It won't. They will merely browse around and among the sticks. You really can't get deer out of your hair on the cheap. Only methods that make the plantings completely inaccessible to them are effective. You have to keep the target specimens coated with foul sprays at all times during the browsing season, put secure cages around each that do not permit any reaching in, or (best choice) effectively fence the entire planting area with deer fencing high enough to prevent jumping over and tight enough to prevent crawling under.

I agree with bboy z8 WA USA that the defensive fortifications pictured in your posting will be ineffective in repelling a deer attack on your flora. I don't think deer are especially smart; but they have rapacious appetites and an ability to bound into the air and run quickly. They seem quite accomplished at guerrilla warfare. A cat brier defense just doesn't cut the mustard.

Have you thought about strategically placing bars of Irish Spring soap in the besieged areas? Its pungent fragrance is reputed to be an effective deer repellant. I save our used bars of Irish Spring and toss them near our camellias, which are always being eaten by the deer. I think Irish Spring may be of some help with this problem. As the Irish lass says in the Irish Spring commercial, "A manly scent, but I like it, too!" Our deer seem not to like it and, therefore, skedaddle.

Thanks jay! I've heard about Irish Spring soap, but never used it, so I'll put it on my grocery list - the more deterrents, the better!
By the way, so far no deer have browsed them. I was just out looking at them, and the shumard oak has grown enough, unmolested, that I propped some of the sawbrier up, teepee fashion.
Sherry

Deer don't like the smell of soap because they associate it with people, and therefore, with danger. If the deer have become habituated to people, soap won't scare them. Don't rely on it!

Resin

Where you have the four logs, place rolled welded wire and then use four more pieces to protect the four corners. These second 4 pieces are actually placed up on the first 4 pieces, almost making a circle around the tree. The deer will then go and eat your neighbor's trees.

I have used the above method for years, protecting my trees and shrubs. I saw a picture and description in Organic gardening about 7-8 years ago.

The wire is not cheap, it comes in rolls of 100 feet or 50 feet and the length comes in 5 or 6 feet. The 6 feet is best for the first 4 pieces, but the 5 foot pieces for the corners will work fine. Lowe's has the better price and you can usually find it there.

If blackberries grow up around your trees, leave them. On my place any tree surrounded by blackberries is safe, both from browsing and buck rubbing. But the blackberries do have to be thick--one or two canes will not do the job, so after they start growing, it will be three years until they offer protection.

--Spruce

Hoseman, I am not clear from your post how you install the wire. Do you place it flat on the ground so that the deer won't like to step on it? What size pieces do you use?

For deer protection I purchased nylon bird netting in 20 ft x 5 ft rolls. This winter I cut the appropriate sized sections from the rolls and tied them around plants I wanted protected - I even spread a whole roll over an ivy covered rock (its a huge outcrop I am trying to improve the look of) which the deer usually denude every year.

Well I got ZERO browsing for the first time. Cheaper than Cyote urine which was a total (EXPENSIVE) joke. Soap bars were effective - until something (Racoons?) ate them.

You cant beat nylon bird netting - its fine enough thats its invisible beyond about 10 feet. Deer netting is more expensive and quite visible and less pliable than bird netting. Metal deer fence/netting is even more difficult and visible.

i use a rifle.

kidding aside, you will need to either completely surroudn teh trees with somethign the deer cannot pick thru, or you will need something to scare the deer off. a yard dog will work wonders for this. even just a couple dog statues and a bottle of coyote urine would do it. set the statues out wher ethe deer can easily see them. then at various points aroudn your perimeter put out a generous dose of yote pee. the deer see teh "dogs" and smell the pee and they move quietly away.

I think if you try something other than wire cages it will depend on how many deer are looking for food.
I have had luck makeing a brush pile around a apple tree,I then placed a spiral tree gaurd to keep mice off.This worked good until near record snow allowed the mice to chew the bark above the tree gaurd.I can't tell if the new sprouts are above the graft but I'll find out when it gets it's first apples.
This winter I tried deer away spray on Arborvitae and it worked,but deer numbers are down some so maybe that is what saved them.
I worry about all the plants that suffer from heavy browseing that don't get the same protection,if deer numbers are not knocked back every so often we lose the diversity of our woodlands.Almost as bad as Dutch elm or Chestnut blight.

lp

Folks like davidandkasie post without reading prior posts:

coyote urine DOESNT WORK....ita a way of separating you from your money. I have seen deer walk right past a bottle of my expensive urine...........@ $20 a bottle?

I have hopes that when I finish my fence I'll be able to leave my dog out and no longer have a deer problem. Assuming a good dog who actually does her job, this must be one of the easiest solutions to deer damage, right?

Unfortunately, we have about 75 acres and won't be able to fence it all; here in upstate NY, near the Adirondacks, the damage caused by deer is almost hard to believe. I walk out back and ALMOST EVERY small tree has been eaten on! We definitely seem to have an out of balance population of them.

Deer do most of their damage at night down here, and my dogs sleep in the house. On the rare occasions when I'm out with one or more of them and they spot a deer, a big chase ensues. I guess I should harden my heart and get a dog that stays outside the fence 24/7, but I know I'd give in to their crying to come in, and I sure couldn't leave one out in the rain or on a cold winter night.
You'd think all the dog poop and the smell of all the urine my male dogs puts on trees would drive the deer away, but apparently not. I don't have the huge deer problem here that some have in other places, but it's still pretty bad.
Living in the country/woods may keep the deer from trying to knock down my cages or browse through thorns - there's so much they can browse on nearby.
Sherry