Scantlings

After two years of peace, our vegetable garden was bountiful. I've fallen in love with growing and eating my own produce.

This year, something is raiding the garden and taking all of the tomatoes *just* before they ripen and we can pick them. We are mad as hell.
I set up my game cam but the damn write-protect tab was set, so it didn't record any photos. I fixed it last night, so we'll see who's on "Candid Camera." I've got some wire mesh from an old garden that I'm going to drag up to the house to try to create a deer barrier.

This weekend, I am seriously considering camping out in the yard with my paintball gun and unloading on whatever it is. I'm gonna get that sucka if it's the last thing I ever do.

My wife has had an on-going battle with Deer vs Roses for the last 5 years. We had been, perhaps, slowly winning the battle with our motion activated sprinklers. But...

the rose bushes came out this spring. Not a truce, certainly not a victory for the humans, just.... abject.... surrender......

We gave up after a couple of years, now we just enjoy the possums(when they don’t live in the roof), the bandicoots, the wallabies, the devils, the quolls, the cockatoos and other birds, and the sheep when they get out of the paddock.

Whenever things are in season, our neighbours are giving them away anyway, grown inside their netted and fenced gardens, you even have to take the nets underground round here.

Perhaps your postman?

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/snack-attac ... -1.4012562

Ken Heaton (Salazar) wrote:Perhaps your postman?

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/snack-attac ... -1.4012562

I honestly did think a neighbor helped themselves, the first time around. Now we're seeing tops of plants bitten off, so I blame an animal.

Deer were eating one of our plants. I found it was easy to discourage them with a crude mesh of string. Perhaps they don't like sticking their nose into a close area. Raccoons and groundhogs are not so timid.

SemiSalt wrote:Deer were eating one of our plants. I found it was easy to discourage them with a crude mesh of string. Perhaps they don't like sticking their nose into a close area. Raccoons and groundhogs are not so timid.

Around here, deer require an 8' barrier.

We have a bulldog for rent!

I think the wire mesh I have will do the trick if it's deer. I need to get some game camera photos in order to properly assess the enemy.

We have short deer around here, a 5' fence will do it.

However, the list of things caught eating our vegetables and other plants include Grandchildren, Uncles, Aunts, Kids, Cousins, Friends, rats, skunks, raccoons, possums, mice, chickens, blackbirds, bluebirds, woodpeckers, crows, etc.... etc....... etc.......... We just plant more.

(The deer are further dissuaded from jumping the fence by Misty The Wonder Dog.)

Benno von Humpback wrote:

SemiSalt wrote:Deer were eating one of our plants. I found it was easy to discourage them with a crude mesh of string. Perhaps they don't like sticking their nose into a close area. Raccoons and groundhogs are not so timid.

Around here, deer require an 8' barrier.

Our rhododendrons used to get de-leafed by deer until we started using a service that sends guys out with backpack gas-powered sprayers. I think the spray is herbal in an oil base.

Accept that you will be fighting a losing battle overall. You have laid out a critter buffet and the guests have arrived. I'll get Lynne to share some of her combat tactics with the Power Ranger if the Power Ranger can rid me of the insane Robin that has been attacking my windows for more than a year (The damn bird is why you found the mirrors folded in on the Subaru on Sunday since it started attacking them).

At our house the culprit has been squirrels. They could be seen running across the yard on their hind legs with a tomato in their little evil arms. One year, we had a large watermelon that looked ripe and about ready to pick but a squirrel had hollowed it out from one end to the other but left the stem in place so it stayed alive...

So far, the best solution to our squirrel problem is a dog with a very high prey drive. The grass suffers because him, but the squirrel population is down.

Slick470 wrote:...snip...

So far, the best solution to our squirrel problem is a dog with a very high prey drive. The grass suffers because him, but the squirrel population is down.

My next door neighbor has a small terrier of some sort, probably 20lb. It lives outside. They don't have a deer problem as the silly little white terrier doesn't realize it's small. With dogs, like bullies, it's all about attitude. Then, a pack of coyotes cruised by and the terrier spent two weeks in the doggy hospital. It turns out that coyotes have more "attitude" than terriers. The little guy is back on duty now but stays OUT of the front yard. So far coyotes have stayed out of the back yard. I think they're afraid of getting trapped.

The increase in the coyote population certainly cut down on the number of deer. The deep pop. is down by well over 60%.

Slick470 wrote:At our house the culprit has been squirrels. They could be seen running across the yard on their hind legs with a tomato in their little evil arms. One year, we had a large watermelon that looked ripe and about ready to pick but a squirrel had hollowed it out from one end to the other but left the stem in place so it stayed alive...

So far, the best solution to our squirrel problem is a dog with a very high prey drive. The grass suffers because him, but the squirrel population is down.

Ahh... Very interesting.

A guy I know had a fox den in his backyard. The number of squirrels and rabbits living off his garden was greatly reduced.

We have coyotes around here so our deer problems have been minimized.

My brother on Whidby Island''s garden with its anti varmint enforcer. He calls him Mr. Mcgregor.

I'd love to have some more raptors patrolling my property. All the osprey hang out over the water, so that's no help.
We get the occasional red tail/red shoulder hawk but they don't linger long enough to intimidate the squirrels.

They seem to have no interest in any of my peppers. I'm growing bell, sweet and hot. The cucumbers appear to be too heavy for them to run off with.

For the first time in my life I saw a Bald Eagle in California. I was driving up i280 towards San Francisco and at the Page Mill Road exit in Palo Alto, an Eagle was slowly circling. This is a popular place for raptors to hunt, as it's surrounded (mostly) by open Stanford University land which is grazed by cattle but mostly left to the rats, mice, rabbits, etc...

I was thrilled to see the Eagle. Back in the 1920s there were lots of them along the Peninsula leading up to San Francisco. DDT and hunters killed them off. The local sheep farmers claimed that the Eagles were taking lambs, which were most likely killed by coyotes or wolves back then and being scavenged by the Eagles. It's VERY rare for an Eagle to actually take a lamb.

What a sight - nearly twice the size of the Red Tail Hawks we normally see in the area, I hope it can make a go of it.

BeauV wrote:For the first time in my life I saw a Bald Eagle in California. I was driving up i280 towards San Francisco and at the Page Mill Road exit in Palo Alto, an Eagle was slowly circling. This is a popular place for raptors to hunt, as it's surrounded (mostly) by open Stanford University land which is grazed by cattle but mostly left to the rats, mice, rabbits, etc...

I was thrilled to see the Eagle. Back in the 1920s there were lots of them along the Peninsula leading up to San Francisco. DDT and hunters killed them off. The local sheep farmers claimed that the Eagles were taking lambs, which were most likely killed by coyotes or wolves back then and being scavenged by the Eagles. It's VERY rare for an Eagle to actually take a lamb.

What a sight - nearly twice the size of the Red Tail Hawks we normally see in the area, I hope it can make a go of it.

Bald Eagles have really made a comeback in Washington. They seem to be everywhere, mostly living in trees near the water. There was a pair that hung out on the crosstrees of the flag mast at the yacht club. They would go after geese and goslings on the surrounding land. The geese would gather their young underneath cars in the parking lot to hide when the eagles were nearby. Not sure where they are these days.