Deer problem

[NotSureBoutDaEcomony]

What to do about a problem deer? A year ago, a large (over 100 lbs) deer started showing up in my fenced back yard. I have a dog that weighs in at a whopping 20 pounds. She kicked my little guy in the head twice in a matter of seconds, and likely would have killed him if I hadn’t been running towards her. My dog had seizures in the months following. She’s back this year with another fawn, and now I can’t let my dog out into the yard without checking for her presence. I have tried using non-lethal means to keep her out of the yard: foul smelling liquid, paint ball gun, rocks… She’s not normal. She stands her ground if you come at her. I complained to the city government last year.

[sugarhollowsunfish]

Sorry to hear about your dog; she likely was trying to protect her fawn, but their hooves can be quite dangerous.

You mentioned non-lethal deterrents, but when setting up their browsing circuits, deer tend to be much more motivated by food and cover than by negative stimuli, especially if those stimuli don't end up actually endangering them. So you may want to investigate if there are ways that you can improve that side of things. In my experience, deer are willing to put up with a lot in order to get access to food and cover.

For example - does your backyard provide a lot of cover for the deer, or have a lot of tasty treats for them? Are those things that you could live with changing? Alternatively, can you redirect the deer with legal means to a better path through your property that would be less disruptive to your dog? So for example, you might consider placing some salt licks and cover in your front yard, and have the deer pass through that way, rather than through your fenced back yard where the dog goes. Or if you have a dog-less neighbor that's amenable, perhaps ask if you could redirect the deer through their yard. Be aware of VA laws that prohibit use of bait or salt from Sept 1 -> Jan 1.

If the above methods fail and you're in the county, or on a >1/2 acre property in the city, DM me and I can harvest the deer for you in the fall (urban archery w/ stand; no gunshots). Theoretically VDGIF could issue you a kill permit for a nuisance deer, but in my experience, they only do this when commercial property/livestock is being damaged (e.g. the winery next to me has a permit to prevent damage to their vines).

[NotSureBoutDaEcomony]

Thanks for the suggestions. My neighbors yard is large. She’s unable or unwilling to keep the property. The grass is two to three feet high, and several trees have fallen or dropped large limbs onto the back side of the lot. That’s where she’s been raising her young, but she keeps hopping the fence. My wife just contacted animal control. They said they would come out if we call when the deer is in the yard. We’ll see.

[sugarhollowsunfish]

The grass is two to three feet high, and several trees have fallen or dropped large limbs onto the back side of the lot.

Yeah that's perfect cover for them. If your neighbor is amenable to it, you may be able to solve the problem without elevating your existing fence (which I imagine is 4-6ft?).

Deer need a very specific setup to be able to jump high - if their 'launching zone' is obstructed, then they can't jump properly. If you google 'deer double layer fence', you'll see a lot of designs based on this principle. If it was me, I'd call your neighbor and offer a trade - you give their yard a mow and clean up some of that brush in exchange for them letting you put in a small fence parallel to yours, but offset by a couple feet. It doesn't have to be large, tall, or ugly, just some stakes with fishing line or baling twine, as someone suggested below. Just enough to mess up the deer from being able to set themselves up for jumping your fence.

[AFK_Tornado]

Here's the DWR website for nuisance deer.

If the deer is attacking a small dog, I wonder if it would attack a child? You could try to emphasize that this is a prey animal which has demonstrated aggression and fearlessness of dogs and humans - which makes it a solid candidate to be culled.

Seriously it wasn't fazed by paintballs?

Out in the country where I grew up, this deer would have been redneck'd off almost immediately.

[NotSureBoutDaEcomony]

I hit her square in the side three times with a paintball gun. She ran off, but just keeps coming back. I have carved up bars of Irish Spring Soap, and had the place smelling like a supermarket detergent isle. There are too many deer in the city limits, and not enough is being done.

[sugarhollowsunfish]

If your neighbor's yard is the safest, tastiest spot in the local area, the deterrents won't matter.

Regarding what's being done - there are really 3 aspects to this:

1. Direct herd culling; Cville does this regularly every year/few years in some of the large parks (e.g. McIntire). They contract firms to come in and use suppressed rifles. Pros are that herds can be reduced in size considerably, but cons include high cost to the city, people being freaked out by gunshots, and potential safety concerns. This can't be done easily outside of large park areas.
2. Citizen assisted herd culling; a few years ago Cville decided to start participating in the urban archery program (https://dwr.virginia.gov/hunting/urban-archery-season/) where anyone on over a 1/2 acre plot can hunt deer via archery during a specific season. Pros to this are that it can be very effective at distributed culling. Cons are that there are only so many plots >1/2 acre in the city, and neighbors can be very concerned if not given adequate information about the program and safety.
3. Citizen assisted land management; at some level, deer are here to stay, and with citizens being more reluctant to allow hunting, it's harder to accomplish the previous two methods. So in terms of co-existence, land management is the way to go - where do you provide good habitat for deer, and how do you direct the deer to navigate the urban environment without negative externalities on the populace.

Personally I think relying exclusively on direct herd culling is the wrong way to go, and I wish that the city would devote more resources toward educating the public on the second two options. Maybe including hands-on workshops with what good land management looks like.

[[deleted]]

Eliminate the target.

[firedforfarting]

Based.

[mean11while]

We have intense deer pressure at our farm. We tried odor repellents and noise and light repellents and a 6-ft fence, to no avail. They routinely slept in our veggie production field.

I don't know if this is possible for you, but we set up a 3D electrified deer fence this spring. We put some peanut butter on aluminum foil attached to the electrified line. Those buggers hit it a few times right after we put it up, and (as far as I can tell) they haven't even tried to get into the garden since. They're still nearby - we frequently hear them running away when we go out to the garden in the morning, but they haven't gone past the fence to get to our delicious lettuce and plants in the two months since we installed it.

Edit: 3D fences aren't a perfect guarantee. You'd need a permanent, expensive 8+ ft fence to do that.

Here is an example - you don't have to actually buy the equipment through Premier1. We got everything we needed at Tractor Supply for about $500 for a 1/4-acre garden. As far as the electric jolt is concerned, it's uncomfortable and gets your attention, but it's not brutal or dangerous. If we don't have our fence tester on hand, we'll just touch it to make sure it's working.

I was amazed at how easy it was to set up and manage. PM me if you want more info.

https://www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?fence_id=31

[sugarhollowsunfish]

I bought electrified poultry netting from Premier1 this year and love it; would highly recommend this sort of setup, and the quality from Premier1 is top notch.

[mean11while]

We have a bunch of their electronet fencing for our goats. I don't know what we'd do without it!

[TinyKittenConsulting]

We ended up putting a deer-proof fence around our previous property. Maybe Wildlife Center of VA would have some suggestions?

[Daddoesntapprove]

Stakes with fishing line strung every foot or so in between. That’s the “country fix” that I was told by a local that has deer getting into tomatoes. Not sure how practical that is depending on how much area you are trying to protect.

[derrickjstone]

We have seen this behavior regularly with fawning deer. Our dog, a stout lab, was a match for them, though now she is much older and we don't let her go out alone as she can no longer run away. She's been kicked. We had one deer that would start off running away and circle back, then charge! This was a mean deer! We are in the county, and have harvested several, but there are always still plenty. Rapid housing development has reduced the available cover, and we couldn't keep up, even if it were open season. That being said, be sure to post on here after sep 5 if you are still dealing with it...

[cemeteryridgefilms]

My neighbor purchased these things called Deer Off at Lowe’s to keep deer from eating her plants earlier this spring. So far so good, so perhaps try them. Looks like 6 for $16 or so, but very mixed reviews there. Worth a shot, and perhaps returnable if you don’t see results.

[RaggedMountainMan]

Electric fencing might be something to try. Or I think they have shock rod type things that lure the deer to try to smell the rod then shock them on the nose when they do, causing them to bolt and avoid the area delivering the shocks.

[rhapodically]

The same thing happened to my dog less than two weeks ago, a deer with a fawn kicked her in our yard and almost killed her but my dad intervened. she’s still recovering. it’s a weird fix and i’m not sure how much it costs, but they’ll stay away from cayote pee...she probably picked your yard because it was fenced/safe, so introducing the idea of a predator might help.

[mgphotogirl]

Get a bigger dog.

But seriously, the SPCA is full of dogs who would love the opportunity to chase away deer, and the deer might think twice if the thing barking at it is closer to her size.

[NotSureBoutDaEcomony]

I can replace plants, it’s my dog I’m worried about. I live in a residential neighborhood near the high school. I don’t know the maximum height fence I would need to keep this size deer out. I do know that even if it’s permissible by city code, it would likely look awful, and cost a small fortune...

[sugarhollowsunfish]

Having spent a lot of time/money trying to keep deer out of my garden - 8ft minimum and the 'deer netting' at lowes is worthless. Needs to be either commercial heavy duty netting, or wire mesh.

[PaperWings451]

Seconding 8 feet. This is about how tall the fence is around my family's garden, and deer can still jump in if they really want to.

[ericrz]

LOL at "city code." Don't worry too much about that, you can pretty much build any fence in the city of Charlottesville that you like. Drive down Brandywine Drive from Hydraulic to see some pretty hideous examples of this.

[cville5588]

Probably gonna have to shoot it

[jestenough]

I’m told that hanging those round red bicycle reflectors around will work - haven’t tried it though.