Here's what I'm going to do -- buy a Scarecrow Motion-Activated Sprinkler. In fact, I'm budgeting enough money to get a second one if necessary.

Here's how they work, which sounds like an advertisement for them.

Here's another clip. They don't clang, BTW.

Its efficacy all depends on the layout and size of your garden, but I've read several people's comments saying theirs works great.

I had jury duty with a landscaper. He swore that scattering human hair from the barber shop prevented deer damage. Not sure how often they applied it. A suggestion from a gardening book - something like chicken wire placed on the ground that is unusual to walk on will deter many animals. Good luck!
Jennifer

I love wildlife and we have mad our yard a good place for wildlife to be. ufortanetly this means that we get deer and lots of them (herd of 25 is not uncommon) My vegtable garden is not huge 20 X 10 rectangle so this may have something to do with it but the 3' fence I have to keep out the pesky groundhogs keeps the deer out. The could easily get over it if they wanted but for whatever reason they don't. One thing I do have is a device called the cat stop (its from the smae company as the scare crow) I inteaded it to scare away the ground hogs (it doesn't) however the ultra sonic sound it plays when the heat sensor is avtivated seems to keep the deer away. Another thing to try is stringing fishing line about another 3 feet above your fence with a few lines in the middle. this should help keep the deer from jumping your 5 foot fence.

Hope this helps and I know what you mean when you say your at ar with the deer.

PS. there are a few repelents that work very well but they are rather expensive and have to be reaplied often.

A much taller fence, angled out at the top, and a feeding station for them set up far away from the garden.

This is if you are absolutely sure that it is the deer that are the culprits. We have a good size herd in the woods here and they spend a great deal of time roaming our property because of the ponds and the licks we have around. None of them have ever touched anything in my gardens (no fences). Squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs, and armadillos are another story.

Dave

Deer Deterrence FAQ

Deer Deterrence Tips discussion

I too have habituated deer in the yard daily and nightly. My garden is surrounded with standard stock fencing (recycled) and over top of that I have loosely strung two strands of white cotton clothes line at about 5.5ft and 7.5ft. The deer have not jumped over or through the clothline in three years, but if a section of clotheline is down the deer do jump over the fence.

I have seen a small family of deers near my garden in the past but never they caused any damage because there is several acres of wooded area. This past January Cayotes had got one deer
I saw it the next day, half the corps remaining. But the cayotes ate every piece of it the following nights.

Probably they will not come back to this area.

Here is a video of my motion sprinkler.

Here is a link that might be useful: Motion Sprinkler In Action

I remember the time one of my plants got attacked by a small deer, only once. That made me mad enough...sorry to hear about your deer problems. We've got neighbors that put out deer corn all the time so I think that keeps em off my tomatoes most of the time.

Let some more hunters go and harvest some more deer, but you're not going to get rid of them all that way. The first thing that came to mind is cayenne, but you'd have to wash the tomatoes well to avoid hot n spicy tomatoes if you know what I mean.

A 5-foot fence isn't enough...I've heard 6ft as a minimum.

Just my thoughts. Hope you get a good crop of maters this year.

Anyone heard of using a tea made from dried blood? Supposed to deter deer if sprayed on foliage and surrounding ground. Additional benefit of adding nitrogen. Wonderful aroma at no extra charge.

This is apparently what constitutes some formulations of Deer B Gone and such. These products tend to be granular for broadcasting dry. But tea can be made from cheaper blood meal/dried blood apparently.

I've heard of people using blood meal fertilizer and just scattering it around but I don't think its as effective as the commercial repellents.

I used to have deer, woodchuck and rabbit problems until I put up 8' 4x4 posts and a fence. I burried the bottom facing out one foot and the top is only 6' but it seems to have worked for now. That was 3-5 years ago now. I bought the cheap plastic deer fence but its starting to crumble a bit.

Course I shot all the wookchucks, but the deer stay out as do the rabbits. I heard the key is to not let them get a taste of your crop or they'll be more persistent about finding a way in. I planned on using conduit pipe for a two foot extension but never needed it as of yet.

My dogs chase the deer. There are deer around here but they don't come near my yard.

I got some running bamboo, and it has made a nice thicket from which I can cut 8'+ poles. I space them around my 5' fence and run wires at 1' intervals up to 8'. This has worked well. Deer don't seem to jump even lower fences if there is no landing spot on the other side, so once I get my bamboo support poles up for the tomatoes I don't seem to have any problem either. Spacing out poles and running wires so there is no clear landing space can work even with a lower fence.

Milorganite works great. For what ever reason, our (herds) of deer here don't heat my hostas, daylilies or tomatoes. The only thing they seem to munch on are young deciduous shrubs in the winter.

Again though - if you have problems, use Milorganite. If you don't want it under your plants, just sprinkle it around the perimeter of your garden.

I have used VHS tape and strung it about a foot over my f*nce lines. Any slight breeze and it moves easily shimmering any light that is available.

yeah deer are getting harder and harder to run off around here anyways / try the blood meal and hair first if it doesnt deter them get or borrow some dogs for a few weeks they will run them off / and yeah a 5 ft fence is just a lil jump for deer hehehe / might try some moth balls idk about deer but they do work on ground hogs and skunk / put them in a can or something around the edges of your property / i have an open box in my shed to keep vermin away

I had problems with deer until I visited my local Tractor Supply, planning on purchasing a higher fence. He suggested a battery operated electric fence that I purchased for @ $100 plus extra wire. The poles it came with were too short so I rigged up something to string the wire around the perimeter of the garden at the top of the fence posts. It doesn't produce a really strong zap, but just strong enough that when a deer leans its head over to munch it gets an unpleasant sting. I also strung wire around the bottom to deter rabbits. I haven't had a problem since. My garden is 16 x 24 and the one battery operated terminal worked fine.

Jennie

A 5 foot fence does the trick for us. 2 years ago we had motion sprinklers, and the deer hated them, but we didn't put them out last year because we thought the fence was enough.

If it works, I linked a pic of the deer lounging in the grass by our garden. It includes 2 fawns just outside the fence.

Here is a link that might be useful: deer picture

The deer got after my plants a couple years ago. I used the natural mixes you can find in the store that has cinnamon, eggs, ect, in them but they didn't work. So I pounded a few stakes in the ground and tied some plastic grocery bags to them. I also tied some to the tomato cages themselves. Worked like a charm and they're free at the store. Even the slightest breeze moves the bags which spooks the deer off.

Abby