I can't speak from personal experience, but I had heard that it was Irish Spring soap.

A tip I read in a magazine once was to tie white plastic shopping bags onto some nearby branches (not too high). Apparently the deer read them as a danger signal (think white-tailed deer) and skedaddle. It certainly couldn't hurt to try. Sprinkling a little bloodmeal might also help, but that would get expensive in the long run.

Deer Be Gone and all those sprays work if you do it religiously and alternate them. Our deer have never left. They munched away all summer,fall,winter and are still at it. I looked out the window yesterday and there were at least 20 of them in my neighbor's pasture.

Save the soaps for the shower. I tried that a couple of years ago - no luck. The biggest insult was the deer hoof print in the middle of a squishy rained on bar of Irish Spring.

Liquid Fence is the only thing I can rely on, though I do use bloodmeal also. I figure if nothing else I am giving the plants a little fertilizer boost.

Alexa

The deer never leave here either. I shoo a herd out of my flower beds every day or so, all winter long. They eat the new leaves on the semievergreen daylilies clear into the ground.

George

"The biggest insult was the deer hoof print in the middle of a squishy rained on bar of Irish Spring."

LOL! Still laughing...

I gave up on trying to repel the deer, and only plant things they don't eat. So no tulips, but loads of daffodils.

Funny, funny visual of a deer muttering unmentionables will grinding his hoof into the soap!!!! lol

They have been around here all winter and are bold as brass !! When I come home they stand in my driveway and glare at me as if I am driving through their restaraunt !!!
Last spring and summer, I sprayed liquid fence, but it gets quite expensive to reapply after every rain !! I made little Queen Anne foil collars for all my daylilies last summer that worked, but if I missed one bud...whoosh it was gone !! Has anyone tried the motion activated water spray ??

I have the Con-Tec Scarecrow motion activated water spray and it works well. Very amusing to see the deer take off when they activate it - same goes for unsuspecting friends and family! It is adjustable and the herd learns pretty quickly to avoid the area - but they will come back now and then so it's best to leave it activated.
On the negative side you will need a water supply, have to disconnect and drain in freezing weather, and it has a tendency to get false activations on a windy day.