 5 strands about 8-10 inches apart. The deer can't see when they get up against is so it seems to spook them. This is the 3rd year we have used this method and the only action on the plants has been when one of them got big enough that it crossed the fence. The end of the branch was sampled.

Our fence is not in the path of the deer as that might cause one to run through it, but is to the side of where the deer travel routinely. So far so good.

I had 8 cornered just after dark last week in the far end of our yard.

Designed an excellent garden fence ELECTRIFIED I put up each season for over 20 years. Worked very well until the last few years...they figured out how to bridge it & passed the Know along to the new generations.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Northwest.

If I can secure a transfer to Kalispell I will help tame the population.

When I first moved into my townhouse, I had 6-8 deer stroll by or hang out nearby. From time to time, they would lick all the seed out of my bird feeder. Since then, Coyotes and development around me has cut down on the population and I am down to 2 or 3 and they come by maybe once a week. When the population was high, I was convinced that someone was feeding them, as they were nearly tame and showed little concern when I was near them. The ones I have now are way more skittish. I wish you good luck! I never did figure out how to keep them off my feeder.

Might a large territorial dog or two make the tulips less tasty looking to the dear?

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Might a large territorial dog or two make the tulips less tasty looking to the dear?

That would indeed work, and did for years.

Sadly, Mrs. PHPaul is allergic and pets are no longer an option.

Wouldn't it have been easier just to post a "Don't Eat the Flowers" sign? Or, use reverse psychology and post: "Eat All the Flowers You Want."

Second thought, just forget the signs because deer have the same reading comprehension as 87% of the voters.

You can always decorate the fence with ribbons and call it a unity garden.
.

Same problem up here, just with moose.