Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Stewarty on June 12, 2017, 13:32
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I think I posted on here a few months ago seeking advice on Muntjac deer. But now the situation has become serious, to the extent that long-term, expert, hard-working skilled allotment plotholders on our site are saying 'What's the point of all this work, investment of time and money, just to feed these pests?'
People claim to have seen up to about 5 Muntjac, including young. They are eating rows of young runner beans, grazing all the new leaves off of courgettes and pumpkins, chomping asparagus, hoovering up lettuce, and so on and so on.
We haven't been able to come up with any realistic ideas for how to get rid of them, or even deter them.
Is anybody able to suggest any way ahead in combatting them.....?
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You could do worse than have a look at the British Deer Society web site? Maybe something of interest? Link below.
Cheers
Aled
https://www.bds.org.uk/
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You have my sympathy. We have them on our site and they will cause a lot of damage given the chance. We are also a small site surrounded by houses so the hunting fraternity are not really an option for us.
I have a large area netted off - nothing too elaborate - just basic round fencing stakes hammered in and black plastic pond netting stapled to it. You can just use canes and netting and I often do if I want more protected area to grow in. It doesn't need to be particularly sturdy as they won't push though it.
For lower crops like lettuce, I use a net tunnels.
Some people have hung up foil pie tins and the like claiming the clanking of these against canes scares the deer. Maybe :unsure: I find a face full of netting keeps them off my crops.
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They are a serious problem in the Cambridgeshire area, the only solution is to fence the area off. It doesn't have to be sturdy, as New Shoot says, but approx one metre high will do the job. Make sure that there aren't any gaps, as, like sheep, if there is one, they'll find it.
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Muntjac are a very nervous/timid woodland deer, I only see them on my stalking ground at first and last light on the edges of good cover.
Is your site bordering woodland/farmland and is it council run?
The recent surge in deer stalking interest means that if the site is surrounded by farmland or mature woodlands, then chances are that there is a stalker managing deer numbers for the tenant or landowner.
The best way in this case would be to enquire who it is and let them know, deer stalkers spend lots of time and money with trail cams etc to find out where deer are frequenting regularly and would be glad of the info.
If its council run, then they will probably be unable or more likely unwilling to do anything about it.
As mentioned earlier, muntjac are a timid deer and dont like noise or sudden unexplained movement, so i think youre best chance in this instance would be to try and replicate this.
Netting off of crops will work, but is a pain to remove every time for weeding and harvesting.
Any fencing against deer needs to be at least 5ft high or they will simply jump over it.
Hope this helps in some small way.....you have my sympathy!
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You have my sympathy. I wish our local muntjac buck had read the memo about calling at dawn and dusk ... he kicks up a heck of a row at any old time which sets off the rooks and the cockerel etc ...
We also find (like rabbits at a lower level) that they don't go looking for what they cant see. So we use fleece or weed fabric (whatever is cheap) as the fence on canes and they just wander on past, whereas the deer and rabbit will jump/climb wire netting if they can see something they want. Put bottles on the canes (good for protecting eyes too) and string sparkly strings on the top (CDs, crisp packet bows) to move in the wind. Pigeons are a different matter .... :mad:
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Thanks everyone for your information and ideas. I think I'm moving on from an obsession with trying to find ways to remove the beasts to a sort of resigned acceptance that that won't really be possible, and reluctant beginning of ideas of ways to fence them out and/or deter them.
Sadly that won't really be possible this growing season, as the vulnerable crops are spread over too wide an area to be readily fencible. So some of my favourite crops won't really happen this summer, or will only happen very patchily. But over the winter I shall try to re-conceptualise my plots and growing methods, to create more compact defendable areas.
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There is an old gardeners saying that at some time in the season I am bound to ruefully remind myself about ..
"A third for the wildlife, a third for the compost heap and a third for the plate".
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Sadly that won't really be possible this growing season, as the vulnerable crops are spread over too wide an area to be readily fencible.
Canes and cheap netting will keep them out as a fix for this year. Our site is dotted with makeshift temporary barriers going up around sweetcorn, squashes and salads. I will be making a few myself as I have filled my fenced area.
Muntjac are a pain, but much more easy to keep out than rabbits, larger deer or badgers.
Ours are fully urbanised and often seen by people living around the site, browsing in gardens or helping themselves to any bird food they can get to. I've seen them inside the site if there are only 1 or 2 people around, working quietly. They keep a wary eye on you, but as long as you are at a distance, they are not too bothered. In short, they range around, eat loads of different stuff and feed over a long period. Maybe it is too much effort for them to bother pushing through our botched together barriers, but in any event, they stay out of them :)
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I have seen nets of human hair tied to newly planted trees to dissuade deer . Any human scent will make them nervous.
A windmill type noise maker will also help .
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Search your local area for pest control services.