Anecdotal observations on deer and sunflowers

[Aging Baby Boomer]

Our dove field includes about 5 acres of sunflowers that are "protected" by a single strand of electric wire. This prevents some, but not all, deer damage.

I visit the farm four to five days a week, working and sweating for at least a couple of hours. About three weeks ago it occurred to me that my T-shirts smell pretty strong when I leave, so....why not leave them tied to posts at the edge of the field in an attempt to discourage deer from working the sunflowers?

I put up eight posts, about equally spaced around the edge of the field, and began tying up my used shirt as I leave. No attempt has been made to make the shirts look like scarecrows. After all eight posts had shirts, I began replacing the oldest shirt with my sweaty offering of the day.

It appears to me that the damage rate has decreased dramatically over this period.

Possibilities:

1. I really stink! And the smell of human sweat is effective in keeping some deer away from the field.

2. The T-shirts aren't effective, but the "real farmers" all around us planted soybeans this year where there was corn last year. Although the beans are still small, this emerging crop is taking some of the browsing pressure off our sunflower field.

3. The shirts aren't effective, but June has been hot and dry with NO rainfall in two weeks. Perhaps the sunflowers don't taste as well or aren't as attractive as during normal conditions.

4. Some combination of these factors.

5. There is some other explanation which I have not considered.


Any thoughts or observations by the board?

[skrimp]

The deer may have went to walmart to buy you some new t-shirts and didn't have the money so they are waiting on their checks from the govt.

[Sportin' Woodies]

hot and dry will just wanna make em eat it worse. youve got BO.
but unless you accompany these new shirts with some time of behavior incondusive to deer life, theyre gonna get used to em, no matter how fresh of shirt is up.

[Slaya]

The hot and dry weather seems to have been a trigger for the deer around my place, since it started they have been braving the wire to get at 'em. I've got to find some other way of discouraging them, and quick. I think I'll do like last year, and add strips of old rags doused with whatever cheap deodorant is on sale, and change the flavor either every rain or every week. It helped a good bit last year.

[Claimer]

A radio tuned to talk radio will work for a while. Hide it and they will be scared for a week or two. I put 1 strand of wire 12 inches off the ground and it worked for a while also. Or just stick around and shoot them. You got some bad bo if a deer is scared in the off season.

[PBiz]

Maybe its because you're a Clemson fan?

jk.

[Moatsy]

surely the scent plays some roll... but the talk radio idea is clever as hell.

[Catdaddy]

I used scare crows for 2 years. The first year they would not get within 60 ft of one. There was actually a well defined circle around them. The next year they came in to a few feet. One deterent will not work for long. You have to change up on them.