Stopping deer from bedding...

[Bullwinkle]

I have one area of the farm where the deer bed on top of a hill and can see you enter the property if you access from the SE(best way with predominant wind)

There is a lot written about getting deer to bed in certain areas, any practices out there to stop them from bedding in a certain location without just human pressure?

 

[boot]

Scarecrow? I know there are a lot of products out there people use in their gardens, like sprays and similar stuff that deer don't supposively cant stand.

 

[Native Hunter]

Yes, build a bunch of nice trails into it from several different directions. Before long every dog, wolf, coyote, bobcat, mountain lion, trespasser and sightseer from the whole neighborhood will be using them regularly and the deer will stop bedding there. It's a proven method done by numerous people.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Scarecrow? I know there are a lot of products out there people use in their gardens, like sprays and similar stuff that deer don't supposively cant stand.

I wonder if a small loud windmill would do it. You know one that wasn't greased well?

I only need to cover about 2 acres on a peak of a hill

I don't ever want to walk up there. I need a permanent solution or at least annual

 

[boot]

I wonder if a small loud windmill would do it. You know one that wasn't greased well?

I only need to cover about 2 acres on a peak of a hill

I don't ever want to walk up there. I need a permanent solution or at least annual

Yea come to think of it that actually might work pretty well

 

[swat1018]

I wonder if a small loud windmill would do it. You know one that wasn't greased well?

I only need to cover about 2 acres on a peak of a hill

I don't ever want to walk up there. I need a permanent solution or at least annual

No.

 

[deer patch]

The windmill will only work for a few days to a few weeks at best until the deer get used to it.

 

[useyourbow]

Hang a treestand. Seems to always deflect deer for me.

 

[Jeff H]

Milorganite ? Not permanent but applied every two weeks or so will keep deer out of an area. You would only want this through the hunting season right ? I don't know how long your season is but here that would be 2 to 3 applications. "Deer away" or plot saver spray should also work but also has to be applied every couple of weeks.

 

[j-bird]

I will agree that a noise is just another thing they will adapt to. In the winter time I have deer tracks in the barn lot where corn was spilled and the grain dryer blower is howling.......doesn't seem to phase them. I have seen deer bed within 30 yards of a road as well and they won't budge when traffic goes by at a decent speed.

What if you line this area with some sort of screening ......cedars, MG or something. The deer can still bed where you know they are but you eliminate their ability to see you at a distance?

 

[Bigeight]

2 acres would not be that big of a project to hinge every tree low on top of that peak creating a dead zone. Hinging waste to knee high has worked for us IF there is enough trees to create an area a deer would have to bound into or out of to access it.
Or perhaps give the area to them to bed on and just thicken up the bedding area to block their view ?

What's the area like now? Timber? Grass ?

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

I agree with bigeight, if they are wanting to use a certain area obviously they like it for a reason. If it was possible to enhance the area I believe I would try that first. Hinge cutting or windrowing a brush pile in their line of sight may be an option. If there is no brush to work with maybe a planting of some native grasses would block their line of sight for your access point. If these options don't work I like Natives idea of just opening the area up as a travel corridor and let nature do it's work.

 

[Jeff H]

What if you line this area with some sort of screening ......cedars, MG or something. The deer can still bed where you know they are but you eliminate their ability to see you at a distance?

I love this idea ...maybe in combination with Bigeight's idea of hinge cutting low would be the ticket !

 

[useyourbow]

This thread got me thinking. If I knew deer liked a particular area to bed the last thing I would do would be to try and change it. I would investigate changing my behavior rather than trying to change theirs.

 

[j-bird]

All I will say is that in most cases if changing access was easy - most would have done it already. I know on my place if the deer sit in the right place they can see me coming from several hundred yards away. That doesn't mean I'm going to drive the better part of two miles, cross a neighbors property just to access a stand. If you are that hard-core fine, I'm not. That is why I planted some field buffers to help this situation. It helps, but sometimes it still isn't perfect. Now I'm not stomping thru or near a bedding area if I can avoid it, but sometimes you simply don't have much of a choice.

I wouldn't go in and destroy the bedding area - but there are things you can do to limit that sight distance and give yourself a better access without having to re-invent the wheel from an access stand point. You may only have to screen on one side......

All properties have limitations and issue we have to either work with or around. Property access is often one of those things that tend to not be perfect - you can make improvements, but it's seldom perfect. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[buckdeer1]

Human intrusion on a regular basis is about the only thing that makes deer not want to bed somewhere they want to bed

 

[Bullwinkle]

I am planting a Norway spruce screen to fix it once and for all but that's 8-10 years away before it will be effective

The hill is 20-25 year red pine with pine regen and black berries under the trees. Hinge cutting not an option. Trees are 14" diameter or so

 

[Chummer]

Cut and pile some pines every year for a blockade. By the time your spruce are big enough the area will be that much thicker from cutting the pines.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Cut and pile some pines every year for a blockade. By the time your spruce are big enough the area will be that much thicker from cutting the pines.

The hill is very high - they can bed all along it over 60-80 yards. I can't imagine trying to try to blockage them.

I have to find something that disturbs them beside human activity that doesn't require going up there ever.

 

[Bigeight]

I am planting a Norway spruce screen to fix it once and for all but that's 8-10 years away before it will be effective

The hill is 20-25 year red pine with pine regen and black berries under the trees. Hinge cutting not an option. Trees are 14" diameter or so

If a Norway spruce will fix it once and for all, will things like switch grass, Miscanthus, or Egyptian wheat just on the side of if be the fix until then ? Either walking down the side of it, or wide enough to walk down the middle?
Then eliminate It when the Norways are up and running....