# how to keep deer out of a dovefield



## 5mm. mag

how do you keep deer from eating every grain of wheat , sunflowers , and everything else you plant for doves ?


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## Bill Brown

NWTF has had several TV shows regarding this problem.

They have shown installing a fence around the field, then in another show a propane fired cannon was placed in the field until the plants grew to a certain size.


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## Canebrake

the only way to keep deer off of sunflowers is to install an hot fence or plant a substantial acreage where browsing pressure will not destroy the entire crop!

most wildlife adjust to those cannons pretty quickly...I've seen geese standing 50 ft. from them when they went off and they just keep right on gobbling up the corn shoots!

a .270 works well too though...


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## BirdNut

I agree with canebrake...a .270 is the only permanent solution


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## Beagle Stace

You may want to try and plant some sesame in the field or at least some strips of. Not totally sure but when I have used it before the deer disturb very little. They claim it is deer resistant and it appears so. It is more expensive but does well even if it does dry off. The only problem is that you will have to try and keep the field as weed free as possible since it is a tiny seed and the doves cant scratch for it if the field is too weedy. But drops alot of seed from the pods.


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## Rick Alexander

*Just plant field peas*

Every year we plant about a 1 acre garden.  On one side we always plant a couple of rows of lady finger peas or something like that.  We never get many of the peas but the deer seem to hammer those peas so hard we seem to get a lot more of the other stuff in the garden.  Never really noticed it much till one year we decided to not plant peas because we never got many from our efforts.  That year they just about wiped us out of everything else.

Might work.


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## Nimrod71

Best thing going, a few good deer hunters.  Hey, make a few bucks by charging them to hunt on your property.


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## Jim P

Years ago the DNR had some stuff that came in a bag you mixed it with water and put it in spots around the field it worked great, but don't get any on you, man did it stink.


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## papadz

kind of the same problem but in reverse. when my grandmother couldnt keep the birdsoff of her figs, she hung a couple of pie pans from the tree. It seemed to keep them away. The shiny  pie tins and movementsfrom the wind. Just athought.


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## zzweims

Canebrake said:


> the only way to keep deer off of sunflowers is to install an hot fence or plant a substantial acreage where browsing pressure will not destroy the entire crop!
> ...



Tried both last year, and the deer still laughed at my attempts.  I'm going to try bene this year and/or a high tilted fence (if the cost isn't too high).  As for the garden, the deer never touch it.  It's too close to the dog kennel


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## Augustabowhunter

We use radios all you have to do it turn it up.


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## howl

A 20 oz plastic soda bottle put over a re-bar stake rattles when the wind hits it. That and unwashed super-stinky clothing works as well as anything except a bullet.


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## Canebrake

zzweims said:


> Tried both last year, and the deer still laughed at my attempts.  I'm going to try bene this year and/or a high tilted fence (if the cost isn't too high).  As for the garden, the deer never touch it.  It's too close to the dog kennel



how many acres of sunflower did you plant...as you know they can eat alot?

what kind of hot fence....was it the fencing with the "hot tape" that you bait with peanut butter?  Here is some literature on the Gallagher fence...http://www.forestry.uga.edu/outreach/pubs/pdf/WMS-08-19.pdf

Another idea is milogranite...its a human based organic fertilizer that will fend off the deer for a couple of weeks and then you have to re-apply.  After 4 weeks your sunflower shoots should be up and going well enough to survive browsing pressure....the deer mainly like the new growth.  Its really expensive but I've had some success with it when planting small 
deer food plots of peas and the like.http://www.forestry.uga.edu/outreach/pubs/pdf/WMS-05-02.pdf


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## Canebrake

howl said:


> A 20 oz plastic soda bottle put over a re-bar stake rattles when the wind hits it. That and unwashed super-stinky clothing works as well as anything except a bullet.




at keeping deer out of sunflowers????


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## Augustabowhunter

I will tell you one mistake i made. I planted some sunflowers with round up in them and the deer ate them. Well I had half my field with nothing in it bc I was unable to palnt in the round up. I wont ever plant seeds with round up agian.


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## 5mm. mag

i put milorganite all over the sunflwer plants , they ate around it .


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## gobbleinwoods

Canebrake said:


> how many acres of sunflower did you plant...as you know they can eat alot?
> 
> We had in about 5 acres.
> 
> 
> Another idea is milogranite...its a human based organic fertilizer that will fend off the deer for a couple of weeks and then you have to re-apply.  After 4 weeks your sunflower shoots should be up and going well enough to survive browsing pressure....the deer mainly like the new growth.  Its really expensive but I've had some success with it when planting small
> deer food plots of peas and the like.http://www.forestry.uga.edu/outreach/pubs/pdf/WMS-05-02.pdf



until they head out and then the deer will eat the tender green heads off the plants.   Off course you can plant pumpkins or something else they like better next to the sunflowers then there is less damage to the flowers.


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