Deer Can Be Dangerous
Having deer in your yard can be a problem for many reasons. Sure they can be a lovely sight to see when you look out the window but they can create a multitude of problems once they start visiting your property.
Crushing Plants
Deer are pretty big animals and they will walk wherever they feel like when they are roaming around your yard. Tender plants or garden beds can be churned up by hooves, and sometimes that can be more damaging than when they eat your plants.
Damaging Fences
Most deer will happily hop over a low fence without hesitation. Sometimes, they prefer to walk through things. Given their size, a deer can quickly ruin light fences by pushing or rubbing up against them. There isn’t too much you can do about this, other than actually removing some portions of the fence to allow them to walk through unhindered.
Eating Plants
This is the one we think of most when it comes to deer hazards, though it’s obviously not the only one. Deer love just about any plant you’re likely to have growing in your yard, whether its a garden vegetable or a flowering bloom. Cover up your plants with bird netting to give them some protection.
Stripping Bark
Closely related to the last point, this is slightly different and would require different steps to protect your plants. Deer will eat just about anything, including bark from your shrubs and trees. This is a particular threat during the winter months when there are few green plants around for food.
A little bark nibbling won’t do that much damage but even large trees can be killed by too much bark removal. Wrapping trees with chicken wire during the winter can help protect the bark from deer.
Tree Rubbing
During the late winter and spring, male deer will shed their antlers and often use trees to help get them off. Branches can be broken, and large chunks of bark can be rubbed off while they struggle to get their antlers loose. Similar problems can happen during mating season, when males rub and scent the trees to attract females.
The main point here is that deer can cause quite a few more problems than just eating your plants. If they are common in your areas, you’ll need to take various steps to protect your yard from these other hazards as well. A good repellent like Deer Repellent Packs can be the solution to all of these problems by keeping the deer out of your yard completely, rather than worry about trying to protect 3 or 4 things at once.
