(ARA) – Deer do some of their worst damage to your garden, landscape, trees and shrubs in winter, when other food sources are hard to come by.

“In the early 1900s, there were probably only about half a million deer spread out all over the country,” says James Messina of Messina Wildlife. “Today, there are more than 15 million. Deer, it turns out, adapt quite well to life in suburbia. Keeping them away from residential and commercial landscaping can help everyone – deer and homeowners – to co-exist more happily together.”

With no place to go and not much left to eat in the dead of winter, deer can wreak havoc in your backyard and destroy new buds and leaves before they ever have a chance to grow. As seasons change, the preferred food sources of deer change as well.

Deer develop new browsing trails as food sources change with the seasons, and repeatedly follow them through the season until new food sources begin to appear. That’s when the deer drama begins ….

Whitetail deer can consume, on average, 12 pounds of foliage a day. And in the winter, when natural food sources are scarce, they’ll give homeowners more trouble than any other time of year. The more snow we get, the worse the problem becomes. A winter of consistent snow coverage is great for bulbs and perennials, but evergreens face the toughest challenge from hungry deer looking to survive.

Deer are creatures of habit, and contrary to popular belief, the majority of them do not migrate. Bucks are known to travel more than 100 miles, but does will stay within the same three to four square miles for their entire lives. This means the deer you see this year are probably the exact same deer you saw last year. It also means that once they’ve found a food source, potentially yours, they’ll be back time and time again.

Fend off deer by applying repellents before you see the damage, encouraging the deer to move along and not include your landscape in their browse buffet.

Repellents rely on deer’s strong sense of smell and range from commercial products to homemade concoctions of human hair, blood meal or chunks of deodorant soap. But traditional animal repellents have become less effective than they were decades ago, Messina notes.

“That’s because many of those repellents rely on a bad smell – like the stench of a rotting carcass – to fool animals into thinking a predator’s kill is in the area and the predator may be returning for it,” he says. “But the number of predators out there has actually declined, and deer know it. They’re much less afraid of predators, so relying on ’scare tactics’ has a greater tendency to fail over time.”

Some deer have also built up a resistance to chemical deterrents. Plus, increasingly eco-conscious homeowners prefer not to put potentially harmful chemicals into the environment.

More homeowners are turning to organic alternatives, like Deer Stopper, a repellent formulated from plant extracts. This organic option works because it confronts deer by using their natural repulsion to certain plant smells and tastes rather than relying on fear of predator tactics.

“We know that deer will eat more than 500 different types of plants,” Messina says. “Normally, they’re quite discriminating. But in fall and winter, they become less picky and much more of a threat to suburban landscapes. Still, like many wild animals, deer rely on taste and smell to judge if a food may be harmful to them. If your backyard foliage tastes or smells unpleasant to them, one bite and they’ll move on.”

Deer Stopper by Messina Wildlife Management is the only organic repellent in the country certified by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). An effective taste deterrent, Deer Stopper is 100 percent organic and completely safe for use on all types of plants and shrubs. OMRI lists it as approved for use by organic growers. The smell- and taste-based technology also eliminates the need to use foul, odor-based repellent products, which can be quite unpleasant for homeowners’ use.

Deer Stopper actually smells good to humans. Lightly misting vegetation once a month, even during the cold and snowy winter, will keep deer away all season long.

This winter protect your plants and shrubs and create your own boundaries for foraging bucks and deer. Now you’re in control of the drama.

For more information on Deer Stopper, retail store locations and other wildlife management repellents visit www.messinawildlife.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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1. Passing the Buck . . . and the Doe and the Fawn
2. The Buck, and the Deer, Stop Here
3. Easy ways to protect your landscape from deer

An adult deer eats between 6 and 10 pounds of food per day, but all-natural repellents can stop critters from destroying your plants.

(ARA) – When Bambi invites all his friends to dinner, make sure it’s not in your yard. If you don’t protect your landscaping, Bambi and his friends will be crunching tulips like candy and popping peas right off the vine. You can bet they’ll be stealing your prize tomatoes this summer and munching your mums in the fall. 

With deer tipping the 30 million population mark and suburban sprawl on the rise, it’s no wonder these unwanted creatures are cruising your neighborhood and destroying your yard in the process. 

“We garden to create our own private patch of Eden and escape the demands of daily life,” says Rhonda Massingham Hart, author of Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden. “When deer violate these living sanctuaries they damage more than plants. They hurt us.” 

It’s more than frustrating to spend your time, effort, and money to turn your yard into a haven only to find your new flowers and shrubs have been mowed down by hungry deer and rabbits. It’s expensive. With an adult deer eating between 6 and 10 pounds of food per day, deer damage costs homeowners millions of dollars annually. 

* There goes the neighborhood … one bite at a time. 
The expansion of suburbs, roads and golf courses is creating perfect “deer smorgasbords” with tender young shrubs, pretty flowers, lush lawns and now abundant vegetable gardens at their taking. The truth is, no plants are truly “deer proof.” 

“Deer are creatures of habit and stay near a good food source — like your backyard,” says Dave Mizejewski, naturalist with the National Wildlife Association. “And they’re not afraid of city life so a lush garden or lawn is a magnet for hungry deer and rabbits.” 

* Oh, deer … what to do? 
Forget putting a radio blaring in your azaleas, fabric softener sheets strewn over your flowers or soap dangling from tree branches. Bambi and friends will enjoy the music as they play with the soap and dine alfresco using the sheets as placemats. 

But be forewarned: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

According to Mizejewski, “It’s much easier to prevent critter damage than it is to stop the foraging cycle once it’s begun. Repellents are designed to smell or taste bad to critters.” He recommends all-natural repellents that stop critters from eating your plants, are safe for the environment and don’t harm wildlife. 

* Back off, Bambi. 
Deer rely heavily on their super-sensitive noses to find food and sense danger, but it’s also their Achilles’ heel. 

That’s why a liberal application of a proven effective, all-season deer repellent such as Liquid Fence Deer & Rabbit Repellent on and around landscaped gardens stops unwanted visitors cold from dining on plants they find irresistible. 

It works on “scent” and dries odorless to us but not to deer and rabbits, so they don’t have to take a bite to be effective — unlike other repellents that require the deer to “munch away.” Once they get a sniff, even rabbits will be hopping back to the forest and not toward your carrots or pansies. 

In today’s economy, you really can’t afford not to protect your valuable plants and yard. “Folks spend too much time and money on the perfect plants to let the deer and rabbits spoil it all by eating them,” says world-renown horticulturist, native plant breeder and author Dr. Allan Armitage. 

“I’ve been a fan of Liquid Fence Deer & Rabbit Repellent since my first application years ago,” he says. “It’s the No. 1 repellent on the market, and I wouldn’t trust my garden to anything else.” 

* Garden Survival Guide 
Armitage recommends spraying a repellent in the spring as soon as the tender shoots appear, and around all plants, trees and shrubs. 

And you don’t need to buy different repellents to rotate applications and reapply weekly to see great results. Rotating repellents is an urban myth. 

Today folks are looking for ways to save “green” while they “go green.” Liquid Fence Deer & Rabbit Repellent is actually less expensive than the green alternatives so you can feel good that it’s safe for the environment as well as your kids, pets, plants and your wallet. 

Repellent should be applied monthly and can withstand about 1 inch of rain. It’s a good idea to reapply after a heavy downpour of an inch or more. 

* All Together Now 
And if Bambi invites his other friends — rabbits, geese, moles, snakes and other unwanted critters, The Liquid Fence Company has a complete line of natural, environmentally safe solutions to keep them out of the garden and in the woods. 

For more information visit www.liquidfence.com. 

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Related posts:

1. Natural Ways to Keep Pests from Spoiling Outdoor Summer Fun
2. The Buck, and the Deer, Stop Here
3. Deter ‘deer drama’ this winter