Over the last ten years, the deer population has become a growing concern among gardeners, as well as motorists.  While the gardener is often frustrated, the motorist is actually threatened in some areas by the surge in deer population.  I recently read an article that the “White tail” deer population in our country was estimated to be about ten million in the mid eighties.  Currently the estimates range from twenty to thirty million in a mere fifteen years.

    Two major reasons for this increase would be a recent decline in hunting of deer, and the clearing of woodlands to make room for the humans.  I believe the decline in hunting stems from a change in our attitude towards animals, as well as the loss of hunting grounds because of urbanization.  With regard to the clearing of woodlands, deer naturally graze in open spaces.  By increasing our open spaces, we have increased their food supply, thus promoting the species.

    The gardener's options for preventing the deer from grazing on their tender plants are to spray offensive mixtures on the plants, using mechanical deterrents, or select plants which deer find distasteful.

    There are numerous spray repellents on the market for treating your foliage.  One repellent that has done very well in university testing is Liquid Fence, which is a concoction of rotten eggs, garlic oil, and cayenne pepper.  There are many similar recipes on the market, though the Liquid Fence folks say, “It's all in how you rot and blend the eggs.”  Regardless of what compound you use, applications should be repeated every three or four weeks to maintain an effective level of offensiveness to the deer's sense of taste and smell.

    Mechanical deterrents include a motion censored sprinkler head called “Scarecrow”, which has been reasonably successful.  When an intruder enters the guarded area, be it deer, dog, or spouse, a burst of water sprays a strong stream towards the intruder frightening them away.  Another mechanical deterrent is an electronic ultrasound machine, which emits a high frequency, which is not to the deer's liking.  Unfortunately the ultrasonic machine has been ineffective in the long term, because the deer acclimate to the obnoxious sound.  I too would walk through glass for a good Caesar Salad!  The last mechanical control is the ultimate solution, though it is quite expensive.  This solution is the erecting of an 8 to 12 foot fence around your property.

    Folks I have met from Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York, lay claim to having the worst problem with deer.  Where my brother lives in West Virginia, it is not “if” your car hits a deer, but “when.”  In Maryland there is talk of a hunting permit to harvest an unlimited number of does (female deer) per season.  In New York they are banning people from feeding the deer, and prohibiting the hunters from harvesting deer with horn racks of less than 3 points.

    The gentleman from New York, who told me this, has a degree in wildlife biology, and made some very interesting points.  The ban on feeding the deer is an effort to make them less comfortable with us, so they will return to the portions of their natural habitat, which we have not yet invaded.  To illustrate this point, consider last weeks tragic mauling death of a toddler by a black bear in Pennsylvania.  This man suggested because we have fed wildlife, such as black bears, they equate humans to food, where as they normally would be apprehensive to people.  His thoughts about the hunter having to harvest the stronger and more mature buck (male deer) with the larger rack of horns was quite interesting.  Normally deer feed and rest in the fall to develop a fat layer and ensure maximum vigor as they enter into the hardships of winter.  By allowing the young bucks to proliferate, the older and more productive buck will be compelled to compete with the large numbers of younger bucks.  His struggle leaves him with a reduced fat layer and less vigor as he enters the winter.  The odds of this mature buck living to springtime are greatly reduced.

    While I know the thought of killing deer is quite unpopular to many people, we could help curb this population explosion by declaring “Open Season” and filling the freezers of the food banks with venison.  To allow this population to continue to escalate, we are sentencing the deer to death by starvation, and endangering ourselves by simply driving down the road.  As for the gardener, they have plenty of patrons for the deer's “best restaurant in town.”  Until next week.