This makes sense to me since it may fit with the concept of "Camouflage Gardening" using scent barriers (created by using a variety of strongly aromatic plants, shrubs & herbs throughout the garden.)

Thanks, Nandina! I'll trial this in clients' yards with hungry deer herds this fall & let you know how it went.

~Martie

I know a gardener who sits a cheap TV out by the garden and leaves it on at night. Apparently, the voices keep the deer at bay.

Deer will get accustomed to a radio that plays all night. I have tried the following with sucess: Set up a motion detector but instead of using a light bulb, plug in a radio. Put the motion detector in test mode. A deer approaches and the radio comes on for 5 seconds. The deer stops. The deer moves and the radio comes on again for 5 seconds. It really spooks them.

okay I also have a big deer problem. I get bars of Irish Spring soap. I cut them in quarters,and make what I call soap on a rope. I use wire to hang them from plants and trees. It really works. A small tree takes four soap on a ropes. You can also just put bits in your garden area.
Belinda

Has anyone tried styrofoam coyotes? They work well keeping the geese away.

some people in more rural areas just shoot all the deer when nobody is looking, then bury them so no one can ever find them. I do know that they do shoot alot of vegetable stealing rabbits and that puts the end to that.

Thank you Su5 for sharing the idea. I'll make sure to try it!

I use to go bow hunting for deer in the fall sitting high in a tree. Any time an approaching deer was downwind from me it would stick its nose in the air snort and take off. HUMAN SCENT. Every spring I make a large garden out back in deer country. Before planting I always see fresh deer tracks in the newly worked soil each morning. Remembering my hunting experience I drive a metal post in each corner of the garden and one in the center. On each post I hang an old t shirt or other piece of clothing that I have worked or played in. Get sweaty in it. I have also used well worn caps or even smelly sox. Items cannot be launderd. I never see a deer track again all year. I have done this over 10 years with great success. The human scent keeps the deer away. Replace them every couple weeks. My preference is funky sox.I

I am on the north coast of Oregon and the deer will devour all my beauties. However, two years ago I found a solution. Every Friday during growing season, I break an egg into the blender, add 12 to 16 oz of water and a healthy sprinkle of garlic powder, blend and pour into a spray bottle. I only spray the plants that are not deer resistant. My hostas, lilies and hydrenga's have remained uneaten.

We have encroached on so much deer habitat that the deer have few alternatives but to raid our yards. Deer need grasslands but due to suburban sprawl we continue to take all those areas. Until we protect some habitat for deer we will continue to have these issues. And then we open grassland areas to hunting. I don't know what the solution is but we are doing a terrible job at managing deer populations. Sixty years ago you never saw deer in people's yards, so it isn't the deer who are encroaching really, it is us . . . I have the same issues in my yard and this house was built in the 1940's but back then they had plenty of habitat out in the county but suburban sprawl has changed all that. I read that they have sampled whitetail deer scat in 4 or 5 states from NY to Illinois and 40% have covid virus or signs they have had exposure to it from our wastewater contamination. We need real solutions beyond rotten eggs and irish spring for our health and the deer.