A couple months had passed and I couldn't believe my eyes one afternoon as I peered out the kitchen window I could see a smaller deer in my garden and the larger one right below the window nibbling on the plants right behind my house on the table. I have lemon balm mint, chocolate mint and old fashioned peppermint around the back of my house and the deer was only inches away from it. So much for the story I heard as a child that mint would keep the deer away. A lie.
I crept slowly and quietly around the house to see how that smaller one got into my garden. I actually witnessed her jumping over the fence on the west side. How could she jump a fence she couldn't see?
As I inspected the fence I realized I had become complacent and allowed a wild morning glory to vine over and along the top strand of my fence for several feet. Now the deer could see the top of the fence and easily jump it. I was so relieved I hadn't gone totally mad as I realized I did not have GHOST DEER. A week later the strands were broken again on the east and south side of the garden. Next year I WILL WIN!!
Guess what I did this year? Yep! I will grow a garden again and this time I'm convinced I don't believe in ghost deer and I plan to win this war I'm having with these deer. In the past two years I've learned deer can walk through 4lb. test line as well as 14 lb. test line. So this year I will use 20 lb. CLEAR fishing line. Let me see them run through that! No way is a deer going to run through 20 lb. line. So I'm planning on winning this year. I strung THE LINE LIKE I HAD DONE PREVIUOSLY. That combination should work just fine.
Once again a invested in an Indian variety called Lakota squash, another heirloom squash, 1 Cherokee purple tomato, 6 organic Roma tomatoes, 1 super sweet cherry tomato, purple pod pole beans, Armenian vining cucumbers, 12 potatoes, and 6 egg plants. I plowed my garden in October and again in April. So the second week of April I planted radishes in rows and the potatoes in mounds like my Mother had done. The last week of April I planted the rest, the squash in mounds too.
I was elated to watch my plants growing. I sprayed a new mixture of pepper spray for the rabbits. Sometime in early May my beans were a couple of inches tall so one sunny evening I strolled over to my beautiful garden to pull weeds which were getting out of control. WHERE ARE MY BEANS AND CUCUMBERS? The potatoes had been nibbled on, the cherry and Cherokee purple tomatoes also had the tops cut off. All my squash except the Lakota were gone.
I immediately inspected my fence and noticed no vines were growing on it, the fence strands were not broken and the weather was not humid with no heavy dew on everything. So how did the deer enter and exited my garden this time? I had seen no deer this year at all and that was strange so how did they pass through the fence? The hair on the back of my neck began rising as I realized my GHOST DEER were visiting me again.
I replanted the squash, pole beans and vining cucumbers around the middle of May for the second time. By June I again had little beans and squash and cucumbers growing in my nearly empty garden. I was a little apprehensive and seemed to be glancing out the kitchen window a lot making sure my garden was not being devoured by the free roaming deer. I still had not seen any deer this year at all! Why?
One evening I ventured over to the garden and I couldn't believe what I saw. My beans, 1 egg plant, all cucumbers and all squash had vanished in thin air. The Lakota squash had not been touched. Here it was in the second week of June and now I did not have enough time to plant seeds again. Most of the nursery plants were gone or had been thrown away. So I eventually found some horrible vining cucumbers some squash and another variety of egg plants. I ran out of purple pod pole beans so I used my scarlet runner beans and replanted my vining beans. This was my last ditched effort of having a garden.
Now if those Deer would just stay away. I was amazed how over 8 months had gone by and I haven't even caught a glimpse of any deer in my yard. How in the world could these special deer just pass through my fence and consume everything if they weren't GHOSTS?
Once again, for the third time, my garden was rebounding and looking good once the weeds were gone. I should be happy because I had my backyard declared a "Backyard Wildlife Habitat" from the National Wildlife Federation over twenty years ago. I've seen a peacock visit and stayed for about three weeks, some wild turkeys visited me last year, as well as raccoons, wood chucks, opossums and deer. Squirrels, birds and rabbits abound too.
Wednesday morning June 25, I glanced through the blinds out the kitchen window and thought I caught a glimpse of something big and brown. I very quietly opened my front door and silently closed it behind me and crept ever so softly around the house on the east side. My Marine Corps training took over as I rolled over the chain link fence and crawled on the ground on my belly inching towards the back yard. First time this year I actually saw my ghost deer. I was determined to discover their secret of how they were penetrating and exiting the perimeter of my vegetable garden.
I was able to get within twenty feet of them peering through the tall grass and day lilies on a slight rise overlooking the garden and seeing two very much alive deer. One was a four point buck while the other was a smaller and younger female (I think). I had my camera with me too. I was going to have proof. I believe ghosts don't reveal themselves on camera digital film.
I noticed how the buck stuck his head in my tomato cage and ate my tomatoes almost to the ground, and how the younger one took a mouthful of cucumbers and beans and then swiftly moved her head downward and snapped the mouthful right at the ground, then raised her head triumphally as if pulling a fast one over on someone. I also witnessed them saudering over to the potato plants and ate them almost to the ground too. About an hour later they were done eating and began walking around the fenced in area. Now I'm going to see how they were able to pass right through the fence like GHOSTS!
The buck approached the northwest post and moved his nose up to the top strand that he could not see and found it. Then he lowered his nose to the next strand and onto the final third strand. He made that maneuver one more time and then bent his head between the middle and bottom strands and raised his head up on the other side of the fence. As if in slow motion he bent one front leg up against his body and stuck it through the opening and then the other front leg took a step forward and once again brought his rear leg up and through the strands to. Before I knew it he had passed through my fence with all the strands of fishing line intact. I glanced over and the little deer just jumped over the fence which was now visible due to the dew on the strands. I raised up with my camera and took a picture as they walked away from my garden. They showed courtesy by stopping and looking back over their shoulder as if to say, "You were easy."
John Williams Plattsmouth, NE. President
I attended a class on water gardens utilizing rainwater at the Iowa School For The Deaf in Council bluffs, Iowa several years ago. I even learned using barrels to store rainwater during the summer dry periods catching the rainwater from the roof of my house. Near the end of the class our instructor told us how deer loved Hosta as much as we loved caviar and how she kept them away by building a three tier fence. I especially like her idea of a maintenance free fence to keep deer out of her garden. Now that was my kind of fence! Cheap or should I say less expensive.
I bought six steel T-Posts and drove them around my garden. Then I strung 4lb. test clear cat gut fishing line taut in three layers around my fence posts. One line was about a foot above the ground. One was in the middle and one was stretched around the top of the posts. I had already tried planting peppermint down the middle of my garden and a row of rhubarb along the Western side. I planted peonies on the East side and scattered Iris around the other edges and in the middle too. All to no avail because the deer would still take a stroll through my garden and eat everything including my row of expensive huge strawberries plants clear to the roots and killed them.
I even created a spray bottle of pepper spray to keep the rabbits away from my garden. I placed a 3 quart pan on the stove and filled it with water, placed a fresh jalapeno, a tablespoon of jalapeno juice and a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper in it. Brought it to a boil for twenty minutes. Let it cool and strained the mixture. Once the impurities settled out I poured off the top and placed it into my spray bottle. Then after a rain or once a week I would spray the mixture on my beans, cucumbers and other tender plants I didn't want the rabbits to consume . If this spray burns your plants just dilute it with a little more water.
This concept worked well for the rabbits. One early morning I witnessed a rabbit hopping into my garden and seem to head right for my bush beans. He moseyed up to a plant and took a carefully oriented bite. Immediately he shook his head and moved his paw across his mouth. I didn't think rabbits were capable of thinking, but surprisingly he bent right down and took another nibble from the same plant. Again he shook his head and rubbed his front paw across his mouth for the second time. He looked around as if to make sure no one witnessed his embarrassment and hopped away from my garden and found a clover patch.
My bush beans were never attacked by rabbits again that summer. The pepper spray worked very well against rabbits but seemed to draw the deer in. I don't know whether the deer liked the ingredients in the spray but eventually they ate all my beans to the ground.
I don't believe in ghosts but these deer were able to move effortlessly all over my yard unseen. I began thinking I had ghost deer. Let's face reality. How is it possible my neighbors are able to see the deer moving randomly around my yard and I could not? Does that make sense? No, it doesn't.
But now I had a deer fence stretched around my garden to keep the deer out. I remembered our college instructor had said the deer could not see the fishing line but they could feel it. If they could not see the line then they would not jump the fence, just move around the edges. Now I was ready! I would have a garden all to myself.
Several days later, even though I hadn't seen any deer, my fence had been breached. all the fishing lines were broken as if the deer had just walked through it. That meant I had real live deer not GHOST DEER. I felt better because I didn't want to believe in ghosts anyway.
I restrung my fence with 14lb. clear fishing line that would be a lot stronger then that 4 lb. test line. This method really worked. I had won! I won, the deer didn't! No deer and my garden grew like it was supposed to.
A month later I had a premonition so I opened the blinds in the kitchen windows and was shocked to see two deer standing in the middle of my garden eating my plants, my food! I banged on the window and caught their attention as they glanced towards the house. I ran downstairs, banged open the basement door and ran out and saw them running across my yard and jumping the chain link fence and disappearing into the woods.
I wondered how they were able to enter my garden and exit it? Only a ghost deer could pass invisibly through my deer proof fence. These deer weren't ghosts because I had seen them so how did they pass through my fence? I inspected the fence and discovered a section on the south end was broken. I learned from the last time so I tied off the line at each post. That way if a breach occurred only that one section would be broken and the rest of the fence would remain intact. These deer couldn't be smarter then me!
That summer was a losing matter but next year I will win! So the following year I restrung the 14 lb. line and apparently the deer had indeed learned a lesson; to stay out of my garden. I was happy falsely thinking I had won again. I was apprehensive because I was beginning to think these were smart deer, you know, deer that could reason and think intelligently, not like ghost deer that could walk through walls and fences.
A couple months had passed and I couldn't believe my eyes one afternoon as I peered out the kitchen window I could see a smaller deer in my garden and the larger one right below the window nibbling on the plants right behind my house on the table. I have lemon balm mint, chocolate mint and old fashioned peppermint around the back of my house and the deer was only inches away from it. So much for the story I heard as a child that mint would keep the deer away. A lie.
I crept slowly and quietly around the house to see how that smaller one got into my garden. I actually witnessed her jumping over the fence on the west side. How could she jump a fence she couldn't see?
As I inspected the fence I realized I had become complacent and allowed a wild morning glory to vine over and along the top strand of my fence for several feet. Now the deer could see the top of the fence and easily jump it. I was so relieved I hadn't gone totally mad as I realized I did not have GHOST DEER. A week later the strands were broken again on the east and south side of the garden. Next year I WILL WIN!!
Guess what I did this year? Yep! I will grow a garden again and this time I'm convinced I don't believe in ghost deer and I plan to win this war I'm having with these deer. In the past two years I've learned deer can walk through 4lb. test line as well as 14 lb. test line. So this year I will use 20 lb. CLEAR fishing line. Let me see them run through that! No way is a deer going to run through 20 lb. line. So I'm planning on winning this year. I strung THE LINE LIKE I HAD DONE PREVIUOSLY. That combination should work just fine.
Once again a invested in an Indian variety called Lakota squash, another heirloom squash, 1 Cherokee purple tomato, 6 organic Roma tomatoes, 1 super sweet cherry tomato, purple pod pole beans, Armenian vining cucumbers, 12 potatoes, and 6 egg plants. I plowed my garden in October and again in April. So the second week of April I planted radishes in rows and the potatoes in mounds like my Mother had done. The last week of April I planted the rest, the squash in mounds too.
I was elated to watch my plants growing. I sprayed a new mixture of pepper spray for the rabbits. Sometime in early May my beans were a couple of inches tall so one sunny evening I strolled over to my beautiful garden to pull weeds which were getting out of control. WHERE ARE MY BEANS AND CUCUMBERS? The potatoes had been nibbled on, the cherry and Cherokee purple tomatoes also had the tops cut off. All my squash except the Lakota were gone.
I immediately inspected my fence and noticed no vines were growing on it, the fence strands were not broken and the weather was not humid with no heavy dew on everything. So how did the deer enter and exited my garden this time? I had seen no deer this year at all and that was strange so how did they pass through the fence? The hair on the back of my neck began rising as I realized my GHOST DEER were visiting me again.
I replanted the squash, pole beans and vining cucumbers around the middle of May for the second time. By June I again had little beans and squash and cucumbers growing in my nearly empty garden. I was a little apprehensive and seemed to be glancing out the kitchen window a lot making sure my garden was not being devoured by the free roaming deer. I still had not seen any deer this year at all! Why?
One evening I ventured over to the garden and I couldn't believe what I saw. My beans, 1 egg plant, all cucumbers and all squash had vanished in thin air. The Lakota squash had not been touched. Here it was in the second week of June and now I did not have enough time to plant seeds again. Most of the nursery plants were gone or had been thrown away. So I eventually found some horrible vining cucumbers some squash and another variety of egg plants. I ran out of purple pod pole beans so I used my scarlet runner beans and replanted my vining beans. This was my last ditched effort of having a garden.
Now if those Deer would just stay away. I was amazed how over 8 months had gone by and I haven't even caught a glimpse of any deer in my yard. How in the world could these special deer just pass through my fence and consume everything if they weren't GHOSTS?
Once again, for the third time, my garden was rebounding and looking good once the weeds were gone. I should be happy because I had my backyard declared a "Backyard Wildlife Habitat" from the National Wildlife Federation over twenty years ago. I've seen a peacock visit and stayed for about three weeks, some wild turkeys visited me last year, as well as raccoons, wood chucks, opossums and deer. Squirrels, birds and rabbits abound too.
Wednesday morning June 25, I glanced through the blinds out the kitchen window and thought I caught a glimpse of something big and brown. I very quietly opened my front door and silently closed it behind me and crept ever so softly around the house on the east side. My Marine Corps training took over as I rolled over the chain link fence and crawled on the ground on my belly inching towards the back yard. First time this year I actually saw my ghost deer. I was determined to discover their secret of how they were penetrating and exiting the perimeter of my vegetable garden.
I was able to get within twenty feet of them peering through the tall grass and day lilies on a slight rise overlooking the garden and seeing two very much alive deer. One was a four point buck while the other was a smaller and younger female (I think). I had my camera with me too. I was going to have proof. I believe ghosts don't reveal themselves on camera digital film.
I noticed how the buck stuck his head in my tomato cage and ate my tomatoes almost to the ground, and how the younger one took a mouthful of cucumbers and beans and then swiftly moved her head downward and snapped the mouthful right at the ground, then raised her head triumphally as if pulling a fast one over on someone. I also witnessed them saudering over to the potato plants and ate them almost to the ground too. About an hour later they were done eating and began walking around the fenced in area. Now I'm going to see how they were able to pass right through the fence like GHOSTS!
The buck approached the northwest post and moved his nose up to the top strand that he could not see and found it. Then he lowered his nose to the next strand and onto the final third strand. He made that maneuver one more time and then bent his head between the middle and bottom strands and raised his head up on the other side of the fence. As if in slow motion he bent one front leg up against his body and stuck it through the opening and then the other front leg took a step forward and once again brought his rear leg up and through the strands to. Before I knew it he had passed through my fence with all the strands of fishing line intact. I glanced over and the little deer just jumped over the fence which was now visible due to the dew on the strands. I raised up with my camera and took a picture as they walked away from my garden. They showed courtesy by stopping and looking back over their shoulder as if to say, "You were easy."
John Williams Plattsmouth, NE. President