UNDERGROUND A&R REPORT

BROTHER AND SISTER DEER IN THE GARDEN

A Word about Brother and Sister Deer.

The original homeowners of the forrest and field, brother and sister deer can be pesky around gardens. They are, after all, foragers, and your plants are some delicious additives to their plate. Your seeds are good too!

How to keep brother and sister deer somewhat under control? This is easier if there are a good deal of natural stuff they can eat if you have a decent deer population locally. They will eat your plants if food is low, you are near extended patches of forrest, or have certain tasty plants. There are all kinds of folklore as to keeping them away. A few will help, some not so much.

Deer are naturally skittish of the top of the food chain, so your scents will make them uneasy. Here are a few that show promise.

Bathwater. Gardens have to be watered, though bathwater might not be good directly on your plants, better to sling it away into nearby brush and grasses. it is full of human scents off all kinds; oils, hair, skin, bath salts (or things such as shampoo and soap) and quite often other types of better not mentioned bodily fluids. Brother and sister deer want none of that!

Hair. Yup, sprinkled throughout the garden areas, it's full of human scent.

Twisted sage - either cultivated or field (broom) safe works excellent if you break it up with your bands and sprinkle around, especially on top of freshly planted seed beds. The oils and minute chemicals off your hands mixed with the twisted and crushed plant scents gives off human vibes. To a lessor degreen, twisted pine or wheat straw also help. Lots of people use alot of straws in the garden anyway.

Irish Soap. This will work moderately well if hung in whole bars on a roap from a low branch, and, if pounded into chunks, put in a sock or burlap, and also hug. Rain actually helps spread this smell.

Sevin Dust. Bone dust would be my last resort. Lots of people use it but it is a poison. Same with mothballs, definitely don't use mothballs, they kill lots of things.

Lime. Works decent with snakes, brother and sister deer could care less.

Sprinkled beer or wine. Yup, best if you're drinking it also. I have also seen, after drinking beer in the can, crushing the can into the ground around the garden, I've seen this work with packs of deer near a forrest garden.

Last, but not least, human urine works excellent, but of course, ya gotta go 'round the garden! Not so bad if you have secluded plots. LOL!

I've heard of some others, pie tins hung up and glass chimes, both of which have shown promise. I have seen whole gardens decently protected by hanging tins. This is called the appalachin scarecrow. Moonlight glittering (same thing in the mirrored chimes) off the tins unnerves the deer.

Sound devices, except for a whole production of lights and sound, tend to be ignored by the deer after a short time. Dogs barking with no body won't rid you of the hooved ones, but your neighbors might not like it all the time. Whatever, if you're in the country, let it wail!

Of course, the canine is the top! Good for those snakes too!