Brief by Central Staff
Wildlife – October 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine
Hunting season does a pretty good job of keeping deer away from the roads, but the deer seem to know that it’s illegal to hunt in town — and that yards and gardens often offer an abundance of fine dining.
This problem is not unique to Central Colorado — it’s a national phenomenon, according to an article in the Aug. 21 edition of the Wall Street Journal, which pointed out that America’s deer population has gone from 500,000 to 15,000,000 in the past century.
How to keep them out of the garden? Fences work, but many towns forbid the eight-foot-high structures that are necessary to keep the deer out. There are propane cannons that scare the critters off, but those are also frowned upon in town.
Howland Green, a landscape designer in Rhode Island, was losing money because his customers started saying “Why bother planting a garden? The deer are just going to eat it.” He said the deer “were costing me a fortune, and I had to do something about it.”
So he spent five years concocting a compound that was effective, long-lasting and organic. He started with some putrefied egg-white solids, and added chilis, garlic, and chlorine.
To date, it works, he says, but “No matter how strong it is, deer will eventually get used to the taste.”
Where we live, our neighbors’ yards have suffered from deer invasions, but our yard has remained venison-free. We credit the dog for that — although it should be noted that dogs can do some damage to the shrubbery, and they do necessitate certain yard maintenance with a rake and shovel.