Deer Proof Your Garden & Trees

Springbank's rural setting brings in a lot of wildlife to your backyard, especially deer. While on one hand they can be beautiful to watch, on the other they can be destructive to the foliation on your acreage.

The following suggestions will help you to protect your garden, shrubs and trees from the deer roaming about our community.

• To remove the velvet from the antlers
• Marking their territory
• It happens primarily during the month on November when they are in rut.

Prevention—option 1

Pound a fence post into the ground as close to the tree as possible. If the deer can’t thrash the tree around, he looses interest and moves on.

 

Prevention—option 2

Install a wire cage around the tree at least 5 feet high. The cage must be secured with three tent pegs in the ground or some other practical means.

Why the above two methods work best

Deer need to be able to thrash the tree around or rub their antlers up and down the tree with a side to side motion. The fence post prevents him from thrashing the tree around. The wire cage does the same thing, but in addition will prevent the deer from foraging on the new buds. Unable to rub his antler or forage, he looses interest and moves on.
 

Protecting Ornamental Trees from Deer

Why Deer rub their antlers on trees:

• To remove the velvet from the antlers
• Marking their territory
• It happens primarily during the month on November when they are in rut.

Prevention

Install a wire cage around the tree at least 5 feet high. The cage must be secured with three tent pegs in the ground or some other practical means.

Protecting Shrubs from Deer

Mix the following concoction