Yes, I'm talking about you!

If you’re reading this, you are probably only too well aware that deer damage is a major headache in many areas of the country. If several deer establish a feeding pattern in your area, the constant damage can be very discouraging.

Many animals graze in gardens, so how do you know that the damage is from deer and not some other animal? Signs of damage specific to deer include the type and location of the damage, the type of droppings, and hoof prints.

Indeed, hoof prints are the most obvious sign that deer have been in a garden: the prints left by deer will be two to three inches long and have a distinct tapered oval shape cloven down the middle, much like a ‘broken heart’.

Deer that have been standing or grazing in an area will leave tracks that are uniformly deep, and found in sets of two or four. Running deer leave staggered prints, and these tracks will be deeper in the front and shallower in the rear. One or two sets of tracks through the week are not cause for concern, but recurring and multiple tracks may indicate grazing.

Deer scat or droppings, take the form of small, elongated pellets. In the winter, the pellets are hard and tend to scatter; during the spring and summer, the change in diet leads to pellets that clump together and stay in a single mass. Deer droppings are sometimes mistaken for rabbit droppings, but tend to be elongated rather than perfectly round.

Deer will eat mostly any kind of plant life, especially if other food is scarce. When in season, deer favor berries, small fruits, and flowering plants; in the winter, anything green, and most twigs, will do.

Another sign of deer damage is if your trees and shrubs are eaten at about waist height. Given a choice, deer prefer to graze at or above their standing height. Foliage damage at this level will usually eliminate smaller garden pests as the culprit.

Deer damage tends to be ragged, leaving bare stems and scarred bark. This is because deer teeth have no front incisors; they strip bark and leaves by raking and gouging the plants, or tearing the leaves and fruit from the tree.

Preventing deer damage most effectively means keeping the deer away from the garden. Methods such as poison and chemical deterrents can have unwanted side effects, or affect undesired targets. The only 100% effective solution to deer damage is to build a deer fence.  Deer fencing is a proven and reliable method of discouraging large animals without harmful effects; deer fencing comes in many kinds, from nearly invisible netting to sturdy wire.

To learn more about deer fencing and other deer fence products, visit Ryan Rollins’ site DeerBusters.com.