Roe Deer

[Alice]

I'm so mad The pesky roe deer are back in my garden. There she is on the right and what she's eating are my carrots growing in a bread basket and looking great. She'd already had all the flowers off the pansies. I've spent a fortune on fencing to keep them out - the blighters can jump 8 feet ! Not sure how she got in but my husband's in B&Q buying more fencing. Not sure where it's going.

[sewer rat]

Shoot her - she'll come ready stuffed

[Jaxom]

Lovely with wild berry conserve or even home made blackcurrant jelly or wild mushrooms... mmmmm

[Alice]

Yeah, I agree, but the law doesn't allow. I'm thinking about declaring an autonomous republic, buying a gun and getting some nice organic venison! The problem with that approach is you only get rid of one and it just makes space for another one ! Seriously, it's heartbreaking. Think I have found how she got in. You wouldn't believe the spaces they can come through or what they can jump over. More fencing is up and if I see more evidence of their visits tomorrow...........

[Shortie]

....bang, bang?

[Alice]

You can have the job Shortie, and the venison is yours. Tomorrow will not be too soon !

[Shortie]

...Ah, didn't realise that was part of the bargain... I'm an awful shot, would probably miss by miles so maybe I'm not the best choice after all

[andrewo]

I thought there was a season for roe deer? I'm sure you can cull them or kill them, around me they had wardens who did it.

[Alice]

Nice to hear from you AndrewO, haven't seen much from you recently. You OK. I've contacted the Council about these deer. They're urban pests. - the deer that is, But the Council don't want to know and have nothing to suggest other than fence them out. We have such a big boundary to fence. The deer come in through a neighbouring property which has relatively little ground. If they would maintain their fences we would have no problem. But there you go.

[Fish in a tree]

Hi - we have a problem with deer. Up till now we have not minded too much if they eat the odd plant or two, but as we are about to plant a bunch of new fruit trees, I decided to get some advice. I don't know if it will help but two of the best ideas are - save your urine in a sprayer and spray it around the border of your garden and on trees etc - the chap that told me about this method swears by it. The other method that seemed like a good idea was to make chicken wire "pillows" - the idea being that the deer don't like standing on them - so instead of trying to fence vertically, you fence horizontally, if that makes sense.

Fish

[nick the grief]

...........save your urine in a sprayer and spray it around the border of your garden and on trees etc - the chap that told me about this method swears by it. Fish

He was taking the pi... er mickey Fish Seriously, I have heard this works for other animals as well so I've taken to peeing up the fence (haven't really ).

There is a season when you can cull deer but you couldn't shoot them as you need a part 1 firearms certificate rifle & as the bullet will travel several hundreds of yards It would be frowned upon in the back garden

The other alternative would be too grisley to think about as it wouldn't be a quick death by any means

[Fish in a tree]

He was taking the pi... er mickey Fish . Seriously, I have heard this works for other animals as well so I've taken to peeing up the fence (haven't really ).

There is a season when you can cull deer but you couldn't shoot them as you need a part 1 firearms certificate rifle & as the bullet will travel several hundreds of yards It would be frowned upon in the back garden

The other alternative would be too grisley to think about as it wouldn't be a quick death by any means

Hi there - I'm pretty sure that my friend was not taking the mick. It's not quite clear from your post, but are you saying that you tried it and it didn't work?

BTW - our friend next door holds a firearms ticket and the correct rifle for shooting deer. He would be allowed to shoot them in his garden, but he needed written permission from the neighbors living on either side, as a shot deer could easily make it into their garden - but my wife wouldn't dream of it!

Fish

[nick the grief]

Sorry Fish,

You'll get used to me. I haven't tried it but I have heard that it works not only for Deer but things like foxes as well.

As to shooting it, I wouldn't have thought he could use it in his own back garden as there is a restriction about using them with in a certain distance of a public highway (I assume you live on a road & not a cottage up a private track) I could be wrong about that though.

[Fish in a tree]

Ah!

Re shooting - I guess we are pretty lucky in that we have large gardens ( about 2/3 acre) backing onto fields, plus the fields are on a slope making a bit of a back drop, The nearest road out back is about 1 mile away. It's odd but, a smaller caliber like a .22 could not be used, were as a larger one could. Apparently, a larger caliber bullet will disintegrate on impact with the ground where as a smaller one could hit the ground but fly off intact. I don't really understand - but my friend could talk about bullets for hours, and hours and hours..............yawn….


Fish

[nick the grief]

I know what you mean. I used to work with someone who was an enthusiast. His specialty was blackpowder rifles (Brown Bess replica) and my neighbour goes stalking as well but our gardens are not quite as big as yours so he doesn't get to use it in the garden !