Keep deer from snacking on my trees

ABCarve

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How about motion detector to set off strobe lights and recorded shotgun.
 

penumbra

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How about motion detector to set off strobe lights and recorded shotgun.
That would work. They hate loud noises. But I am afraid at my house we wouldn't get much sleep. They are a nuisance but I love my deer. We have 7 of them that I see almost every day.
 

ABCarve

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That would work. They hate loud noises. But I am afraid at my house we wouldn't get much sleep. They are a nuisance but I love my deer. We have 7 of them that I see almost every day.
our deer used to be pretty wild and timid, however they have become brazen over this mild winter. Summer they stay away but they chewed away a lot of my favorite shrubs that are close to the house. Do you spray in winter?
 

just.wing.it

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Not regularly and my yew shows it. They left it alone for 20 years and then said "F" the rules. Past few years the have practically destroyed it.
I was surprised to learn that rabbits don't mind a little taxine in their diet....but deer too! What the hell?
 

penumbra

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I was surprised to learn that rabbits don't mind a little taxine in their diet....but deer too! What the hell?
I know, I know. There is an old adage that no plant is deer proof, but that some are more resistant. Twenty years or more they left it alone and now the have about destroyed it in the past 3 years.
 

Javaman4373

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I had deer defoliate one of my landscape yews during the winter. I have since successfully protected the other one by surrounding it by rolls of sheep fence that we use as tomato cages in the garden in the summer. They are about 3-4 ft in diameter x 4 ft high and they are laid on the ground horizontally. They are just wide enough that the deer can reach over them and they will not jump them to get at the shrub. I block my bench with bonsai plants on it with the same cages.
 

August44

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Last time I checked, yew will kill deer if they eat it. Yea!
 

August44

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WHY IS IT DEADLY?​

Japanese yew, a tree-like shrub that can grow 20 feet if protected from pruning shears, contains taxine A and B—deadly to humans, wildlife, horses, cattle, sheep, goats and dogs—even in small quantities. Whitetail deer, though, can consume it and walk away seemingly unscathed. Mule deer aren’t so lucky.

There’s really no warning for elk and other wild game. One minute they are munching on yew, then they wheeze a few times and die of poison-induced cardiac arrhythmia. Humans take a bit more time to succumb to it, taking around 30 minutes before yew poison causes heart failure. Two notoriously cunning women in 15th century Europe—Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine de Medici—used it to dispose of unwanted husbands and political opponents in part because it’s symptoms can be mistaken a heart attack. Ill effects can also include tremors, fever, difficulty breathing, dilated pupils and vomiting.
 
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