Deer in the Garden by KAREN WILLIAMS Illustration by Bradley Smith

Paradise Lost

  Before turning in for the night, you paused at the back door to savor your little corner of heaven, concluding (not for the first time) that the landscapers might have been pricy but the results were worth it. Your yard is just the way your dreamed it would be—a mosaic of flowers, fruiting trees, and exotic shrubs—worth a cover story in Home and Garden magazine, at the very least.

  But that was last night, and this morning you awoke to trampled plants, clipped stems, browsed branches, and a host of tiny cloven hoofprints in the soil. A nocturnal visit from the Jersey Devil? Some people think so.

Oh, Deer!

  The close of the nineteenth century found less than fifty deer in New Jersey. It took nearly a century of management to restore deer herds, and few would argue that the effort has not been extremely successful—in fact, from the standpoint of many motorists and gardeners, too successful. The fact is, in many places deer have repopulated the state to the point of overpopulation. The effects of overbrowsing on the forest understory and to those birds and other wildlife that live in this vegetative zone has been considerable.

  Deer are naturally circumspect around people. But when natural browse becomes depleted, deer play fast and loose with property lines. Left unmolested, they see nothing wrong with browsing your shrubbery and flower beds. You, however, probably have a big problem with deer inviting themselves to dinner at your expense. So what can the wildlife gardener do to limit deer damage in his or her yard?

Active Deterrence

  The only foolproof method is to fence your entire property with eight-foot-high deer fencing. Lightweight black mesh fencing is available through many mail order sources and at many garden centers and feed stores. If deer are a major problem in your neighborhood, this may be the only thing that will work. You, the gardener, are forced to decide how badly you want a garden relative to the expense and time required to construct and maintain a fence.

  However, if deer come through your garden only occasionally, there are several measures available that may allow you to limit deer damage. Start with the idea that deer, while fairly low on the scale of animal intelligence, are capable of learning. Ideally, you should seek to prevent them from learning that your yard is a good food source. If they already know, your problem will take more work to solve. You will have to convince the local deer herd that your yard should be avoided even though they are already feeding there. It is important to remember that whatever you do to discourage deer may not be effective forever. Deer will probably learn that the deterrents you put into place are not true threats to their health and well-being.

  Some of the ideas outlined here are ones that I have used at the wildlife gardens at the Cape May Bird Observatory in Goshen. Others garden visitors have shared with me. Still others I have gleaned from catalogs and other printed material.

  Start by assessing your local deer herd. Where do they bed down? What routes do they take to and from feeding areas? How frequently are they in your yard?

When the local deer herd took their first trip through the Goshen garden, they left all the spicy, fragrant plants alone. Bee balm, catmint, mountain mint, Montauk daisy were all unbrowsed. Others, phlox, sedum, daylillies, were heavily damaged. If the subsequent control measures we instituted had proven ineffective, I had planned to put in more of the unpalatable plant varieties, but this lesson is one worth taking to heart. If you want to keep deer from treating your yard as a feeding trough, and you prefer a policy of passive defense as opposed to active, choose plants that deer do not favor.

  We took other, more aggressive steps, however. First, we erected deer fencing across all deer trails from the woods to interrupt the deer’s regular pattern of movement. We also purchased coyote urine and sprinkled it on the deer trails. These steps did seem to work. No further deer browse occurred that summer. However, an ethical question regarding the means of collecting coyote urine has been raised, and it is one that you should consider. Fact is, the excreta of any large carnivore should work as a deer deterrent. I have heard of gardeners that have zookeepers save lion dung for use in their garden. Still others anoint their soil with their own personal chemical signal—a technique whose success may or may not be contingent upon whether the anointing agent is, or is not, a strict vegetarian.

  That fall, we erected fencing around the newly planted trees and shrubs, since the plants were too small to survive much in the way of browsing. The fencing was taken down in the spring.

Nature’s Balance, or Living with a Little Nibble

  We still have deer. They walk the back of the garden, but are ignoring many of the plants they had previously eaten. When I noticed that weeds like ragweed and lamb’s quarters were being browsed at the back of the garden, I did not pull them out as planned, after one of the garden volunteers suggested that the deer might eat the flowers if their preferred food were gone. We don’t have zero problems. The occasional garden plant still has a bite taken out of it by a deer, but for the most part we are living in harmony with the herbivores.

  CMBO has a mild deer problem. It is likely that many readers are currently thinking that the CMBO gardeners are lucky. For those readers who find their gardens ungulate-besieged, I share the following ideas, gleaned from a variety of sources.

  A company, Deer Busters, based in Maryland, markets a variety of fencing and other products to gardeners with deer problems. One intriguing idea involves the invisible fencing used to keep dogs at home (where the dog wears an electric collar). Put in the fence, get yourself a dog that likes to run deer and let it, to its heart’s content. Deer will quickly learn to avoid your property.

  I spoke recently with a gardener who told me he fences his garden only in the winter. Deer never learn to rely on his site when food is scarce. They ignore it in summer, when food is plentiful.

  Human hair is alleged to deter deer. I have spoken to no one who has tried this technique. If anyone has, please let me know how successful it was. Irish spring soap hung from branches was touted as a solution for a time, but several people have told me it didn’t work for them. Mothballs were another such solution, but they’re highly toxic...not a good idea in a wildlife garden.

Big Brain vs. Big Appetite

  The gardener’s most valuable weapon in deterring deer is his or her intelligence. Whatever steps are taken, the deer will eventually figure them out. The gardener will need to observe deer sign regularly in the neighborhood and always be prepared to try something new. Try things, observe the results, assess and try again. If nothing else, your skills as a naturalist are increasing as you learn about deer habits and, of course, you’ll learn what plants rate high in the epicurean esteem of deer so that, next spring, you’ll not plant them.

  The excreta of any large carnivore should work as a deer deterrent. I have heard of gardeners that have zookeepers save lion dung for use in their garden. Still others anoint their soil with their own personal chemical signal, especially after a venison dinner.