Deer problem

[Herb]

We may live in a city, but Victoria has enough parks and rough woodland to give deer somewhere to live. That would be fine, except that they come out at night and help themselves to people's flowers and vegetables. They don't just nibble either, like rabbits. A few nights ago, they stripped everything from my wife's salad bed.

So I've rigged up something similar to what the Japanese call a Shisho Odoshi. Water drips into the open end of a closed tube until it tilts over, spills some of the water, & then swings back and hits and then strikes something - in our case an old dustbin lid. The sudden noise is supposed to startle deer so that they flee.

[Chris_W]

An interesting idea, although how do the neighbors feel about your drum beats during the night?

I think if it was a random length of time the deer wouldn't get used to it, but if it is the same length of time between beats they might get wise to it after a while. Looks like this is barely off center so probably takes some time to fill up and tip?

Let us know how well it works!

[Herb]

This one strikes once every 3 minutes.

I don't think it's loud enough to disturb neighbours - it can't be heard from indoors unless maybe there's a window open and everything else is really quiet.

H.

[wishiwere]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmsloooooooooooooooowwwwwww chinese torture! I would think with a window open, it would be one of things you'd wonder if it were racoons getting to the trash somewhere? WOuldn't you? This is prime time for sleeping with the windows open, and that would probably give me frustration to attempt to sleep through..... Just my humble opinion.

[Herb]

The Shishi Odoshi took up a lot of room, & stepping over it was awkward, so I've made a more compact one - the tube's 2 feet long instead of 3 feet, but has a bigger diameter - 1 1/2 inches instead of 1 inch.

I'm still experimenting, trying to find how to get the best sound effect. Meantime, the old dustbin lid's serving the purpose.

Herb

[Garden_of_Mu]

So is it keeping the deer away?

[Herb]

We've seen no new deer hoofprints since I set it going.
I guess only time will tell if it's a permanent solution.

[Mimi]

Interesting approach. Quite ingenious, I'll be interested in hearing how it works long term.

I just spray with Hinder, and add a couple drops of Volck oil spray to make it stick. Lasts abou 5-6 weeks, depending on how much rain we get.