Try hanging Dial soap(bars) around them.I hear they hate the smell.

Betsy

I had a serious deer problems last year. I also have a German Shepherd, but she's always in the house and doesn't even bother barking at the deer.

I did try hanging Irish Spring from nearby trees in the early Spring (no idea if that was helpful), but I also sprinkled Milorganite on the two outside beds. I only applied it twice this year (about six weeks apart), and the deer haven't come near the beds so far. My husband thinks it stinks, but I barely notice the smell. And if it works, who cares, right?

The Lowe's garden center employee tried to dissuade me from buying Milorganite. She told me I just had to kill a raccoon or crow and hang it to rot from one of the nearby trees. I told her, "Just the Milorganite, please."

The stub will grow new leaves.Milorganite does work for most people that use it.I don't have a deer problem and forgot about the fact that it works.

Betsy

Forgot to tell you that all the daylilies came back with a vengeance, despite being clipped nearly to the ground. It could be they liked the hard pruning, or perhaps they just appreciate the fertilizer. In any event, I didn't lose a single daylily.

thanks all! I had forgotten about the darn deer!!!
My veggie garden is in one of my fenced gardens about 800 ft from the main house. I will try the Milorganite for sure---I don't have the time to hang something dead up!!!! ugh!!!If I could get my hands around that bambie!!!oh well I chose to live here with them in the woods!!!what can I say--the dls look as good to them as they do to me!!!

My dog friends wanted to drop off hair clippings and poop !!Thanks but I'll TAKE the milorganite !!!! cole

Soap works for a week or so. CD's hanging from trees works for a week or so. Plastic grocery bags making noise in the breeze works for a few days. BUT ------- for me anyway, Milorganite has worked for about 10 years now. I sprinkle it around the gardens in the spring and fall and then once more over the top of a heavy snow so the deer don't get used to walking through the gardens.

It is a very cheap and effective deterrent.

Get one of the 'Scarecrow' impulse sprinklers. That will help when the sprinkler spray hits them.

thanks again for all the input! i'm watching for them tonite!!!

cole and canines

(I say the following to help explore options, I don't mean to offend anyone).
I found a 30-06 works well, along with a compound bow. Rifle season is the month of November here. Also, in many states bow season lasts from September to January.
Many states also offer extra Nusance tags.
If you are not a hunter, just ask around, in most states there are dozens of hunters who would love to hunt on your land.
If you don't like venison, donate the meat to the local food pantry. I normally donate 2-3 deer to our local soup kitchen, and 2-3 deer a year to needy families at my church. The meat is always appreciated.
I also catch/shoot 1-3 rabbits per week, year round.
This may sound harsh, but the reality is, if I and my neighbors didn't harvest rabbits and deer, there are so many around here, I wouldn't have a garden, fruit trees or daylilies.
Hopefully, you are only dealing with a couple of deer, and the deer don't bunch up during the winter time, like they do here in South Dakota. But having lost over a dozen fruit trees and uncountable vegetables to deer and rabbits, I empathize with you as you try to defend your daylilies against these seemingly amiable, but very destructive and frustrating foes.

Before anybody jumps on them,I just want to add a footnote to the above.Each state issues deer permits according to the deer population.They refer to it as harvesting the deer.If a farmer does not harvest his crop,it rots in the field.Like it or not,if the overpopulation of deer is not harvested,they starve to death. If enough deer are not "taken" during the season,states will send out their own crew to harvest them.

Betsy

Deer are really a pain here in mendo--what has happen many of the LARGE ranches have been broken up and people are moving from the bay area. YES all the way up here to where sasquach left her thong!!! On top of it the pot growers all drive them south from Humboldt county, to were ,US!!! Can you picture this, a bunch of stoned deer with munchies checking out my DLS!!! NOWAY!! The season is on and I do need dog food!!!!No more Mrs. Niceguy here!!! not after somebambie toped off my "nekked lady on a tractor"------sob--
the dl defendor in mendo,cole

Deer season is coming soon and we will get a couple for food. Unfortunately, when it is 'deer season' the deer absolutely know it and are very hard to find. All spring and summer and now they are in the yard every day. We see them playing and having a great time. In another month when deer season starts here, they will not be around. (I expect there is a mole in the Dept. of AG.)

They are not smart enough to not run in front of your car at dusk, but they are way too smart to get shot!

I live on some family acreage in East Alabama. It's pretty rural (closest neighbor is 1/2 a mile away) and we are surrounded by trees. I see deer all the time....often coming within 20 feet or so of them when we surprise each other in the front yard. They are pretty brave both day and night.

Even with this abundance of them I have not had ANY noticeable deer damage to my veggies, daylilies or hosta (I wish I could say the same of my calico -- I can't tell you how many scapes she broke this year rolling her fat butt around in my beds lol). Have lived here 5 years and always had daylilies. They are in a small open field and I now have roughly 600-700 green unprotected clumps out there. The only thing I can figure is that my closest neighbor who shares our common gravel driveway plants deer plots (I think that's the term?) in a couple of spots along the gravel road just within a 3 minute walk of our house. I'm not sure what type of grass he plants for the deer to feed on but whatever it is it seems to keep them happy enough to stay away from my garden.

Of course I suppose that could backfire and you wind up with more deer coming to dine on your generosity. But as long as they're eating from the deer plot and not my plants I don't mind having them around.

Danielle J.

I live in town and deer comes in my yard,and was eating everything in sight.They wiped out my roses and the DL's too,so I had to special order some bags of that fertilizer Miloragnite,stuff at $ 15, a bag.It didn't work here.They left my plants alone for about a week,then came back and ate them up again.I learned about "Deer Scram" and its rather expensive too,but it works.Will keep the deer away from 30 to 60 days with one good application then have to put it out again.Its kind of a powdery stuff and you go around the flower bed sprinkling it in aabout a 5 inch path.Works for me where nothing else would.

Jean
"

thank you all for the BAMBIE INFO----Two nites ago--I watched for them with my shephard Brock---the darn BAMBIE are so bold and kinds cute too.
We found their trail.---a hunter friend (our traper )told me of a sented oil to get! wolf urine --- UGH!!!-- I'm sure not short of urine, I have a kennel full of dogs.
I went around on the atv spraying liquid fence I bought undeluted ---the deer had not come here before the DL garden. They went to my neighbors. She had the better pickings---
I'm checking into Deer Scam also DEER GONE it's a loud BANG and lights>that should get them----We had an old hippy up here who fed the bears and the deer on his place. It got so bad the trapper had to come and rescue him when a bunch of new bears came down from Mt. Shasta and wanted to kick him out and take over!!!! I don't want the deer to even know I live here!!
I came to their forest to live and I don't want to make waves. They can even sleep here ,I'll share, but PLEASE GO HAVE DINNER SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!The BML land next door, about 20,000 acres??? NOT enough for them!?

I even put in a acre pond for water (we have lots of fires up here)....the bambie is selfish!!!!! best buds to all
off to garden --co and canines

A quick question. Does Milorganite work because it has a bad smell upon application, or does it work because the plants absorb it, and it alters the taste to the deer?
Thanks.
Susan