Deer As Pests: Damages Deer Cause And How To Get Rid Of The Deer

For most people, the sight of deer in their yards is a thrilling one. Being that close to wildlife can really make you feel humble and kindhearted. Well, stop that. Deer are pests! They may look all cute and friendly, but deer are nothing like Bambi. The following shows the kinds of damage deer can do, and how you can get rid of the deer wreaking havoc in your yard. Fair warning; you may not like one or two of the suggestions, but all of the following are proven effective against deer raids.

Deer Eat Everything in Your Garden

Being the herbivores that they are, deer will nibble anything green. They will chomp down on cukes, taste-romp through your raspberries, and steal strawberries, especially when all of the above are still in the flowering stages. When you spook them, they trample anything on the ground underfoot. Your whole garden could be destroyed in a matter of a few nights. That leaves very little produce for you and your family, all because the deer feasted on it first. 

Deer Consume Anything Else Green, Too

You can think of deer in this way. They are a cross between cows, which will graze down to the mud, and giraffes, which will eat the leaves and young buds off of trees, shrubs, and bushes. You look at your beautifully-landscaped yard and see a yard. The deer see a magnificent buffet. If you leave your yard open, the deer will wander right in and begin to eat whatever they can reach.

Birdseed Is Not off-Limits, Either

Take a stroll through a wildlife park at dusk or dawn, and there the deer will walk up to bird feeders near the rangers' cabins and chomp down on the seed. Since the seeds are essentially plant embryos, they are fair game to the deer. If you see deer in your yard near your bird feeders, that is what the pests are doing.

Getting Rid of the Deer

You would think that making the deer problem go away would be an easy thing to do. Yet, ask any pest control expert for pest control help, and he/she will tell you that deer will come back to a feeding ground so long as there is something there to eat. The frustration does not end there, either.

The average white tail deer can jump up to TWELVE feet high, making your little six- to eight-foot high fence fawn's play. Even if the deer belly flops onto the top of the fence trying to leap over it, it will still scramble around until it falls into your yard. If it is determined to eat everything in your yard, there are few blockades you can create that will stop that deer. Furthermore, even after the deer have consumed everything green down low, they will stand on their hind legs to reach up and eat more leaves overhead. If a winter is particularly cold and food is scarce, deer will start stripping the bark off of your trees for food!

Your best bets for making the deer go away and leave your yard alone are:

• Get a dog. Dogs equal predators to deer, and they will avoid yards where dogs are roaming.
• Chuck a bucket of "deer apples" over your fence. These are apples which are inedible to people, but a treat for deer. They will stay on their side of the fence if you feed them there, rather than letting them jump over to eat everything else. 
• Deterrent sprays are also effective. The sprays do not hurt or poison the deer. They just make the "food" really unpleasant-tasting and foul-smelling to deer.

If nothing else, call wildlife control. They can round up the deer that keep visiting your yard and transport them far away. For more information, contact companies like American Pest Control Inc.