deer myth

[Ramjet]

Hi .
I have a little story to share about our property and deer. We have this yard which has a small vegetable garden and an area for flowers . Every year the deer wander the perimeter with their new fawns . We have been fortunate to watch several generations growing up.
Years ago it was decided to put a fence up. Asking around our neighbours said deer can leap an 8' fence. I witnessed this last year when a young deer was grazing in our yard . I opened the door and walked toward the deer . It was small . It turned and looked at me . I clapped my hands ,half expecting it to charge me . To my amazement it took a couple of hops ,skips and a jump clearing a hedge with wire and ribbons hanging from it.
The fencing I use is the black plastic which almost appears invisable . This spring I replaced a portion of the fence which the sun had deteriorated . Front yard all secure . The height is good . The deer can look in but not touch .
Yesterday I happened to look out the front window towards our hummingbird feeders .I noticed a brown object flash below the window . When I took a better look I saw a youg deer . I walked out to see how it got in . The fence was intact. I walked towards the deer expecting it to either charge or leap over the fence. It turned around ; walked over to the plastic fence , and stuck his head below the 4" gap , lifted it up and walked out .
I have now staked that part of the fence . That's about as strange as having hummingbirds stay for the winter . We found out that is normal for a certain one .We have lived here for over 25 years and and only saw them spring and summer . Every year we witness something new .
Regards . Roger

[Neal Moore]

Here in West Virginia we have a BIG problem with deer destroying vegetable gardens. My friend strings one strand of electric fence around his garden and hangs orange plastic ribbons from it about every two feet. He then smears gobs of peanut butter randomly on the wire and energizes the fence. After about three weeks he turns the fence off but leaves it in place. The deer seem to remember that contact with the fence is a painful experience and steer clear of the garden. Sounds cruel but the deer suffer no real permanent injuries and the garden remains intact. In February I had $1800 worth of body work done on my car because of a collision with a deer. That makes four times in the past twelve years!!!

[Chase]

Another myth: West Virginians are poor drivers. Probably comes from the fact they only have drivers education in school 3 days a week.
Tell them what they use the car for on the other 2 days Neal.

Chase

[Neal Moore]

That would be Sex Education Class Chase!!!!

[Ramjet]

Hi Virginian's .The Vietnam mention reminded me of the time drugs where being routed out of the military. I was a Clearance Diver in the Canadian Navy . We would attend seminars in which US Vets. would tell of flashbacks while driving their cars etc.
To weed us out ,the counsellors would ask if any one was a weekend user to step forward. If you had a low security risk trade you most likely could stay in the military. Not to many came forward and those that did were soon without a career . The next strategy was to threaten the supervisors with discharge if they knew of personnel using and hadn't reported them . What a stroke of luck . Some of my supervisors were smoking .
It's all in the past now. It was like being in McHale's Navy at that time .The Diving branch at least. Roger

[JohnB]

G'day Neal,
Here in West Oz, Emus and Roos are the problem. I've cleaned up a few of each, luckily all except for 2, the vehicle I was driving at the time had a "Roo Bar".

Of that 2, the Roo was just a glancing hit and never cost much to have the vehicle repaired but the bloody emu was a different story.

Hit the bloody thing with the right front cnr of the car and I was about 130km from the nearest town.

Had to find a good thick branch and leaver the guard of the wheel and then pry the bonnet open to see if there was any other damage that would stop me driving.

Quite a bit of bent stuff but nothing major broken except for the lights.

Cost about 3 1/2 grand to get it all repaired, sometimes insurance pays

[William Young]

We have a LOT of deer where I live . They keep our insurance rates very high.
I used to have deer raiding my garden until I learned that human hair and dog hair are good deterents. I go to the dog groomer or barber (or both) and get a big bag of their floor sweepings . Transfer it into cheese cloth in balls about the size of an orange and tie them on the fence with a string . Lightly mist them with a watering hose or even a hand held spray bottle in the evenings so they smell strong all night.
Also , unravel the contents of an old VCR tape and drape that all around the fence . Even when you think there is no breeze at all that stuff will still twist and turn and is very shiny which spooks them.
Then of course my trusty scarecrow helps some too . He didn't winter very well so will need a change of clothes this spring
W.Y.

[core-eagle]

WE have lots of deer here. We just moved about 5 miles but now have around 50 local deer that have been caught peering in the dining room windows. My Wife like to plant flowers, but the deer will eat most anything planted. Heard they don't like marigolds, but they have to survive til they bloom to deter them.

Tim