Deer deer deer

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Deer deer deer
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gray_b

Joined: 24 Jun 2011
Posts: 254
Location: Leafy Shires of the Midlands

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 12 8:35 pm Post subject: Deer deer deer

Having planted lots of new varieties of apple trees, and having to apply 2ft tall rabbit spirals to stop the rabbits chewing the bark, and having to apply mouse traps to stop the mice from crawling inside the rabbit spirals and stripping the bark off.

Sorry for the long sentence.

A lot of the trees that have survived that onslaught, now have nice fresh growth just protruding from the top of the rabbit spiral.

All of this new growth has been browsed off. By from what I suspect is a Munjac deer. As I surprised one drinking from my brook in the early hours, that ran straight up to the orchard. The orchard is right next to a wooded valley, so I suppose its there home.

How high can a Munjac deer jump, as the orchard is fully sheep fenced??

Any body with any experience of a home brew deer repellent ??

Some people say chilli, garlic pepper and some sort of water based glue for longevity.

DawnMK

Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 895
Location: Buckinghamshire

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 12 8:40 pm Post subject:
they is good eating

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 12 8:45 pm Post subject:
I'm not sure about deer repellants but I doubt anything will work that well. I'm not even sure how good deer guards will be long term as I've seen deer push some over. As for how high, this FC link suggests 1.5m. We've concluded that if/when we plant another load of trees we'll deer fence to 2m rather than rely on guards.

gil
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Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18421

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 12 10:19 pm Post subject:
Yeh, 6' or 2m deer fencing would be my recommendation (also to shoot and eat the deer if [legally] possible).

Calli

Joined: 13 Mar 2009
Posts: 626
Location: Galway

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 12 11:36 pm Post subject:
Forget electric fences too... My opponents are fallow in the main, the odd red has made a showing - downright scary to come across unexpected.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45723
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 12 12:41 pm Post subject:
Fencing against muntjac is difficult too, they're tiny, manage to burrow under fences.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45723
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 12 12:42 pm Post subject:
Never had mice issues. The muntjac used to knock over trees when they were smaller but seem to have got bored with that now

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45723
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 12 12:50 pm Post subject: Re: Deer deer deer

gray_bale wrote:

How high can a Munjac deer jump, as the orchard is fully sheep fenced??

I was advised 1.8m, can't see it meself though.

Leo

Joined: 25 Feb 2011
Posts: 227

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 12 7:56 pm Post subject:

We have Roe deer comming in the garden, & apparently 6ft fences will be needed - can't manage that, but the veg is all fenced off with bird net to stop chickens feasting. The deer don't get to the veg.

Have heard that human hair stuffed into net bags & hung on the fence posts works, but you need to know a hairdresser to get enough & replace it every couple of months or so. Also heard a lot about Silent Roar pellets, but not sure if deer know what a lion smells like! Anyhow, didn't seem to work on my Roe deer.

celestialspore

Joined: 27 Jul 2010
Posts: 26
Location: Aberdeenshire

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 12 11:02 pm Post subject:
The Deer Stalking Certificate 1 manual recommends a minimum fence height of only 1m for Muntjac. To me this sounds a little low, perhaps it's a printing mistake, as the manual is full of them.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45723
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 12 9:35 am Post subject:

celestialspore wrote:

The Deer Stalking Certificate 1 manual recommends a minimum fence height of only 1m for Muntjac. To me this sounds a little low, perhaps it's a printing mistake, as the manual is full of them.

There used to be a forestry commission doc about deer, not sure if it's still available

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 12 1:11 pm Post subject:

There's loads of deer info about but it can take a while to track down. The Deer Initiative has loads of PDFs here: https://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/best_practice/ (select a menu from the left) and a specific on on Muntjacs PDF here: https://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/uploads/guides/167.pdf

Quote:

Browse height varies between 50cm and 90cm but can be 20cm higher when they stand on their hind legs.

I would also look at the distribution of other deer such as Roe though as I bet you have more than one hungry critter eying up your trees.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45723
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 12 3:24 pm Post subject:
Thanks TD, my version is pre 2005 (when I had the deer initiative man round) sounds more in line with my experiences of browsing height etc than the recommendations I had (1.8m tree guard)

tai haku

Joined: 17 Apr 2011
Posts: 472

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 12 7:44 pm Post subject:

celestialspore wrote:

The Deer Stalking Certificate 1 manual recommends a minimum fence height of only 1m for Muntjac. To me this sounds a little low, perhaps it's a printing mistake, as the manual is full of them.

My dad flushed one in an area we have rabbit fenced off once. Clearly it had been able to get over that fence which is barely 2 feet but it apparently made a spectacularly bad job of getting back out once he'd surprised it. I wouldn;'t be surprised to learn 3 feet is very very hard for them as a result. That said if you have muntjac there must be a fairly high chance of having roe also?

tai haku

Joined: 17 Apr 2011
Posts: 472

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 12 7:44 pm Post subject:

celestialspore wrote:

The Deer Stalking Certificate 1 manual recommends a minimum fence height of only 1m for Muntjac. To me this sounds a little low, perhaps it's a printing mistake, as the manual is full of them.

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