Deer eating my young trees

With 5 dogs,pretty darn close LOL!

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Just a tag note. I repaired my fish line fence again last week. 3 lines broke on one side. No damage to the trees so the fence is doing its job.

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If you do that too often you might harm the tree. In the extreme circumstance that you urinate on the tree all the time and have others do it, too, the salt in the urine will eventually kill the tree.

The thing to do is pee around the perimeter of the tree or orchard. Get the boys out to do their thing. It lets the deer know that there is a predator in the area. I also gather dog doody and place a shovel full near the trees. Same message.

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Also, the salt might attract other critters. Porcupines chew on wood that has urine on it. You might go from one problem, to a worse one. We used soap, human hair, etc. to deter deer, groundhogs, rabbits, etc, and nothing worked. The only thing I heard that worked regularly was a motion sensor hooked up to a garden hose. You hook up the hose to the sensor, stick it in the ground, and turn on your hose. When it senses movement, the hose kicks on in a sweeping motion. May not work if you have too many trees in too big an area. The sensors are sold in garden catalogues, or you can buy them online. Good luck! Curt

I get the little bags that look like what tobacco came in with the drawstrings. My wife cuts my hair so I fill them and hang around the orchard, garden and berries. If bad I also soak in urine. Change out (I just keep adding them) to keep fresh. Seems to work well. Deer are thick but they go off to the neighbors. OOOPPPPSSS. I like good fences best but this works also....James

One year I bought scented dryer sheets and clothes pinned them to apple tree branches in the orchard. It actually worked---that year---but not the next.

The motion activated sprinkler works. Also good for teenaged boys who sneak out at night, forgetting it's there!

I've read on quite a few places that a single strand of electric fence baited with peanut butter on tin foil strips every 10-20 ft works wonders. I am planning on trying that this coming year.

I utilize several methods in deterring predators to my young (and old) fruit trees.

First off, most of my fruit trees are in the lower half of my vegetable garden. This garden is double fenced with the upper level bending outward. The areas adjacent to a level pasture have tall trees with spreading branches to discourage "jumping deer". This DOES KEEP THE DEER OUT OF THE ENTIRE GARDEN/ORCHARD/VINEYARD!

Next, I created a double fence around the nut trees that are not inside my garden area. I used both chicken wire as well as 2x4 welded fencing, all 4 ft tall. I situated the first fence just 2-1/2 ft from the little tree and the 2nd fence 2-1/2 ft from that fence. This provided a double fence that the deer will not jump into.

To keep voles/moles/rabbits away from trees/bushes/vines, I buried "utility wire" 6-8 inches into the ground, leaving it 6-8 inches above the ground all around the drip line of each tree.

When the trees were older and they could lose a few leaves/limbs without being killed, I took that same double fencing and wrapped it all around the trunks of each tree several times to keep the predators from chewing on the tree trunks.

So far so good!

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"has worked so far" is often an early chapter in a story about getting your new orchard killed by deer or rabbits or mice.
Human urine, 5 foot fence, pinwheels, plastic sheeting worked to protect my thousand apple trees, each grafted and potted into closely spaced 5 gallon pots, for two years. In one night the trees were eaten and killed. Take what ever half measures you care to use. Be easier and cheaper, too. But after the mice girdle the trunk, rabbits eat the branches and deer mow down the rest, and you start over, you'll use a hard plastic tree wrap, buried into the ground a couple inches, pulled tight with a couple zip ties and then surrounded by a 4 foot diameter circle of 5 foot tall fence ( I use the mesh used in concrete).

The thing is that unless you are willing to set up every night and stand watch by day with a 30 06 resting on your lap, you are going to be waging battle against creatures that think your orchard is nothing more than an expensive salad bar.

There are a lot of good ideas posted. Don't risk your investment by only trying one. Double or triple up. What might work for me might not work for you. Don't be afraid to shake things up from time to time.

Two of my badly hit pear trees responded well to chicken wire sleeves being dropped over them. I positioned them so the tree was centered with room at the top for growth. So don't be afraid to experiment.

I was told by conservation officers that if the deer really want to get to your trees they will so be diligent

Once the trees grow taller than the deers line of sight (remember, deer don't look up thus the need for deer blinds) they should lose interest in them..unless your trees are like ours and dwarfs then buenos huerte, amigos.

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I worked at an agricultural research center for 25 years, and we tried everything we could think of to keep the deer away. Dogs chained in a given field worked to a limited extent, but the only thing that worked for sure was an 8 foot fence around the entire farm. The fence was made of woven wire with a 6 inch by 6 inch spacing.

Now that I am retired from that job, I am building a fence around 3.5 acres, more or less, on my own land. I am using barbed wire, with one strand every six inches for the first 5 feet, and then one strand every 12 inches above that. Also, the fence is being built so that every other strand can be electrified with a fence charger.

Last week I stood on a hill and watched eleven deer run up to the fence, walk around for a couple of minutes, and then run parallel to the fence, until they finally left the area. Admittedly, there is not a lot inside the fence to attract them. I have crimson clover and turnips planted in the field, but it is not big enough to be very tempting at the moment.

I also have to be concerned about feral hogs. I won't see any hogs at all for a couple of years, and then in one night's time they will show up and completely destroy half an acre. Hopefully the fence will deter both deer and hogs.

Admittedly, the fence is expensive, but the most expensive thing I could do is plant my crops and then let them be destroyed by deer or hogs.