Deer Repellents - Types, and do they work?

There are a large number of homemade deer deterrents that people use and there are also hundreds of commercial deer deterrents found in the market. With the increasing number of deer, many people are looking for ways to keep the deer away, and this makes deer repellents a hot topic. Taste deer deterrents are the type of repellent that works by making plants have a bad taste. There are many spray-on deer deterrents, and they have various mixtures of hot peppers, glue, garlic and rotten eggs.

Biological and odor repellents include human urine, coyote urine, garlic, feather meal, cat or lion feces, bags full of human hair, and fermented blood. Even though these repellents may work, they can be unaesthetic and they can also be off-putting to humans. Chemical deterrents like thiram, deodorant soap, creosote and moth balls will work at a certain level and they also taste bitter.

When an ultrasonic deer deterrent is used, the deer may learn that these devices do not do any harm to them. There are some ultrasonic deterrents that can change their frequency so that the deer might not get used to that sound. The water spraying deterrents may be activated by motion sensors, and these devices can work in many situations. They need to be connected to a high pressure water supply, and they cannot work in sub-freezing temperatures. Note that it may result in a shower for the gardener also.

The use of scare type deer deterrents such as sirens, lights and exploders is not practical because they can be offensive to the humans found near the area. After some time, the deer will become aware that these devices do not cause any danger, and then they may be ignored. The wireless deer fence uses a baited electric fence without any wire. The individual posts have to be placed in the place where the deer may find them. Every post has miniaturized charging circuits, and if the deer tries to smell such a sweet smelling post, it is going to receive a shock at the nose and it will be trained to keep away.

Go back to the How to Get Rid of Deer page or email us if you have any other questions about Deer Repellents - Types, and do they work?