Anyone Else Dealing with Deer?

[sunflowerpower]

Where I live we get a lot of wildlife passing through, which I would love if it wasn't for the deer laying waste to my entire garden! We've tried deer spray, which didn't do much to keep them away and made our backyard so smelly we had to stay inside with the windows closed for the rest of the day.
Finally my husband and I resorted to putting up bamboo poles with netting to keep the deer from nibbling.
Thanks to that we were actually able to take a harvest from our vegetable garden for the first time, but dealing with the netting is super inconvenient and at this point most of our yard is wrapped up, it's getting a little ridiculous!
Does anyone have any tips for discouraging the deer? Ideally something natural, we're not a big fan of chemicals, the deer spray was a last resort.

 

[Rosyrain]

We have a huge deer problem around here too and the only thing that can really be done is to fence off your garden with some good old fashioned chicken wire. I have had many plants torn apart and eaten by deer in the past and it is so annoying that they get a free meal at my expense. I love deer, but not in my garden!

 

[Chuck]

We have a lot of deer here and there is a product called Liquid Fence and it works pretty good. There is a foul odor when it is first applied but it goes away in about 15 minutes. I am sure you can get it online. Other than an 8 ft tall fence or judiciously applied HVLP I don't think there is anything

 

[marlingardener]

Deer supposedly dislike rosemary, so a rosemary hedge around your garden may help. Of course, that would take about two years for the rosemary to get to a height that would bother the deer . . . .
When we lived in town there was a "resort community" that had a severe deer problem. They found that movement sensitive lights helped keep deer away, and also having something bright and flashy, like suspended CDs or those children's foil pinwheels about 5 to 6' off the ground around the garden helped. Think of it as garden art.

 

[sunflowerpower]

I'll definitely give the liquid fence a go. We have shiny pinwheels set up in the corners of our vegetable patch but it doesn't seem to bother the animal population too much.
That's a great idea with the rosemary, it hadn't occurred to me to find plants that deer hate...I might have to do some research and put some new plants in with the veggies.
My husband's current solution, besides the netting, is to keep a little slingshot and a cup of pebbles next to the door, so I'm definitely up for some new ideas!!

 

[Beth_B]

Deer aren't an issue where I live now, but at a previous house we had herds of them. Right after moving in, anyway. But within a year there were three Rottweilers on the property. Even though the dogs were mostly in the fenced-in yard and house dogs, their presence and I guess smell encouraged the deer to forage elsewhere.

The people I know here with rural gardens and no dogs resort to fences, or just resign themselves to sharing with deer and rabbits.