Deer annoyance spiral

I tired something weird for deer. Won't stop them but might annoy them a bit. I was planting sweet potatoes and sunchokes in a spot that I can't protect easily, so I took a roll of used fencing with me. Started to unroll it, realized the whole end was messed up, and what was left would make a circle that a deer would just hop right in to. So I made a circle of the good stuff, and left the bad stuff inside, and stretched it out so it spiraled in the middle. Staked it down. The theory is if they want to jump in there they'll think "what's that mess?" and not do so. Not enough to totally stop them, but to just annoy them enough they look elsewhere. They can eat what they can reach, I hate it when they take it to the ground and kill it all.

Any ideas whether I am totally wasting my time with this theory?

I remember seeing what looked like a clear cuttings pile of wood with a tree in the middle of it posted some where on this site but I'm not finding it with the search terms I used (deer, deer trap, deer hazard etc)

The posting person took scrap cuttings of wood/saplings and arranged them such that the deer could not walk thru them with out risking a sharp jab or stepping on a rolling/rocking limb (the roller was constrained from falling off in either direction.  The pics showed arrangements about 2.5 to three feet at most in height and were about 4 to 5 feet in breadth all around the tree.

It was clear from the pics, it was a dangerous to walk and even more dangerous to try to jump (no where to land except on the tree), for the deer. Deer will go under and over but don't like unstable semi moving objects they would be required to stand on (especially when there's a chance they'll get stuck or stabbed in the attempt). I've never seen a deer in the middle of a clear cut pile.

...I wonder if a person could create round 12" hazard balls to create a 4' boundary around the tree (something to keep the tree from being crushed in the middle), with something beneath the balls physically dangerous to the deer......if you had jagged sharp scorria in 10" size, that would work too

what ever you do is going to be alot of work ..... I think a real risk or perceived risk of motion to the deer's feet would work like you've sort of done.....please let us know how well it works

What you suggest, Orin, makes me think of those cattle bridges/gates that I remember from my youth. It was literally a timber lattice sturdy enough to take road traffic buried in a hole in the road. Cars drove right over it. Even people had minimal trouble, except for perhaps little ones.

Cattle were totally stymied.

So I wonder if it were possible to coppice fast-growing branches and fashion them quickly into lattice-like coverings over the ground. Would it deter deer because it appears to be an area of compromised footing?

And if this worked, could we simply coppice or pollard for ground-covering latticework in place of chip mulch that we would walk over but would seem less-than adequate to deer?

-CK

I was asked for a picture, no photo of it, wouldn't have shown up with the light, the fence and the pasture grass all browned. It looks like this from the air, maybe 8 foot across, the stuff on the inside has sections cut out like access holes for baby animals or something like that. 4 foot high, 4x4 to 2x4 wire. I put the 2x4 at the ground, annoy the bunnies too. :)

I think it's a great idea.  Deer won't jump into a place if they aren't sure of their landing spot.

Yup, I think it has a very good chance.  I've found they won't jump two 5' fences 5' apart and they also won't just a solid wood fence that's 6' high if they can't see through it.  I've heard laying chicken wire on the ground scares them into thinking they'll get trapped.  I think they use brush piles around stuff at Wheaton lab to deter deer and I think Edible Acres on youtube uses brushy fences to deter them.

Mike Haasl wrote:Yup, I think it has a very good chance.  I've found they won't jump two 5' fences 5' apart and they also won't just a solid wood fence that's 6' high if they can't see through it.  I've heard laying chicken wire on the ground scares them into thinking they'll get trapped.  I think they use brush piles around stuff at Wheaton lab to deter deer and I think Edible Acres on youtube uses brushy fences to deter them.

I posted pictures of one I made here: My food forest thread  Mine was small, but I'm very happy with the way it worked.  That tree did really well and the deer left it entirely alone after I put the hedge in.