Top 10 Tips for Keeping Deer Out of Your Yard. 

A deer is standing in a grassy yard.

Deer are wonderful creatures but they won’t hesitate to eat anything edible in your garden if the opportunity arises. Gardening near deer territory can be stressful and you must be prepared to deal with destructive deer. Fortunately, there are ways you can keep deer away from your yard. Based on the studies on their behavior, you can prevent them from causing havoc in your yard. 

After keeping the deer out, you can transform your yard space using these gardening and landscaping tips to create a beautiful and welcoming outdoor space. 

Here are some ways you can use to keep deer away. 

 

Plant thorny or prickly plants. 

 

Deer don’t like prickly plants. They’re more likely to leave than eat food they’re not used to. Plant prickly plants along your yard to deter deer from making their way in. Some plants you can try are cactus, barberries, shrubs, and cleome. Concentrate these plants where the deer are most likely to find their way through into your yard. 

 

Plant strong-smelling plants as a barrier. 

 

A strong and unusual smell hinders the ability of deer to assess the environment. Surround your yard with strongly scented plants like lavender, marigold, garlic, mint, and chives. This will make it hard for the deer to smell plants in the yard because the scent of these plants will overpower the other scents in the garden. Compromising the deer’s ability to smell is a strong deterrent because deer become vulnerable to predators if they can’t smell properly. 

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A fenced garden keeping deer out of the yard.

 

Scare them away

 

If you’ve seen wildlife in their natural habitat, you probably know the animals’ sense of flight. Deer will run away anytime they sense any threat. Use this to your advantage to scare them. Apply these methods to startle the deer. 

 

Motion-activated sprinklers

 

These sprinklers use infrared sensors to detect any movement. If any motion is detected, they burst water in the area of the motion, startling the deer and sending them the other way. The sprinklers can be adjusted to target a larger area and they should be placed at the point where the deer mostly get into your garden. 

 

Motion-activated lights

 

Just like the sprinklers, install motion-activated lights facing your garden to scare away the deer. The abrupt lights will startle them and make them run. 

 

Moving scarecrows and shiny light

 

Get creative and create some scarecrows. Hang some reflective material like CDs. Some people have used them and they were able to keep deer away. You can try this out and see. 

 

Make some noise

 

You have to play with the deer’s mind if you are to win this fight. People place radios in their yards to keep deer and other animals away. However, even you can get creative and produce noise. You can hang tins from branches to create noise when the wind blows. Other methods you can use are hanging grocery bags and small flags to create noise when blown. These techniques can work because the deer flee when they feel threatened. 

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Put the right fence 

 

The first thing that comes to your mind after you get invaded is to put up a strong fence in place. Check out these high-quality deer fences you can use to keep deer away. 

Remember, not all fences can keep deer out as they can jump higher than 8 feet. For starters, you can place stockade fences. Deer won’t jump over unless they see what’s on the other side. 

If possible, you can go electric. Electric fences are perfect for keeping deer away but you must be careful if you have kids. They’ll shock anyone who touches them and you won’t like it if your kids get hurt. 

Another method is double fencing where you erect another fence inside the outer fence. This will create a feeling of being trapped and deer won’t bother trying again after getting trapped once. 

You can also fence individual plants that you don’t want to be damaged. You can surround the plants with deer or bird netting for protection. 

 

Grow thick hedges 

 

Plant thick hedges that have thorns to make it hard for deer to force their way in. The hedge should be high enough to prevent deer from jumping over. Hedges will make the deer “blind” as they won’t see what’s on the other side. Because of this, they won’t bother taking the risk of jumping.

 

Use deer repellants 

 

There are different types of deer repellants. You can buy them or use DIY (do it yourself) repellants. 

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Some good DIY repellants are: 

  • Blend an egg with a glass of water (you can add pepper) and sprinkle over the plants. 
  • Use pepper spray on plants. You just need to blend hot pepper with water to create the spray.
  • Create a combination of 1 cup of milk, a tablespoon of dish soap, and 1 egg. Mix with water. Spray the plants with the mixture. 

They’ll not affect the plants and the smell will keep deer away. 

 

Sprinkle some soap 

 

Irish soap has a very strong scent. You can shred it and sprinkle around your garden. The strong smell lasts for around a month and it’ll repel deer and rodents away. It doesn’t affect the plants. You just need to reapply if there’s heavy rain. 

 

Use something stinky

 

Human urine can help. This idea isn’t attractive but can be helpful. You can be creative by telling your boys to “water” the perimeter of your yard. The smell can keep deer away. Be careful not to overdo it.

 

Let the dogs out

 

A dog’s scent can help keep deer away. Deer have a powerful sense of smell. If they smell a dog’s scent, their defense instincts against predators may make them flee. Letting your dog roam around will leave a scent behind which will help keep deer away. Trained dogs may chase off the deer. This can save you a lot of trouble. 

One thing you should know is that deer are intelligent. After some time, they’ll get used to these tricks and will come in with or without them. You need to be alert and change tactics. You can adopt permanent methods like deer fences and hedges. Check these steps on how to build a deer fence to keep deer away.

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