We are all familiar with the lovely but tragic Disney story of Bambi and his friends Thumper (rabbit) and Flower (skunk). And it isn’t uncommon to stop to gaze at deer as they frolic in a meadow. Unfortunately, while deer can be fun and mesmerizing to look at, they really can be destructive for your yard. As such, it is important to keep them from entering your property in the first place.
Why keep deer out of your yard?
Thankfully spring is over, and spring is the most common time that deer start making their way into residential areas and yards. But this doesn’t mean that they stay away entirely during the summer, it just means that they are more likely to visit when you aren’t looking. This said, there are a variety of reasons that you should keep deer out of your yard. Property damage caused by deer can be seriously expensive. With the amount of investment that homeowners put into their yards and landscaping, a single deer can create devastating destruction in less than a day. Deer are attracted to the various vegetation that homeowners tend to favor for their gardens, and when that vegetation is not abundant in the deer’s natural environment, it leads them to look for other sources.
1. Deer tend to look for a new food supply in the spring months, after they have been hunkering down in the winter, and have exhausted their food supply.
2. Deer, like humans, are creatures of habit. If they find your garden and shrubbery to be a tasty treat once, they are likely to return again and again.
3. Deer like to eat just about anything. In fact, some of the only plants that they can’t tolerate include daffodils, foxgloves, and poppies, which are actually poisonous for deer. They also tend to stay away from herbs with strong scents, and peonies and bearded irises.
4. Hungry deer will often feed off the bark on your trees, and this process of stripping the bark away can increase the risk of the tree developing an insect infestation.
5. Deer carry ticks, and ticks carry Lyme disease, which is very serious for humans. In fact, when Lyme disease is not caught early on, it can have debilitating effects to humans.
How to keep deer out of your yard
There are a variety of methods to keeping deer and other wild animals out of your yard. In addition to strategies to keep deer out, it is wise to research more about the plants that deer are more and less likely to eat. By sticking to plants with high resistance to deer, you will be able to avoid costly damage. Further, if you live in an area near busy streets and intersections, by planting vegetation that is less attractive to deer, you can actually help keep your neighborhood safe by preventing the number of deer on the roads. Every year, it is estimated that there are over one million deer-related accidents, and since deer often roam during the early dawn and late dusk hours, visibility is limited, thus increasing the risks of dangerous and unfortunate accidents.
